What’s that saying? It’s better to be lucky than good. But being lucky is one thing, you then have to recognize what you stepped in. I’m not always lucky, but one day on my shoot in California’s White Mountains . . … Continued
The Bristlecone Pine Tree [youtube]http://youtu.be/5cHwkHRaJTg[/youtube] Excuse Me While I Go Schizo I came across this shot while editing a sequence on bristlecone pine trees and the Milarch’s successful cloning of the Methuselah tree and I immediately got into an argument with … Continued
Dear Filmmaker, Were you nervous before your first interview with Paolo Soleri? I mean, he’s kind of a rock star, isn’t he? R.C. in AZ Dear R.C. in AZ Yes, I think he is, and yes, I was nervous before … Continued
Documentary filmmakers frequently encounter a dilemma: how do you know when to say, “production is over.” You can always shoot more, especially now with video. For Grey Gardens, a film I reference frequently, the Maysles shot more than 70 hours … Continued
In previous posts, I wrote about other people and projects I considered for A Life’s Work and why I chose four subjects instead of three or five or twenty-seven. But neither of those posts address why I chose these four … Continued
Here’s a clip I put together just for Arbor Day. The bulk of this clip was shot on our first visit with the Milarchs in 2007. (Please pardon my little artsy interlude which was shot elsewhere.) This is one of … Continued
What is it that makes us look up? We look up at trees, at buildings, to the sky to see clouds, stars, planets. If we are inside and we’ve been asked a question, many of us look to where the … Continued
I recently went to my doctor and we got to talking about A Life’s Work. He asked me if I knew Cicero’s treatise, On Old Age. I didn’t. He paraphrased a passage about trees. “Oh, that’s good,” I said. “I’m … Continued
What were the most viewed posts on the A Life’s Work blog? Glad you asked. The list is a little misleading, because some posts have been up for a lot longer than others, and so naturally will have more views. … Continued
Recently, I posted the following as a Facebook status. “David Licata is wondering what’s more important, what you’ve yet to do or what you’ve done?” It was my way of trying to be pithy and get people to click on … Continued