I’m so happy with how these videos turned out! Now, Now is a fantastic three-piece from Minneapolis, and I might go ahead and say that their album Threads is near the top of my list for 2012 albums right now. www.nownowband.com

Now, Now stopped in our Impact studio at MSU for a lil’ video shoot. I’m so stoked with how this one turned out. Hoping to more like this in the near future with more bands!

New raw footage from a project I’m working on!

thrivewithless:

What does jumping into a river have to do with minimalism? Not too much actually; but it shows the attitude we’ve all had toward this project as we all took the “jump off the deep end.”

(Reblogged from thrivewithless)
jwiz: Testing out the turf grass. (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

jwiz:

Testing out the turf grass. (Taken with instagram)

(Reblogged from jwiz)

thrivewithless:

What’s the bigger picture?

(Reblogged from thrivewithless)
Our new zoned-off apartment. What are we hiding back there?? thrivewithless: This is what Colin and I’s apartment will look like for the rest of the month. That cardboard wall effectively removes over 35 square feet from our already small apartment. But, we don’t need it. Our living room is substantially cozier now, but we actually like it a lot thus far. So why did we decide to put up this wall? Well, for me, the reasoning is twofold. First, there is the challenge. If you haven’t read up on what we’re doing this month, we are making small changes in our lives in order to learn how to live better while having less and creating less of an impact. One of the changes we want to make is in terms of shelter. As a group, we share a sentiment that the idea of shelter has taken a strange shift. It used to be a term than represented one of the basic needs of all beings – food, water, and shelter. This meant a roof over your head; somewhere to escape the elements. But look at us now. Many people have more rooms in their home than people in their family and can separate themselves so distantly that they won’t see each other for an entire day even though they haven’t left the house. They could even be chatting online in opposite rooms without ever having that face-to-face interaction. And while I speak in extremes here, this idea of excessive space has become the norm. So, we’re challenging this notion. Just in our little apartment, sectioning off some of our space has meant more interaction between the three people living here. We’ve had to change the arrangement of our living room to make it less focused on the television and more focused on creating a space for people to gather. Because it’s smaller, we’re just forced to come closer together – physically and mentally. Furthermore, we’ve been talking about what we could do if everyone gave up a comparable space. Granted, we can’t really donate that 35 square feet for public use, but in theory, if everyone learned to use a little less, we could give a lot back to the public and to the community. The way I see the world, we’re quickly running out of space as population and modernization both boom, and I think that that again, learning to live with a little less space, could do wonders for curbing such a huge problem. But more important than any of that, this wall has served as a constant reminder to change my mind set. I come home, see this wall, and it immediately brings me back to what this project is all about: asking myself “what do I need?” and “what is really important?” And that, I feel, is the most important thing I’ve gained and that others can gain from this project. It’s not just about having less, using less, and buying less. Much more importantly, it’s about challenging ourselves to live lives that we are truly happy with and will find fulfillment in.

Our new zoned-off apartment. What are we hiding back there??

thrivewithless:

This is what Colin and I’s apartment will look like for the rest of the month.

That cardboard wall effectively removes over 35 square feet from our already small apartment. But, we don’t need it. Our living room is substantially cozier now, but we actually like it a lot thus far.

So why did we decide to put up this wall? Well, for me, the reasoning is twofold. First, there is the challenge. If you haven’t read up on what we’re doing this month, we are making small changes in our lives in order to learn how to live better while having less and creating less of an impact. One of the changes we want to make is in terms of shelter.

As a group, we share a sentiment that the idea of shelter has taken a strange shift. It used to be a term than represented one of the basic needs of all beings – food, water, and shelter. This meant a roof over your head; somewhere to escape the elements. But look at us now. Many people have more rooms in their home than people in their family and can separate themselves so distantly that they won’t see each other for an entire day even though they haven’t left the house. They could even be chatting online in opposite rooms without ever having that face-to-face interaction. And while I speak in extremes here, this idea of excessive space has become the norm.

So, we’re challenging this notion. Just in our little apartment, sectioning off some of our space has meant more interaction between the three people living here. We’ve had to change the arrangement of our living room to make it less focused on the television and more focused on creating a space for people to gather. Because it’s smaller, we’re just forced to come closer together – physically and mentally.

Furthermore, we’ve been talking about what we could do if everyone gave up a comparable space. Granted, we can’t really donate that 35 square feet for public use, but in theory, if everyone learned to use a little less, we could give a lot back to the public and to the community. The way I see the world, we’re quickly running out of space as population and modernization both boom, and I think that that again, learning to live with a little less space, could do wonders for curbing such a huge problem.

But more important than any of that, this wall has served as a constant reminder to change my mind set. I come home, see this wall, and it immediately brings me back to what this project is all about: asking myself “what do I need?” and “what is really important?” And that, I feel, is the most important thing I’ve gained and that others can gain from this project. It’s not just about having less, using less, and buying less. Much more importantly, it’s about challenging ourselves to live lives that we are truly happy with and will find fulfillment in.

(Reblogged from thrivewithless)

THRIVE WITH LESS: On the brink

Check out my first post on a new collaborative Tumblr account. Thrive With Less is a mindset I’m adopting with five other MSU students to adopt a minimal lifestyle and embrace only the materials in which we need. We’re undergoing a series of challenges to cut out the excess from our lives, all in the month of February. Find out more on our site (and maybe even challenge yourself too)!

thrivewithless:

Much of my focus in growing as a filmmaker in years past has involved getting the “big gig.” How high could I climb in the ranks? Could I have the biggest clients? Could I get paid truckloads of cash for making videos? For a while, yes… Yes, I was raking in tons of money producing videos for…

(Reblogged from thrivewithless)

I am where I am today because of what I did yesterday. But what I did yesterday won’t keep me here.

“All artists know either consciously or instinctively that the secret intention of their life’s work is to rescue from the plunge of time something of beauty, permanence, significance in another’s eyes.”

-Joyce Carol Oats

Whether great or terrible, our preconceptions are self-fulfilling.