Wow.
This has been an incredible year. In fact, I’d say the best yet in my 29 years of life now. Yes, that’s a bold statement, but also very true. I guess you might ask, what do you base that on? For different people I think they might base it on success, financial statements, getting married, having kids, etc. Maybe it’s based around an event? For me, I’d say it’s the first year I’ve done the most amount of reflection, self evaluation and have come to realizations about my life that will change every year from here out. I learned who I am, what I’m not, and the value and worth that are in me. I learned that despite being a man that usually gets his identity from a job, that’s no longer where I get mine. That I’m valuable regardless of how many pictures I take or how many people see my latest video. I’ve also learned that the “glamorous” jobs are not nearly as fulfilling as the ones that change lives around the world, or just in one place. I’ve also made an effort to spend more time with family this year. For several years I got wrapped up in working way too much. This year, I edited some of my family pics and was really touched by the moments I got to share with them. Some of you out there may not have that as an option, but I would suggest to you that you can create it with real friendships and community. That’s been another thing that’s made this year the best yet. My friends and community at Heartland Community church and the Gathering. There’s nothing quite like walking through life with people that genuinely care about you. I know, because for 4.5 years I tried it on my own, my way, convincing myself I didn’t need people in my life like that. It’s amazing what the world tells you. To be independent, work hard, be successful and get the latest and greatest “stuff”, and that will make you “somebody”. Giving all that up and really learning who I am, what I’m about, and what I like and don’t like regardless of everyone else’s opinion has made this one incredible year.
So, as I go on now, sharing some of the year’s highlights, realize that [to me], these were things that I was glad to be a part of, or things that I was entrusted with this year, and not a list of things to brag about or to say “look at me”. In fact, I believe that God has truly given me every client and every job over the years and I’ve learned and grown from each of them.
So here we go:
January – I got to teach a Christian Youth Theater class on video. I had like 20 kids from age 11-18 I think. We shot a music video for a group called Empathy – it was a total blast – I learned a lot by teaching.
I also started the Focus Seminar that I’ve mentioned a time or two or three on here. That was truly the catalyst for getting “unstuck” from where I was in life. It was also by far the coolest thing I’ve ever been apart of – that of course will be trumped when I someday get married.
February - I graduated from my Focus Seminar after all 3 sessions and had a new confidence and outlook on life.
I also started editing some projects for Chuck Wicks, a country music artist from Nashville. We did several videos for him as the year went on, but at this time of the year they were mailing me really terribly shot footage (sorry Zac) and making me edit it into something worth watching. It was fun, and a learning experience to say the least.
I received a call from Nashville from Sony BMG asking me to produce a 60 second spot for the Academy of Country Music Awards live in Las Vegas. It was a pretty big job and the entire country music industry was going to see it. Before Focus, I would’ve said “no way, I’m not good enough for that” – but I didn’t hesitate and took the job. I turned it around in 3 days and they loved it. Not even a single edit change from what I sent them. I could tell things would be different this year already.
March – I got to see Michael Buble in concert with my good friend Erin. We edit with Michael’s stuff all the time in wedding videos so it was awesome to see it live and it was a really great show –
We also got to join Jeff & Becky Heinrichs on the Big Island of Hawaii to film their wedding. Ryan and I had a blast – drove all over the island and shot HD video everywhere we went. We even went places that we shouldn’t go with a rental car and despite Ryan’s warnings I kept driving in the middle of nowhere and found some incredible places to shoot – sure, we could’ve wrecked the car, lost a tire, or been eaten by the polar bears on LOST which live somewhere out there, but hey, we got some sweet video.
April – I was working with Food for the Hungry on a Community to Community video project showing how local churches could essentially adopt a community overseas. It was a really cool project and the first of many getting to work with them.
Chuck Wicks’ single “All I Ever Wanted” went to the radio and we released a video of him singing the song in several radio stations – later we released one when the music video was shot as well – his single wound up getting into the top 5 on Billboard this year.
My birthday was also in April – the first one I realized I could really celebrate “me” and do whatever I wanted to – I invited a bunch of friends from church and my Focus class and we went swing dancing – it was my first 2 lessons ever with swing dancing and after they opened the dance floor they announced it was my birthday, put me in the middle of the dance floor and every girl in the room got to come dance with me. I normally would’ve been embarrassed out of my mind, but this was a new me, and I loved every minute of it – I stuck to basic step which was all I knew – 8 months later, I’m still learning…
May – we shot a couple of shows for Christian Youth Theater again which is always a blast – you want to talk about some amazingly talented kids that can sing, dance and act – it’s amazing what they do out there!
Chuck came through KC to Denim and Diamonds and we hung out for a bit – this was actually my first face to face with him since all of the other footage had been sent from Nashville to me – I also hung out with his totally incredible road manager Jerry who does more than you can imagine to keep the tour going and everything on track.
I was working with Catholic Charities as well during this time and we began filming for a couple of videos on gang violence and what these kids would see in their “perfect world”. It was a really cool project and I got to work with my good friend Rachel who’s also the best Starbucks barista around – she also helped tremendously with the video production of that project and organizing the gang symposium in Kansas City that it aired at. If only I could show you the out-takes from those videos – kids are hilarious when they want to sound important – “I’d say the violence is the most potenant thing, in the list of…, as far as to say, but… you know” was actually a line we cut out of the footage. ”No, I don’t know?, what are you trying to say there that’s so “potenant”?” It was great!
Grande Misto w/ foam please?
We also got to go to Pella, Iowa for the Van Wyk wedding at the end of the month which was just awesome – Andrew and Melissa are such a cool couple -
June – this was a pretty ridiculous month. Let’s be honest. I actually filmed some dance recitals, which were great, and I know the folks at the studios that I filmed for, but that’s so much work it takes months to get through all of it – much more than weddings.
I also got to do photography for my friend Jonathan and his awesome wife Christie:
I normally don’t do photography work in KC because I know too many incredible photographers, but they weren’t wanting video and I was more than happy to help!
July – I was out on the road with Chuck Wicks, Brad Paisley, Julianne Hough and Jewel on a weekend filming tour from Nashville all the way to Saratoga, NY and back. Chuck is one of the funniest guys I’ve met, and I could tell that from the video footage that Zac had sent before I met him, but spending a weekend on the road with him is just ridiculous. Of course Chuck is now dating Julianne, which actually was happening back then while we were on the road, but I wasn’t allowed to say anything. I have video of some songs Chuck made up on the spot while we were filming on the bus that is absolutely hysterical, if I ever get permission from management, I’ll post them for you. On a side note, getting to watch Brad’s set every night was truly incredible – he’s such a cool, down-to-earth guy and incredibly sincere. My favorite part of the night was him singing “Letter to Me” – he has a line in that song where he says “these are nowhere near the best years of your life”. I remember as a kid thinking how cool it would be when I grew up and all the fun things I could do like stay up late and see rated R movies and drive a car, etc. Somewhere after college I didn’t want to grow up anymore and started believing those “best years” had already passed me by. I no longer believe that, and after looking over this year, it truly has been better than years past.
Someone left a garden gnome on our lawn before I went on tour so I decided to take him with me:
August - The Paisley Party Tour gang came to KC to the Sprint Center and we filmed the whole day out there. We also did a ridiculous spoof on “trick my truck” off of the CMT show and did “trick my bus” instead. Chuck thought it was a stupid idea and wasn’t much for filming it, but in the end, it came out pretty dang funny.
Ryan helped me film and got caught in the dressing room by Chuck who insisted on singing “I need you now, more than words can say, I need you now…” into a red-bull can to him – he didn’t know what to do at that point -
I got to spend 2 weeks in South Africa – One of the many crazy things I do as a videographer is film depositions for attorneys – I’ve done it for over 6 years now and it’s incredibly boring – Every now and then, I get to do some fun things like film explosions, fly in a helicopter over pig farms while filming, play around in airplane hangars with 12 cameras or go to South Africa to film depos. It was a great 2 weeks – incredibly beautiful place, and also a first hand look at the cycle of poverty and crime that exists there. It was hard to know whether to enjoy the beauty or be upset about the injustice, but a good trip and experience overall.
September – was a month of incredible weddings – from Danielle & Danny in St. Louis to Joy & Donny and Jon & Jan Fogarty back in KC, we worked with incredible photographers and had such a great time with each one of them.
October – was also full of great weddings and an engagement session with Travis & Lisa. I’m currently working on releasing their wedding invitation on video too. I get to do their photography in March next year and can’t wait to work with them again!
I also got to take some awesome pictures of my nephew Grady – I’ll do another update in a few days with some Christmas shots:
His latest thing is bubble baths. hysterical. that’s all I can say.
November – by now, I’ve had almost daily updates on my blog, so you can check back in the archives for that stuff.
December – Ryan and I got to go to Ft. Lauderdale, the Bahamas and Key West for Adam & Whitney’s wedding which was just incredible. I just met with Whitney today and she’s ecstatic about the over 700 pictures she now has to try to put into frames, books, walls and computer screens. It was a great warm trip to take right before Christmas -
Christmas this year was pretty awesome. It was our first without my grandpa which was definitely felt, but we still really enjoyed our family time and playing some crazy games with grandma.
Grady got a truck that he can sit on or walk behind – he helped me put it together -
And he got in the box:
So – there it is. A great year of friends, family and places. One of my favorite things is getting to capture those moments, either still or video.
That’s a little glimpse into my world. I’m looking forward to sharing 2009 with the same friends, and even more folks I’ve yet to meet. If you’d like your moment captured, feel free to email me or visit my site at www.mikevarel.com – thanks for stopping by!
