One of the last projects I worked on before leaving Durham Region in Ontario to move my life up to the far east end of Lake Ontario was this fun and challenging project with the team at Sport Durham. 



We had a fairly short time slot to put this together as the upcoming 2019 Ontario Parasport Games was needing donors sooner than later... but Brilliant Eye and the Sport Durham team were up to the challenge.  

Realizing that someone speaking from their heart and their experience usually is the best way to get someone to listen to a proposal, we quickly decided on the Talking Head approach.  The message was scripted and sorted out and then 12 very nice folks were contacted an asked to volunteer their time to this.   To keep things on the very tight budget we needed to work with (a high percentage of game support, like most big "government" games, comes through volunteers and their energy) we needed to shoot all 12 of our fine orators in one day.   Thus, the "cat herding" began. :-)

Organizing 12 (not counting myself and the creative team from Sport Durham) busy people to arrive at specific times during the same day at a specific location may not sound that daunting, but it is not as easy as it seems.  Add on top of this the reality that some of our fine speakers were at ease delivering their lines in one or two takes, while some others were a bit less "confident" with the recording process.  Perhaps a few (dozen?) takes might be required until we got the energy and pizass that we were looking for.  Let it be noted that they were ALL troopers and worked hard to give us what we wanted.  

Once the main bits were recorded came the editing process, again, with limited time available.  This was the fun part for me, next to actually meeting and videoing all these interesting folk.  Their hard work in front of the camera made my challenges behind the camera much easier to navigate.

In the end, I hope this project helps bring good things to Durham's hosting of the Games. Meeting some of the athletes and the people who support them was very inspirational to me.  
Truth be told, they were all pussy cats!   ;) 
Zero egos were to be found, just caring and dedicated people who had a common goal to hit.  
And I think we did it!   Thanks again, all who participated❤️   
 

Howdy my Most Patient Peeps!  

Been a long time since my last blogging output here on the ol' BrilliantEYE website.  Been a busy year, full of good work and good changes. Some easy to do and some not so easy.  All making Life just a bit more deeper and interesting.  A great place for my Creative Spirit to be coming from.   

I now am calling Kingston, Ontario, "home".   I've come here to a great community of creative and connecting folks that have made me feel very welcome indeed.  With over 60% of my work coming out of this beautiful town (lots of KGH and Queen's projects, as well as a handful of other wee jobbies ;) I'm looking forward to expanding my Creative Skills into the workforce here. 

If you are new to the concept of The Brilliant Eye, please take a look around my site and you'll get to know me a bit. 

And if you're an "old" friend in K-Town, say howdy and let's share a beverage on one of the wonderful patios abounding in this awesome city.  Maybe I can help you get your story and message out into the world!!

Cheers for now,
ReinMan  
(Reinier deSmit)
 

Summer is coming to a close.  Temperatures are dropping.  The long days are stopping. 
For the self-employed Creative, it's time for ideas of income to be popping.

Now, I'm a CUSP baby.  I was born at such a time, around 3am September 23rd, that I teeter on  the tightrope between Virgo and Libra. An unbalanced virgin. That’s me 😉

Today’s horoscope in the Toronto Sun (yes, once in a while I like to read words printed on paper - though it is becoming a dying practice sadly) was interesting to me as I pondered what I wanted my Fall of 2017 to look like.  

As my life feels at times tangled between two worlds, so did the advice of the Virgo and Libra stars. 

What I read had a lot about WORK and LOSS and BUSINESS and VULNERABILITY and even EMOTIONS.  Even a somewhat dire warning about being TOO "open" about how I FEEL. Apparently, today at least, I’m to be careful around any business decisions.

The more interesting advice here, to me, (and I’ve heard SO many variations on this theme): "Keep business & personal matters separate."

Huh.

This is an issue that I’ve tussled with most of my adult life.  To me, at some point in my younger days while pondering the workings of this somewhat crazy Universe, I realized it is ALL personal.  We can not separate who we are from what we do, no matter how we try to mentally, morally or legally justify separation of our humanity from 'things that need to get done'.  

Has this understanding, perhaps, limited my route to fiscal riches beyond my (obviously limited ;) imagination?  Perhaps.   Has this understanding, and my sometimes strong commitment to live from it, let me sleep better at night with myself?  Mostly yes… except when I’m worrying about 'money' of course 😜.

In my heart of hearts, I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay at the end of the day.  There are other ways to survive and thrive on planet Earth than wielding a huge bank account (though, obviously, it is much more tricky to do so in 2017 North America, and getting trickier).   I know my bank account of Creativity, Compassion, and Curiosity is full to overflowing.  Some will tell me that isn’t enough.  They may be right.  I don’t know. 

I do know this though: it is ALL personal.  We are all connected. A business exchange is just one of the ways the Universe keeps us turning towards each other and encouraging us to relate and sort through the puzzle of human relationship.

I think I’ll go with a line from each of my guiding stars:  "Consider (my) current position…" and "Keep (my) life simple, be direct, and don’t let (my) emotions take over."  I can do that much. 
I’ll love to chat more on this - but rent is due in a week or so.   I’m personally committed to making sure my relationship with my landlord continues to be an excellent relationship.  So until next time, my fine blog-reading Peeps - I wish you well and wish you good things in your always personal life.