Years in the Wilderness

Time really does fly when you enter the world of work, only not in the way you would imagine. Days in the office and quiet credit crunch nights can take forever. Creativity can take a backseat to making money and paying the bills. One day you realise that it's been years since you picked up a camera, let alone made a film. This didn't seem like such a big issue when I was working in a photography studio because you could always focus on the creativity of the job. But lately I have been getting itchy fingers and feeling creatively restless.

This will be an especially recognisable feeling for those of you involved in artistic jobs. Writers who have ever been 'blocked'. Directors who have not been able to make their film 'work'. Or anyone who has left their vocation behind in favour of realistic wages in a day-to-day job.

I'm lucky enough to have people around me who have told me I'm a happier person when I'm being creative and finally their words have got through to me. Man cannot live by reality alone. So, in my spare time (I will make more of it) I'm diving into my back catalogue of unfinished and unproduced scripts and looking at them again. I'm also getting back on the internet and commenting on the odd movie website. And rekindling my love affair with my Sony PD150 Dv Camera. I've been dipping my toe back out in the world by going to see some live gigs and writing some new videos for bands.

It's easy to let things roll and roll and do nothing when there is no structure involved. When nobody is waiting on you to produce the goods. So I've set myself a few deadlines and am ready to get back to it. I watched a few of my old movies the other night (I will get them on here for you to see) and I remembered the great feeling I got while making them.

Sometimes with age and experience comes the feeling that certain things are not possible. I miss the days of being too young to realise that those things were not possible. I miss the days when we just went out and did it. Three films in one day, no worries. No money for film stock, shoot on Dv. Problems with light, ignore it. Problems with sound, deal with it in a wacky and totally abstract way. There was no such thing as 'can't be done' in those days. It's too easy to lose that when you start letting the real world hassle you.

In getting back to the movies and creative side of things I will try and keep my blog current and updated with all the latest news. I've got some interesting projects up my sleeve and will let you know the details when we're ready to roll. I'll post new writings and pictures as they come along. And of course, as always, any feedback is welcome from all of you lovely folks out there.

Cheers, Aaron.