If you are interested in keeping up with the current state of our project "Canary in the Mine" then you can follow the RSS feed at www.caritaps.com/rss using Google, Yahoo, or another program.

Or you can keep checking back at www.caritaps.com.

Our last post is right here: http://www.caritaps.com/2012/04/26/submissions-complete/

More projects coming soon!

Here is another video I did while in Mexico, this one is based in Guanajuato. I went to visit my friend Haily and got to practice some shooting.

I spent about 5 days in Guanajuato, a Spanish colonial town built around the 1500's. Very cool, once again, a great place to go especially if you know how to speak Spanish. Regardless, I had a blast.

I hope you enjoy.

Music again by DEAD HORSE BEATS, deadhorsebeats.bandcamp.com, many thanks to Pat for letting me use it. 

For my special project I went down to Mexico and shot vignettes of different cities around the country. I also visited friends around the country. It worked out perfectly.

Here is the first video, there will be 3 or 4 more:

Mexico, Oaxaco, Puerto Escondido

Music "Born to Die" by DEAD HORSE BEATS deadhorsebeats.bandcamp.com

Shot on Rebel T2i, kindly lent to me by Andrew Miller.

The TARA awards are the awards given out to the best of the Radio and Television Arts program at Ryerson. Canary in the Mine won best documentary there. We are all very happy about it. Such a great year with so many wicked projects up for awards as well! Here is a couple pictures from the show:

Danielle and Cyd looking dashing.

And then the afterparty:

It was rad, we are starting festival submissions as we speak thanks to everyone who generously donated! :) Much love and we'll keep spreading the message.

Over the next week I'll have a series of posts with shorts from my trip to Mexico. 

So we have officially launched our projects website: http://www.caritaps.com/

And we started an IndieGoGo campaign in order to raise money to fund the distribution for this project as it is finally DONE! 

Check out the campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/Canary-in-the-Mine .

And if you're feeling generous help us get this cause known! We have already raised $340 dollars in the first day! We are off to a great start, and thank you to everyone who has donated!

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I'm off to the states tomorrow, I'm heading to New York for the weekend, then Boston, then Burlington VT for the rest of the week. I'm off to visit some friends which will be very rad, I've never seen any of those cities before. 

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After that I'm shooting a series of short films in Mexico. I'm visiting friends in Mexico City, Leon, and Monterrey. I'll be down there for three weeks shooting up a storm and will come back with a great portfolio piece - I just have to get some gear together in order to make a portable production kit. I hope to make some stellar clips and really practice ultra light filmmaking.

Going to be a busy couple of weeks.

So I just finished my final project (well just about) at Ryerson, so I'm updating this blog to let my family and friends know what I've been up to. 

The past 5 months have been crazy, I've been working with some fantastic people and learned a lot about documentary filmmaking along the way. 

The doc is called Canary in the Mine and it explores the personal and political tragedy that is the Canadian asbestos industry.

So check it out, and catch a glimpse of what was 5 months of hard work, and a collaboration of highly talented people, and great minds fighting for an important cause. 

Produced by Steve Henderson

Directed by Danielle Heifa

Production Manager: Cydnie Kalkhourst

Post Supervisor: Katie Docherty

EPK Director: Michelle Groves

Help us get the word out there, we will be doing some fundraising within the next week in order to raise money for distribution and sending this out to film festivals, not to mention packaging and printing etc. 

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Coming up, I'll be going to Mexico to shoot some short films during the month of March, mostly to add to my demo reel, exciting stuff, it'll be great to get my feet moving again and meet some friends I haven't seen in quite a while.

I’m sitting in a café with a chai tea, reflecting over the past six months, recovering from a massive set of waves that came through earlier today, and living life until I fly out in a few days.

I’m reflecting on the people I’ve met, some I’ll keep in touch with, some for one hell of a night and never to be seen again, I’m reflecting on the things I’ve seen, and the experiences I’ve had. I’ve sat and watched many sunsets by myself, and I’ve watched countless sunsets with friends. I’ve experienced places in depth, and I’ve seen many that leave me asking questions and wanting more. There is so much to see here – from the rundown towns to the Southern Alps that have all culminated into a more in-depth view of the world, hell, it’s all swirling around in my mind, and it’s hard to make sense of it. It feels so distant and so unreal looking back on all the things I’ve done, but in a way they’ve stuck.

I am so thankful I have had the opportunity to experience this place. From a culture standpoint, it is not too different from Canada, although they are embracing the native population much more openly and including them in every aspect of the country and its national identity.

The soul of the country is in the landscape. No picture can do it justice. There have been countless times when I have just stared at the rolling hills or the coastline, with no one but myself and the land. A clear water stream has held as much power as a mountain for me. It has inspired home for me, revealing what I love most about it, and the power and beauty even a simple landscape can hold. I’ve come a long way from nervously stepping off the bus somewhere in Wellington with no plan ahead of me, but I figured it out, and I’ve learned more from it than any amount of formal education.

When you come to New Zealand, go to Cape Reinga, go to west coast Northland, go to Raglan, explore East Cape and the East coast, go to Mt. Ngaurohoe, Whanganui National Part, and Wellington. Go to Kaikoura, Akaroa, and Dunedin. Spend time in Fiordland and take the most beautiful drive in the world. Journey up through Twizel into the middle of nowhere, and follow the rugged west coastline of the South Island.

It has changed what I want to do and what I want to achieve.

Reading about travel and perspectives cannot ever describe the feelings you get from travelling solo, they can only motivate and excite, I mean, who can relate to you? Who could ever understand what you’ve done on your own?

I can picture home, I haven’t forgot a detail, the routes used to get into town, the view from my front door, the people, my friends, the routine. (I must add that I am REALLY looking forward to seeing all my friends:)

I’ll come back, and everything will have stayed the same.

How was New Zealand? Good.

Awesome, let’s have a beer.

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Here is to everyone I’ve met, everyone I’m coming back to, everyone who has taken me in, everyone who has given me a ride, everyone who has made this experience what it is.

To my Mom and Dad, I couldn’t have done it without you, I thank you for this exciting, eye-opening and educational experience, and I love you from the bottom of my heart.

To Paula, Steve, Renee and Harvey, thank you for taking me in, and I am so sorry that I couldn’t come back down to visit a second time - you were too kind to me.

To the friends I’ve made in Auckland: you guys rule, and we will most definitely keep in touch.

I can’t believe it is coming to an end, it’s emotional. I get it here, I’ve become a part of the country, I think on the other side of the road, I can surf, and I can look back and see how I’ve grown over the past six months. I want to stay here, I want to learn a language, I want to read more books, I want to see the world with nothing but a backpack. 

Sweet as bro.

I think a long walk is on the horizon:)

Well, it's not good-bye yet. I'm just getting ready.

I still have one more assignment to finish, then I'm getting out of the city. At the moment it doesn't feel like I'm overseas - it feels like the end of the semester in Toronto. Where I'm reluctantly crawling through my last few assignments before exams. But now I'm home free, and time to get some SERIOUS surfing time in. Moving to Raglan for the majority of June to get some freezing cold surfing in before I head back to Canada.

Surfing.

Really looking forward to the next part of this adventure - partly because I know exactly what it will be like - and partly because it marks progress with the completion of another semester.

I made some unreal friends during my time in the city, I'm going to miss all of you.

So stoked to get back to the ocean and make the most of my time left here. See you all in a month.

I took a little time out to edit together some of the footage I have taken so far here in New Zealand. It really makes me want to get an SLR camera that shoots video or a high definition video camera to make professional quality videos of places I've been to. I have a lot more footage and plan to make one around three or so minutes long when I get back with some surfing footage that will hopefully be taken.

Here she blows:

I'm super surprised at the quality of the little home video camera, it really turned out. The clips are from all over, North Island, South Island, Stewart Island - basically every island. In the world. 

Peace and love.

This happened on Saturday.

There is no way to describe it apart from travelling 3km in one minute with just your body.

Check off the list.