A Bonfire For Dave

While a backyard bonfire was a fun idea for my first night in Regina over the Canada Day weekend, it was actually because of Dave that my friend Tyler and I wanted to do it.  It was a year ago that we all sat around the fire together, sharing stories, listening to music, and talking about the future.  Wendy was just over a month away from having Darwin.  It was really our last major hangout before Dave passed away in September, and it was the footage that I shot last Canada Day that became the final shots I had of Dave and that I used in the memorial video I edited for him.  If that wasn't enough, our musings around the fire also became the inspiration for my reel last summer.

With these memories fresh in our minds I also wanted to have another bonfire to shoot some scenes for my Searching Salvation project.  The logs and ashes left in the fire pit were still those from last Canada Day and the stick that I wrote everyone's names with was still right there resting on the ledge.  Regina will always remind me of university and the close friends I made there, and this just seemed like another poignant way of saying goodbye.  After Tyler moves away later this year I think we'll both continue to look back at this weekend as one of our most ambitious hangouts, and maybe even one of the most symbolic.