Hi everyone: We have moved our video services, and most of our time nowadays, over to Told Video. Rebecca is still writing a lot of fiction, and has a novel in the works. Please visit us at Told, Vimeo, LinkedIn , Twitter for Rebecca and Twitter for Told Video to keep up with our current work!
We’ve been busy filming video profiles for several incredible individuals in the Pioneer Valley. Two videos are in the works for Window of Heaven Acupuncture & Yoga, profiling owner and operator Courtney Hill Wulsin. And on our edit station is a new profile of Trevor Healy of the amazing Healy Guitars. Stay tuned for these new videos up soon!
This fall has also brought a multi-camera shoot of the always-entertaining Amherst Live (videos can be seen on their You Tube channel this fall), and some new projects for schools and artists in the region. We love being busy!
Though the cold winter months seem far away, we’ve had fun re-editing some footage from last winter’s Winter Carnival in Greenfield, MA as a sample reel for our event coverage. Evan Curran of Shiprock and Anchor Dog whipped up some new custom music to go with it. Our new page that highlights all of our compact, custom video offerings can be found here.
We recently completed a short video for Dr. Laila Tomsovic, a naturopathic doctor. This service is a great way to promote your small business, especially if your services are best shown visually (artisans of all kinds), or one-on-one services where your personality is an integral part of your services (personal trainers, doctors, etc). The videos are affordable, attractive, and effective. Click on the photo below to watch the video and check out our new page for information on all of our compact, custom video options.
I wrote an article on an unusual gallery I visited at Kew Gardens last fall. Marianne North was a radical single woman who traveled the world in the late 1800s while painting a wide variety of plant specimens. Her collection is made up of hundreds of small botanical paintings displayed edge to edge in a gallery she designed herself. Here’s my article, for the wondrous Atlas Obscura.
I’m still obsessed with unusual food stories in our region. Recently I visited Scott Farm in Dummerston, VT. They grow over 90 varieties of heritage apples, some dating back to pre-1500! The gallery link is below.
I also explored Amherst’s Sunset Farm where they grow the region’s only chestnut crop:
Here are some shots in the link to the gallery below from our recent research/leisure trip to London to explore many things, including a few craft gin distilleries, SipSmith and London Distillery Company.
I got into the Christmas spirit on my third visit to CVS this year. I’d dragged the overflowing tub of holiday decorations out of the attic earlier in the week, sighing and grumbling as I sifted through the same old wrinkly red placemats and disturbingly cheery snowman pillows. It felt as if I had tucked them away just weeks ago.
The idea of filling our living space with sparkles and whimsical Santas yet again nearly led me to tears. I had so many other, more practical things that needed doing. Alas, we’d decided to have our annual “Festivus” party, so I grabbed the ribbons and bells and began to arrange them around the house hurriedly.
By the end of the week, the neighborhood had sporting twinkly white lights that peeked through curtains onto icy sidewalks. Bold colors in the shapes of stockings and reindeer popped on across the street. With five nails and a hammer I marched up the attic stairs. Ten, then twenty minutes later, after numerous trips to the basement for further tools, I stood in a sea of wires and lights and felt like I had been reborn as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I’d broken rule #1: check the lights before stringing them. I ripped the partially-lit star off the window pane and cursed the moment of inspiration I’d had.
The week wore on in a montage of cranky, stressed out scenes of shoppers frantically stock piling gifts, standing tensely in lines, and strapping quickly-selected trees onto their cars. My first trip to CVS bore a new string of lights, which I carefully plugged in and strung between the nails, a small smile growing on my face. As I placed the end of the string on the last nail, the row of lights flickered and went out. My smile turned over and I shoved the broken lights back into the box sourly.
Weekend shoppers’ plans were covered in ten inches of snow. Two days later, more slippery weather sent everyone home without gifts again. The optimistic among us ventured to predict: “At least we’ll have a white Christmas!”
I walked to CVS for the second time, trying to hum carols in my head. I fetched another package of lights from the back of the shelf. Back in the attic, I plugged them in and stared, shocked, at the colors that filled the attic like a circus show. I know one thing to be true: stars are white. Back into the box went the colored bulbs. By now I was starting to feel a tiny bit amused by the situation, a sure sign of insanity.
Giggling quietly, I put on my boots and headed back to the store, following my footsteps from only a few hours before. I was on a mission, dedicated to brightening our neighborhood as if it were an act of patriotism or thick-headed team spirit. Dishes had piled up, emails needed to be answered, but I was not to be deterred. I grabbed some white lights, plopped the colored lights back on the Returns counter, and flew home. As I stuck the last piece of wire on the nail and stood back to admire the glob of lights that somewhat resembled a star, I felt a spark of something like holiday spirit.
That night I watched an older Dr. Who Christmas Special; as the camera panned along the set of a nineteenth century English Christmas, the narrator reminded us that this season happens as we are fumbling through the shortest days of the year, in order to make us stop, light candles, gather, eat, and say “congratulations, we’ve made it halfway through the darkness!”
I liked the reminder that instead of being cold and grumpy, we can focus on buying random objects and fixing broken strings of lights, and then come together for a few moments to admire the effort we all put in.
The next week, after cold rain had ruined the lovely heaps of white snow and replaced it with gray globs of muck, we filled our home with friends and food. One man, arriving late from work, came over as he took off his coat, eyes shining. “It’s so nice to be here – it really feels like the holidays,” he said, looking around at the crowd. “And I love the tree or whatever it is in your attic window!” I smiled, and knew it had all been worth it.
I had a lot of fun taking photos for a local musician’s website and album cover this fall. Check out some of the shots we got at my online gallery. Thanks, Brad Myrick!
P.S. You can check out my general band promotion gallery for more samples of musician photography at live shows.
RAPT is a new division of R.W.Rideout Media that offers interview services for schools and organizations. We produce brief interviews for alumni departments, school marketing campaigns, and nonprofit clients. Edited into short, impactful excerpts, these videos can be shared on social media and websites. Our own online portal allows our clients to easily share the videos with their communities. Contact us at [email protected] for more information, and see the full page here.
Intro video:
