we're all mad here

This is my friend's brother Sam Reynard driving at 100 mph on a motorcycle while his friend drinks a milkshake and sports a 'Saved by the Bell' t-shirt.

When I saw this years ago, I thought - Sam's cool.

I guess I was right. Since then Sam has set up an enterprise that teaches kids how to make their own films. It is called; Mad Hatters Film Camp with a goal to inspire others on the art of film and video production, tools they believe students can learn to express themselves and use as a powerful tool of communication.

Based in Sotogrande, Spain, students learn about story, character and from day one the course offers a hands on film experience. After two weeks, they leave with a number of short films and students then can enter the films into festivals around the world boosting their creative talents and hopefully starting a hobby or even a career in filmmaking.


Mad Hatter's Film Camp 2014 from sam reynard on Vimeo.

Based on previous camps, both the students and instructors have grown from their experience together and I asked Sam Reynard to share.

"I, for one, have learned a lot about myself through passing my knowledge onto the students. I hope this camp in later years expands into a world-wide film camp. Where we have students stay over for 2 weeks a summer to create all types of film media and learn the importance of film and video production in an online media world."

When I asked Sam, 'what makes a good Director?' he replied;
"I think someone who can share their vision with others, be a fair leader and work harder than anyone else on set has what it takes to be a good director. The rest is practice, practice and more practice!"

We live in a world where content and more content can occupy our lives online and offline. What a wonderful endeavour it is to learn to be a creator of content to share with others and empower kids to feel the same... perhaps with less war scenes and of course many more happy endings!

If you have any rug-rat Spielbergs in the making that need to hone their craft, get them to Mad Hatters Film Camp for a tea party with Sam. Hopefully they won't be returned covered in milkshake.

the musician comes first

Recently I met with an old colleague and friend from my advertising days. He was quite the inspiration then and continues to be a kind mentor for me now. He's also been mistaken for David Grohl much to both our amusement!

As we sat in a hookah bar in New York City late on Christmas Eve, after an amazingly fun packed day (the brief was: 'Vibrant') of festive wonders from MoMA's latest exhibit: Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926 - 1936,  fancy champagne and nibbles at the Ritz-Carlton (a special treat for this nomad), a cool stroll through Central Park, Indian cuisine at the most gastronomically delicious Tamarind restaurant, a few games of pool at the Fat Cat and my open admission that I trusted his judgement - he finally gave it to me real.

"Just do it Jess" was what he said pointing out the obvious while I somewhat reluctantly accepted his call (given my tendency to take the 'scenic route' to decision making). He was telling me to get real.

Making the transition back in to this reality has taken some effort after spending a long time reflecting on life, traveling to remote corners of the world, seeing the heart breaking severities of poverty and natural disasters while integrating some powerful experiences and awakenings over the last couple of years. It's not always easy but I certainly feel alive. It's been a joy to explore and finesse my creative spirit through writing and photography, while also training and practicing as a holistic therapist in the beautiful ancient teachings of energy healing and yoga. Nevertheless applying these lessons and coming back in to the modern world takes focus.

His persuasive words sang true and he pointed me to this beautiful Keynote given by the real David Grohl at SXSW earlier this year. It is an incredible speech and well worth listening to as we get closer to the start of a new year. I hope for all the artists out there (which I'd like to say is everyone) David Grohl inspires within you faith and strength to keep on going, to remain true to yourself and realise that creative energy within which can too often be stifled by the world around.

"Come forth from your cloud of unknowing and kiss the cheek of the moon" - Leonard Cohen

gromits unleashed & beautifully caught in bristol

I studied in Bristol (UK) and so its always been a city close to my heart. It holds a lot of special memories for me and is one of my favourite cities in the UK to wonder around in. Especially with the cardiovascular workout of getting up the near vertical slant of Park Street.

On 1 July 2013 the ‘Gromit Unleased’ charity art exhibition was launched in Bristol and it’s surrounding area. Spearheaded by Aardman, the unique art trail featured 80 giant, 5ft high Gromit sculptures, individually decorated by an eclectic mix of well-known and local artists, designers and celebrities in order to raise funds for the local children's hospital.

The sculptures were distributed around the area with one also placed at London Paddington Railway Station. It's such a clever way of bringing a new dimension to the city while promoting a great cause. Bristol tourism staff estimated that the exhibition generated as much as £58 million for the city during the two-month display, with visitors coming from all over the UK and from as far afield as the United States and Japan to marvel at these giant sculptures.

The Gromit statues animated the city for ten weeks from 1 July, before being auctioned to raise funds to support the expansion of Bristol Children’s Hospital.

I met the talented photographer Steve Hyde at my family's guesthouse in Braunton, Devon (shameless plug) on a recent visit and he explained more about a project he has worked on as part of the exhibit in order to bring the Gromits to life in an interesting way after going on the Gromit treasure hunt and capturing each one on his camera.

"I’m a proud Bristolian and I love walking around the city so it seemed quite natural to pack my cameras and set off with my wife, Linda, to photograph a few Gromits one sunny day in early August.

We started with Gromit No.39, ‘Stat’s the way to do it, Lad!’ outside the Aardman building and worked our way down through the docks, into Millennium Square and onward from there. We were not alone though. We had to queue at most sculptures and found most of them by simply following the crowds. Grommiting seemed to have taken the city by storm! By the end of the day I had photographed eighteen Gromits and was hooked.

We went back into the Bristol the same week and visited another 20 Gromits. I returned for a third session a week later but this time used my bicycle to get around the Gromits outside the central Bristol area.

We drove out to get the remote Gromits and finally with 79 in the bag I bought a train ticket for London and set off to photograph ‘Gromit’ at Paddington. I had a few odd looks when I told people I was going to London to do nothing other than photograph a Gromit sculpture but having photographed the other 79, in my world, I didn’t have any option other than to go. I’m glad I did as well. I felt quite good knowing I’d completed the task."

Steve decided to bring the photo's to life in an engaging and innovative way.

"When I reviewed the pictures after our first trip out I began to think what could I do to make my efforts a little bit different, especially as I didn’t have my kids or grand children (they’re much too old or young for that) or anyone else I know in my shots. It was then I came up with the idea of converting them into polaroid style shots using a conversation action in Photoshop.

Although it might seem a little bit crazy using top grade professional equipment ,which is honed to producing large super sharp, well exposed shots, to generate under exposed fuzzy 3inch square images, I really liked the results. As a photographer I was also forced to totally re-think the way I composed the shots with the final polaroid result in mind and that was quite a challenge. Of course, no amount of photoshop trickery can ever really produce a genuine Polaroid copy but the results are still something a bit different from what I would have expected to produce at the start of the project."

All eighty sculptures are featured in the book with a few portraits of Steve's favourites towards the end.

Steve sends thanks to everyone involved for getting the project out there, promoting the city, generating loads of cash for a great cause and providing so many people with a lot of enjoyment over the last ten weeks or so.

a day well spent

Broomhill hotel and sculpture garden is about passion and determination.  It is a beautiful place tucked just outside of my Dad’s guesthouse in Braunton; a mere bike ride away and well, many know I have a weak spot for bike riding. This lovely place tickled my inner Alice in Wonderland no end as I admired the stunningly inspiring sculpture garden and 'done for love' hotel complete with hanging art and curious pieces on display. Its a place of passion for collecting paintings and sculpture. A great spot for tea and an organic ploughman's while wondering in its gardens in awe with my first love, Dad.

The line that accompanies Broomhill is ‘the art of a well-spent day’. That is precisely how I felt after a day trip day with my Dad as I commented ‘this one’s going in the memory bank Pops’ and it has so much that I am writing about it.

With an exhibition in the gallery, numerous sculptures in the garden, a band performing for weekly jazz nights, Broomhill is a wonderfully inspiring project from the two owners that decided to bring their dreams and passions to life. As a place to visit in British Summertime; it made me happy. Artistic explorations in the woods accompanied by yummy outdoor gastronomic smiles, a bike ride and one of my favourite men's company. Ticked all the boxes. If you ever grace North Devon in the UK with your presence allow Broomhill to grace you too.

This place illuminates some of the cheesey catch-phrases I have found myself saying as I play around The Brookfield Guesthouse (which my very British Dad loves to tease me about); 'teamworks dreamwork', 'live to give' and 'sharing's caring'; 

"What would you say if those words didn't rhyme Jessica?" the old man says with more of a preference to acronyms such as "JFDI" for "Just F*cking Do It".

He's speaking to a lady who worked in advertising.

"You can't kid a kidder" I quoted back to him. That one's his.

me julie’s garden

"The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there." George Bernard Shaw

This summer as I returned to the UK for time with family and friends; I spent a good duration at The Brookfield; my Dad and second-mum’s guesthouse in Braunton, North Devon.

Besides indulging a game of backgammon or bike ride with the old man and yummy sunny luncheon with Julie, I also practiced a bit of goodness and worked at the guesthouse as its also a very busy time for them both. There I would learn how to do hospital corners on bed sheets and use a press iron.  One of the other skills I acquired was a spot of gardening.  

Gardening for me was always been a ‘pop it in a pot and give it water’ job for me and really my plants have been limited to houseplants beside the one time 7 years ago when I got a bonsai tree, went on two week ski trip and came back to it dead. A big lesson for me. 

Julie (my second mum) on the other hand, is an incredibly talented gardener as was her mum. So consequently her garden is a wonderful retreat to sit out in, flush with blooming colours and relaxing vibrations. I asked Julie what the key is to creating a stunning garden and she explained the importance of having “an eye for contrasts and textures, time and dedication” and her appreciation for continued learning while “discovering new plants”.

 What do you love about gardening? “I like to potter in my creations. To see new life develop from cuttings I’ve taken and to be able to pick fresh from the garden in order to cook”

Julie and I took out two trees from the root while we were in the garden. While such a simple task of digging a big hole, shaking the branches and yanking the roots with fierce determination – it was very, very satisfying and now Jules has space to plant some beautiful colourful flowers that give life as opposed to the old trees that were taking away the goodness...I will be leaving Julie’s garden inspired to do more.