behind the scenes, a new friend and a film

last april the very talented ryan marshall came to the hill to film aran's book trailer. aran, jon and miren along with ryan spent a few days on the hill. It was a very exciting time, my good friend aran was going to film a book trailer for her first cookbook and she wanted do it it here on the hill and she asked ryan marshall to film her trailer, who i had for a long while been admiring through his extremely well written and open blog pacing the panic room.  even though he has stopped writing it, it is worth a visit and i secretly wish for him to return to it ( okay not so secretly:).  what a treat it would be to have my home, the animals and my things be part of it.

Aran and the children did so well, as aran and ryan filmed,  jon, miren and i played, how close i felt to them and how fun it was to watch their mama do so well.  Ryan fell in love with the hill and his vision and calm ways made the experience so wonderful. the original plan was to shoot an early spring but the weather had other plans and cold and dampness took over, so we lit a roaring fire that never went out, we cooked, chatted and shot through out the days. In the evening we would sit by the fire after dinner exchanging stories.

 ryan who i picked up from the airport around midnight quickly started asking questions and gave me some good advice and still does,  he was what you read on his pages, kind, talented and way cool.  I had just received my x100 camera gifted to me by Kimberly and was getting used to shooting it that weekend.  Ryan would hear me mention the fog the name i named my camera that no longer worked, he would have this big smile and would say things like wow, you really loved that camera and i can not believe you shot most of your blog with your nikon d70.  later on he would tell me that the nikon d70 was his very first digital and how special it was to him and how he was keeping for his little girl. one day as we were getting ready to shoot he said to me " nadia i want you to have my d70 and when i get home i am mailing it to you" i could not believe it and of course i said you can not do that with tears in my eyes. I felt ryan's kindness from the very minute i met him but this was beyond that and i found myself very moved by it and again asked the question why would someone do that for me. a few days later i received not only a camera, but lens, a bag and book, such an act of pure kindness to someone he just met, i was beyond touched. ryan's generosity has not end there, he has given me things to think about, kind words through emails and always complimenting me on my own body of work.

I felt very lucky that week even though i worked hard, there i was watching my dear friend aran doing a wonderful effortless job in front of the camera, looking so beautiful, the children playing, laughing and showering dogs with love and even a bit for me too and on top of that i got to see ryan capturing the hill the way i see it, it such away that i knew and felt that i had nothing to worry about, for he would not spoil the hill but instead make it even more beautiful through his impeccable artistic vision and incredible talent. thank you ryan for your friendship and kindness.

aran congratulation what a very special time this all is, well deserved.

dear friends here is the beautiful collaboration that took place on the hill between aran, the children & ryan.

Small Plates & Sweet Treats from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

to can purchase aran's beautiful book here

*the song is called Snowglobes By Rickolus you can find his beautiful music here