January 18, 2017

2016 // A Year of Growing, Loving, and Sparking Adventure

I love the way photographs freeze moments so I can cherish them forever. Within the last few years, I’ve realized that video also holds a special power. It can preserve those memories in a different way, one that saves the experience of those moments so they’re rich and alive. I had already been capturing video along with photos during the more outstanding moments in this life, but it was around the time we took our first big family road trip in 2015 that I decided to start capturing more video of my family (and my work). From that point on I have been trying to document the small moments as well as the big ones.

As 2016 began to wind down, I started to think about how I wanted to present some of these little moments. For a long time I’ve had a vision of a video that highlights some of the snippets of life from 2016. The holidays were very busy, but then came the pause once Christmas had come and gone, where you think back on the past year and looking forward to new adventures. It finally felt like the time to tackle this pet project.

I started by dropping every video file I could find of the past year from my phone and DSLR cameras into my project. I’m sure there were hours of combined footage. I began going through each file one by one and selecting the moments that stood out to me. Within seconds my heart was overflowing with warmth and gratefulness for everything the Lord had brought me in 2016. Every new video file was a treasure. It was a labor of love that turned obsession over the next few weeks. It was a very special way for me to relive the last year, to see how the boys grew, to watch the wonder in their eyes as they experienced things for the first time. I believe I found the very best way to count your blessings. Each clip is very dear to me because I lived them and I saw it just like this with my own eyes and these are the images that are stored away in my brain to keep forever. This video is for me, but it’s also for my friends and family and everyone with whom I am humbled to share this life.

After all that blabbering I guess I better share the video. I’m sharing a longer, “full” version that was my first collection of favorite clips. It’s rough, unpolished and ends a little weird. Once I admitted that 12 minutes is a long time to sit and watch highlights from someone else’s life, I did my best to cut it down with the hope that a wider audience might appreciate it. So, I am also posting a (somewhat) shorter version. If you enjoy it I’m glad because it means I did my job of documenting the way life feels when you treasure the tiny moments. I hope it can bring joy and light and a breath of life to those who watch it because I know it will always bring so many great feelings to me as I watch it over and over for years to come.

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