My husband and I recently took a trip down to the low country to celebrate our anniversary and just simply unwind. The amount of days we spent in Charleston and Savannah plus the travel time was absolutely perfect, and made for a great vacation. If you've never been to either I'd highly recommend going. Both cities are in a beautiful area of the country with great food, nice people and lots to explore.

I knew I had to bring my camera with me for the trip and I'm so happy I did because, despite having a few rainy and overcast days, the architecture in both cities was stunning. Most people think of antebellum architecture when they think of the south, but Charleston and Savannah had styles that ranged from before the Civil War all the way to modern day. I'm particularly drawn to colonial and victorian architecture, so most of my photos from the trip reflect that style and time era, but there was way more beyond what these photos depict.

I could go on and on about the walking tours, the food we ate and the sites we saw, but I'll leave that for another lifstyle-blogging-esque time. However, if you're thinking of booking a trip down south and would like some recommendations feel free to hit me up! Otherwise, enjoy a few snapshots from our time down there and make sure to follow @formerlealbrecht on instagram for more photography, design, animation and video work :)

Sometimes when your mind runs wild with endless ideas you need to get out there and make them happen instead of waiting for the right moment to do so. No ifs, ands or buts about it. And that was just the case for this passion project of mine.

For about a year or two now, I knew I wanted to work on a fun dance themed project with some friends and colleagues outside of work. I have always imagined working on a piece that utilizes different and dramatic frame rates, glowing and natural visual effects, and ornate choreography, but for the longest time my daily routines, commitments and freelance schedule precluded me from pursuing it. That changed this past May when I found out that a friend of mine knew some really amazing dancers that were interested in helping me with the idea. With summertime quickly approaching and the many weekend excursions, barbecues, weddings, vacations, beach trips, and get togethers that come with it, we decided it was the perfect time to tackle the video.

Amor Location

Location scouting still

Amor Handlettering

Logo design progress still

Amor VFX

Production still

Amor Logo

Final logo design

So what is the idea behind the dance-themed piece? Amor, as its name suggests, is a short story of all things love. People mistakenly only associate love with people, but the truth is love can define many things including, but not limited to, one's passion for a hobby or art form, an object, a sensation, an act of perseverance or, as part of this particular story, the enchantment of a city. It is an emotion that can define relationships, and it is the kind of love we feel and associate with our family, friends and loved ones. It is an undying and infinite kind of love. It has no shape or color, and it has no boundaries. But it is without a doubt beautiful and everything that is touched by it is cloaked with its profound beauty. This piece tells the story of two people defined by the many facets of love -their love for and commitment to one another, their shared love of dance, and the love of their home, New York City.

While the purpose of this project was to capture the broad definition of love, it was also meant to be a way for the team to practice certain techniques and skills that we rarely have the time to incorporate into our day-to-day work or on our client-based side projects. For me though this project continued to bring out the theme of love because not only am I passionate about what I do for a living, but I really enjoy learning, and this project without a doubt taught my friends and I a lot.

From the initial storyboards all the way through to post-production completion we learned a ton. I personally learned a lot about location scouting, licensing, production pipelines, rentals, schedule coordination, camera and location limitations, and consequential variables such as the weather on overall planning. I studied light and its interactions with surfaces and materials immensely for my visual effects work, and therefore, learned more about a subject I thought I knew fairly well. I learned a great amount about color grading from Jose our editor/colorist. I learned a lot about choreography and different styles of dance from our dancers Alexey and Aki, production and event photography from Stefania, and I hope my teammates learned a lot from me in return, as well. In the end and given our production constraints (i.e., two cameras, two cards, change in weather forecast, foot traffic, environment, etc.), we were very pleased with the overall outcome and what we were able to achieve with the limited tools and resources we had. It was a job well done all around.

While it was a great learning experience for all of us we most importantly had fun. We had a great time collaborating and creating the video together without worrying about an impending deadline, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with on this project than these guys. And as I say that I would like to say thank you again to everyone who made this project come together seamlessly. I hope you all enjoyed working on this piece just as much as I did. I look forward to working on more projects with you guys, and everyone else who is passionate about telling a story.

Find out more about the team and their talents/expertise at the links below:

Stefania Orru

Jose Duran

Alexey Gavrilov & Aki Kudo

Watch the full video here.