Sunday, December 06, 2015

Lazy Sunday #405: Afterglow

I don’t ski.

One reason is that I grew up in the flattest part of Saskatchewan. Didn’t see my first hill until I was 12.

The other is that later in life I learned to ski.

Oh, I’d claimed I could ski before then. Lied to a casting director to get a part I wanted. I’d seen people ski. Didn’t look that hard.

Felt a little different standing at the top of a slope with boards strapped to my feet. But just in time, the director decided he needed somebody in my onscreen super-cool ski party to drive a snowmobile and I actually did know how to do that.

Even that guy who fell halfway down Everest didn’t kick out of his bindings as fast.

But I eventually did learn to ski. Fell a lot but completely embraced the thrill. And my last night on the slopes I fell in love with night skiing.

All of us who work with light have a special affinity to those situations in which light becomes magical and there was something about the moonlight, the snow and run lights reflecting on ice crystals in the air that made the experience unforgettable.

Next morning I took a tumble that put my back into agonizing spasms for weeks and ended any chance of my becoming the next Warren Miller.

But I’ll never forget that night and that quality of light and continue to bask in its afterglow.

Recently the people who make Philips televisions created a film expanding on the magic of night skiing to sell their new line of LED televisions. And it’s equally as unforgettable.

It’s also fittingly called “Afterglow”.

If you don’t ski. This might convince you it’s time to start.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

The full film by Sweetgrass Productions can be found here.

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