Filming

I stared through open trees at a horse-riding park in Virginia, where my cousins live, watching a few groups of riders galloping through the trees at full speed. My family had all taken part in an afternoon of riding, although none of them are horse people. If they did choose to ride horses (which they never do) they would sign up for a Western trail ride and be content to file along behind the other horses and probably pass on the opportunity to canter. But here they were, full English saddle, jumping logs through open trails in the park forest all day long. “We always do this,” my brother said.

On the way home I ran into some old film school classmates shooting a movie. A friend who now works as a DOP was directing the film. His girlfriend starred in it. I’d always had a bit of a thing for my friend, and now, seeing his girlfriend running to film a stunt, beautiful and perfect, I felt like I never could have measured up. I felt completely intimidated. I changed my focus to the school environment – the building had been renovated on the inside, leaving the exterior shell intact. The interior contained far more rooms, floors, hallways, staircases, vestibules, grand atriums, etc, than it ever had. I climbed through the building to the top floor, looking at the outside of the historical building and its original carved stone walls. I overheard a commentary about what a valuable architectural treasure the building was, and how important the decision had been to maintain the facade’s integrity.

Outside the building, I stood at the top of a hill parallel to the top floor of the heritage structure. I admired its beauty before turning back to see my friends still filming at the bottom of the hill. I needed to get back down but the hill was slippery and steep. I decided on a whim to try skiing down the pavement in my street shoes. The edges of my soles scraped the asphalt, but the oil slicks kept my momentum up. I successfully navigated my way down the entire paved hill road, hoping my friend would see my incredible skill at managing to not fall flat on my face and even get some good speed using only my shoes, because not only was I having a lot of fun but I was also really proud of myself.