There is a secret cave in the back yard of Nelson BC known to the local hippies as the Crystal Cave..
Access to the Crystal Cave is a difficult hike over mountainous terrain but the destination is truly rewarding. Chunks of crushed white quartz crystal lay sparkling in pure mountain spring water. An amazing variety of plant life resides in the canyon leading up to the cave.
The crystal cave itself has a narrow opening you must scramble through on all fours, but once inside an adult can stand at full height in most places. The cave forms a large L shape as it cuts into the depths of the mountain.
At the first bend there is an extra chamber with a treasure chest full of pennies, empty beer cans, and a burned out deck of playing cards. After passing the bend the cave becomes pitch black and silent. This second corridor continues for several tens of metres and then dead ends. My infrared camera picked up some interesting cave paintings on the crystalline rocks inside the very back of the cave.
There was a large flat black rock on the cave floor which made a perfect meditation seat. The silence was so deep I could hear my ears ringing. After staring into the blackness for an eternity, I could just barely make out a reflection of daylight on the far wall of the cave back at the bend where the chambers were located.
If you’re in to meditation and like to face fears of claustrophobia, darkness, loneliness, rats, spiders, falling rocks — MORTALITY — then perhaps an afternoon of meditation in the crystal cave is the perfect idea! I certainly felt taller on the inside after facing these fears in myself.
Gratitude to the random stranger in the bagman fight scene — we think his name was Glen. We found him on Jam Factory Lane.
Technical Notes:
Most of this video was filmed using the Panasonic AG-HMC150P high definition camera at 1080p using a tripod with fluid head for smooth, steady shots.
In the scene where a car can be seen driving away from Gisto (the bagman) I used a Sony HDR-XR200 HandyCam mounted to the exterior of the car using a vacuum mount — a little risky but worth the effort to yield this unique view.
The audio was recorded live using a R0DE shotgun mic with the input levels turned down low to prevent clipping which rendered a full, rich loud sound with minimal distortion.
The final video was assembled, edited, and composited using Final Cut Express and some filters from FxFactory Pro.
I have climbed the Pulpit Rock and I have no sermon for you.
Technical Notes:
I shot these photos using a Nikon D5000 and a zoom lens. Selected photos were shined up and exported as an origami photo slideshow using Aperture 3.
Next I created a simple harmony chord track with a few little twists using GarageBand 11 and an M-AUDIO KeyRig 49. I exported my audio creation at CD quality to generate an .aif file.
iMovie 11 was used to merge the Aperture 3 photo slideshow, GarageBand 11 .aif audio track, and a tri-thalmic binaural beat frequency, said to stimulate the third eye.
The red headphones are new.. I finally found a good stock image and purchased some reprint rights and I feel good about this — supporting artists and keeping copyright content legit. I’ll let you wonder how I made that video effect but will let you know it can be done using only iMovie 11 and Mac OSX Snow Leopard’s Preview program.
This movie is time lapse driving footage crammed into a side-by-side view:
On the left is some dirt road driving and on the right is some freshly paved highway driving. The same Honda Civic car was used in both films, although it cost me some repairs this time. Mode’s Brake and Muffler did a great job of welding my muffler back together — check him out under the orange bridge in Nelson BC.
So what does the actual Kokanee Glacier look like? Ah.. some things we must experience for ourselves. =)
Music: “It’s Coming” by DoHm
Technical Notes:
The video was filmed using a vacuum suction mount on the inside windshield of the vehicle. A Sony HDR XR200 camcorder with a wide angle lens was used to provide an impressive moving panoramic scene. iMovie 11 was used to create the side-by-side video effect with a sliding panel fade effect.
