My First Film Set
Welcome to my first ever film set: Guide Falls. The heavenly location that cost me 1500 times more pain than it was supposed to.
I’ll touch on that in a minute, but first let me briefly introduce you to the leading actor! Well, the only actor, obviously.
Archie Rogers:
- The cute kid with the note pad in my jujitsu class.
- The teenage Sharman who wouldn't shut up about the benefits of meditation.
- The valuable assistant for my first three wedding shoots.
- The kid who inspired me to write some film scripts (including the one above).
- The kid who bought me a book and ultimately cornered me into downloading the 'Waking Up' mediation app.
It turned out that Archie was a talented local soccer player but also a theatre actor. He seemed to spend a lot of time working out, but then one day he informed me of his deep aspirations for an acting career. Intrigued by this rare goal, I assured him that I didn’t know the first thing about acting, but that I could perhaps teach him a thing or two about cameras.
Therefore, I lined him up to assist me with my February weddings, but soon enough Archie was sending me acting monologues and I was throwing him back film scripts. After writing three scripts that were way complicated for a couple of Film Production newbs with limited resources, I decided to write something simple, easy and low movement that was relevant to the kid who would be reading it. Of course: meditation.
*Wednesday 31st of January:
Within 10min of reaching our ‘simple’ film set, Archie was climbing up a cliff face and I was launching my new drone above the water.
My dopamine was peaking, it must have been the best shot I had captured to date. I couldn’t stop panning back and forth, edging closer and closer towards the cliff face - this was it, we’d made it, this would take us straight to Hollywood..!
Next moment, the spray of the ever approaching waterfall caused my DJI Mini 3 to freak out. Naturally, I amplified the freakout to 10 and crashed the little feller straight into the cliff face before it plopped into the depths of the river below.
With some desperate underwater free-diving, I managed to find my deceased drone with the hope of still retrieving the footage. I soon confirmed, however, that footage was corrupted and that mine and Archie’s short film career had come to a crashing halt.
We got through wedding season and it was a success but the monologue and movie script trading seemed to be well and truly over. It wasn’t until I learnt that Archie had spontaneously decided to move to Sydney that I also spontaneously decided to send him a message:
Friday March 22nd:
“What are you doing Monday morning? Want to go get this Guide Falls footage? I’ll regret it if we don’t.”
Yesterday:
Archie climbed back up on the chilly cliff face and shivered in his meditating pose. I ran around the slippery rocks capturing some shots with my handheld before pulling out my brand new DJI Mini 4 Pro.
We took off and I nervously approached the spraying cliff face, capturing Archie in frame before flying up in altitude. And then once again a shock, followed by another flow of dopamine that would rival the flow of Guide Falls itself.
Like the Gods of Film had decided to gift us for our courage, a rainbow appeared, perfectly in frame. One mission, one take, and the Film Gods reminded us of their Covenant.
The Covenant: that if we stayed disciplined and refused to stop hustling, then everything would be ok 💫
Today:
Archie leaves to Sydney. I guess it's a shame that I've lost my leading actor and camera assistant, but I wouldn't dare stop a young man and his adventures. Plus, I got some dynamite footage and new mediation app that reminds me to slow the fuck down and smell the roses.
But lets be honest, the real (elephant in the room) shame here is that none of the distracted young ladies around this place noticed this young stallion and pinned him down before it was too late.
Remember ladies, future prosperity looks much more like notepads and meditation retreats than it does 8balls and 10 packs 💊>📝
😂🌈 #hustle
Titan-Like Femininity
masculine; adjective
pertaining to or characteristic of a man or men: masculine attire.
having qualities traditionally ascribed to men, as strength and boldness.
Capturing my first powerlifting event, the atmosphere hit me like a brick wall - a cacophony of metal clanging, voices booming, and testosterone-fueled energy pulsating through the air. It was a scene dominated by titans - towering figures with muscles bulging and beards bristling. And then there was Ebony.
EbonyJane, aka @TheSlaughterHouseGymSavage, seemed like a mere drop of ink amidst the sea of brawn. Covered in tatts and exuding an air of determination, she stood out, but not in the way you might expect. Although clearly in great shape, she certainly wasn’t a titan. Dark features but too small to be intimidating. And the standard sniffing, slapping, screaming process with her was, dare I say, cuter than it was ugly.
When Ebony reached out to me to document her next competition, I said, “sure” before even finishing the message. I figured that the contrast of her feminine figure amongst the masculine giants made for a photogenic scene.
I rocked up at the impressive Hyper Centre and the scene was indeed hyper-masculine. Although Ebony had paid me to be there, I found out quickly that she was hard to intercept. Locked in on her task, she simply wanted me to capture visuals from afar. With some desperate convincing/begging, I coaxed her over to the interview screen that I’d set up in the only place I could find: right in front of the busy food van.
I’d interviewed a handful people before this point and many since - this isn’t a situation that generally comes natural to people. I’m always so impressed by a person who can smoothy articulate their thoughts on the fly and by those with the balls to present their vulnerabilities to the world.
Ebony did both of those things on a public interview screen, sandwiched in between her active comp prep. Make no mistake about it, to manage such a task requires a Titan-Like mentality and a woman with such confidence, courage and intelligence is even more intimidating than the physical titans up on that powerlifting stage.
Yes, her lifts were impressive too.
See interview below.
A Dealer of Drugs & Ambition
The day I met the most the accomplished athlete in Australian Olympic Weightlifting history/a former ecstasy and methamphetamine dealer.
I drove out to Devonport one morning to capture one of The Strength Den’s regular competition events. This one specifically being an OLY meet. Naturally, I whipped out my camera and began pointing it at anything colourful or with legs. Amidst my busy flurry, a friend approached me and recommended that I interview a supposedly very decorated elderly gentleman who was in attendance – a man by the name of Ron Laycock. So that’s what I did.
I cornered Ron along a wall in the busy competition room, received a quick word of approval and then proceeded to question him about the only thing I could think to ask an old man and two time Olympian: mindset. There are countless clichés about mindset that any one of us everyman can recite, but when a person whose lived the life begins speaking, the words simply have more power to them. Ron was short and stout, carried too much weight and moved with a certain waddle in his gait, but this former Commonwealth Games Gold & Bronze Medallist clearly had no limp to his confidence
At first, I assumed Ron’s towering demeanour stemmed from a lifetime at the pinnacle of competitive sports. However, I later discovered that Ron had lived a different life as a 48-year-old drug dealer in NSW, equipped with an illegal shotgun and a big stash of contraband.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/former-olympic-weightlifter-ronald-laycocks-case-adjourned-over-drug-and-firearm-charges/news-story/adeba44772a97a78adfa5ccf81708da5n
Despite the moral shortcomings, thriving in such dark realm of the market demands a whole other degree toughness. Perhaps his waddle wasn't just due to the beer belly, but also the giant pair of swingers sitting underneath it.
Now I wouldn’t dare condone such occupation in any sense, but men like Ron can have a special place in our world. Misdirected and antisocial young men and adolescents need strong guidance. And not just strong mentors, but the rare type of men that are capable of both success and understanding. The checkered kids that I highlight respect great strength, but only if it comes from a place that they can relate to. It seems to me that the very checkered and decorated, Ron Laycock would be a great profit in this world.
For a quick example, take a look at Ron’s mean looking son in the final lift of the above video. I think we’re all lucky that this monster of a kid was guided in Ron’s athletic direction.
I just hope that in the end Ron created more athletes than he did meth-heads. I bet he did.