- January 15th, 2011 at
4:42 pm by --KALEB NATION-- -
I’m finally home from one of my rare long vacations! This time I went to Canada, then southwards to visit my family for the first time in over a year. It was a much needed break after all that non-stop, up-to-4-AM work on the Secret Project!
Of course, I’m that person who vacations for 10 days, and doesn’t end up with a single photo of himself. My friends want proof I actually took a break for all that time, because THE VACATION COULD BE FALSIFIED. Will photos of chickens do?
- November 30th, 2010 at
2:10 am by --KALEB NATION-- -
Recently, I was struck by a new story idea which takes place in Southern California. I’m not exactly sure if this idea will go anywhere, but writing it has given me a thrill that only comes about when I have delved into something fresh and waiting to be explored.
The story takes place in a small town called Arleta, CA. I chose this place because it is in the San Fernando Valley, near the hills, and happened to be the only town in the Valley that had a name that seemed to fit. I was visiting California over Thanksgiving and decided to take a short road trip down to where the story takes place. What followed were hours of me driving in circles, creeping houses with my camera, being followed by unsavory-looking characters, losing said characters near some train tracks, discovering that Arleta has an airport (something I hadn’t known in my mental image of the place) and ignoring the endless scolding from my GPS system. It is a rare thing for a writer to visit the town where an idea is set, and then to find that it is almost exactly as I imagined it.
I took an endless folder of photos but these seem to tell the story of Arleta from the outside — quiet, unimposing, ready to hold some secrets behind its name. After visiting, I took a short trip down to Los Angeles and the beach in Santa Monica, as this is in the story also. Then, I ventured up a dangerously winding road to the top of the canyon so I could get a glimpse of what my character sees from there. It’s odd, but a part of me could almost feel the characters there, as I wandered this place amongst a story that as of now, only I know.
- November 18th, 2010 at
3:26 pm by --KALEB NATION-- -
After my quick vacation to Montreal, I flew to Charleston, South Carolina to spend some time filming a documentary with Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness. I snapped loads of photos while I was there but I’ve been so busy since I got home with editing the videos together, I haven’t had a chance to post the pictures. So here’s my favorite one so far, as proof of my travels.
I never photograph flowers, because photographing flowers is cliche and cheap and tawdry as the moon. But this one stood out enough to merit breaking my rule. The rest of the photos will be on my Facebook soon.
- November 13th, 2010 at
6:29 pm by --KALEB NATION-- -
Last week, as a much needed post-tour break, I went to Montreal, Canada, and stayed with some friends. When I think of the word ‘vacation’, any degree of coldness or even slight windy chill does not enter in to the definition. Unfortunately, Canada has real winters. What sufficed for a jacket in all the places I’ve lived (Texas, Los Angeles, Arizona) only merited to laughs from the Canadians.
Luckily, my friends eagerly helped make up for the weather / my sniffles and sneezes. We explored the town and saw a play for Henry V. I was provided a real jacket, which by all appearances doubled my girth.
The girl is Ilana Zackon. She’s a theatre actress and has a singing channel on Youtube. I recorded a video of her doing a song cover, which will be on her channel as soon as I can drag my jetlag-infested body out of my all-too-warm-and-comfortable bed to process it. We had some free time, so I snapped a set of photos of her for acting headshots / general fun because the lighting was so good.
These photos were taken with my Canon T2i and the majority are with a F/1.8. Photo of me were snapped by Ilana, who stole my camera about halfway through.
