Sylvia ♥ Justin ... Maui

This was the wedding we had been anticipating all year. When I watched 127 Hours back in January I stayed in the theatre during the end credits. I instantly knew that the credit music - A.R. Rahman's "If I Rise" - would be the song for the Hawaii video. Looking back the song has a lot of meaning given the lyrics and the connection to the story of 127 Hours: that you can't move forward without leaving a part of you behind. But that there is always the hope of a new beginning.

The intro segment of this video is about being lost and then finding your place; about belonging. The ocean meets the land, and the lantern, the light bulb and the cable all find their partners or places. And new beginnings in the Haleakala sunrise and a sapling growing from a decades old tree.

In an earlier post I described needing something to trigger inspiration: this time it was the wedding venue, Olowalu Plantation House. The materials, textures and what I perceived as the history of the place suddenly struck me. I felt like there would be no rules to the filming; that it could be just an inspiration piece based on the objects and images I found. I felt like I was making a Terrence Malick film.

The journey to making this video was very stressful and challenging. We were barely able to film the wedding given that our equipment arrived literally 30 minutes before the ceremony. Luckily we had with what we needed to cover the prep and tea ceremony. It helped that everything is gorgeous in Maui. And it was also great to film another wedding in the most amazing circle of friends. This wedding follows on Nancy & Peter, Queenie & Tim, Janis & Jon's weddings and more from this super friendly and fun group.

With this video, I think I'm pretty close to knowing my true style: simply to push people's emotions over the brink into pure joy and happiness. Justin and Sylvia thank you for taking us on this journey with you.