Sleeping Bear Dunes (Good Harbor, MI) – Wanted to give you a brief “behind the scenes” look that follows cinematographer/photographer Matt von Dayton and I as we trek across the Northern Michigan landscape, chasing the light. There’s something magical and almost sacred that happens when you give yourself over to the story unfolding before you. Even more so seeing how that story naturally fits with themes from my upcoming album, “Daylight – Stone Bright Solid, Volume II”.
We begin in the deep cedars and hang birdcages amongst the cobwebs. The delicate webs that stretch across branches mirror the intricately strung wires of the hammered dulcimer. Sunbeams reach with long fingers through the dense canopy to brush softly at our edges and show the way. From low fern valleys with weathered bone to high grass dunes with feathered heads, we follow the the light. It pools around us as we waded into still waters with our bare feet and tennis shoes, with our instrument stands and tripods. I tap away at Forty Days while Matt circles like a water bird with his camera. I hoist a ship kite against the blue sky, there is no wind, but my hands help it imagine what flying is like. The sun sets behind us. Just Matt and I and my husband Joe there in all this wilderness expanse.
With that said, this did not come together without a whole host of creatives who caught the vision. Thanks to Susan at Venus Beauty Lounge for make-up, Lacey at Lux Lab Salon Suite for hair, Cynndee at Pavlova for nails and Sal and the girls at Ella’s for accessory assistance. Thanks to Laura Bremmer for letting us pilfer your bird cages and to Hapticlab – though we had no wind to fly it, we are over-the-moon about that kite! Also, to my physical therapists at ATI – without you there would be no forest walks, let alone dune climbs.
Finally, to my husband Joe who schlepped all that gear through the woods and over dunes while still managing to take these photos – you are my true north and I love you beyond this life.