Martin Family | Dexi’s Fairy Garden | Austin, Texas

Hi everyone! Life has been a bit hectic while I worked through completing a film for the #keepsakefilmchallenge during the last few weeks. Filming Life Academy has been a group I have been following for awhile now thanks to one of the owners, Courtney Holmes. I came across her creative live courses on family films a few years ago and I was hooked. The purpose of the challenge is to get you to create a film and follow along with the steps to not only make a film but make the best film you can.

Even before I knew that anyone else was creating family films I told people that I wanted to do professional home movies. Which might sound a little risque but was never meant to have an illicit meaning.

Before cell phones had cameras we used these things called camcorders.

One unmarked year in the early 2000’s I realized that I didn’t own a VCR anymore and had no need to get one. I hadn’t watched those old movies in years but on one special occasion my brother transferred them to digital format and gave them to me as a gift.

I watched them all several times and still will pull them up every now and again to check them out. I love seeing my family and getting to show my daughter what I was like when I was little like her.

Back to the topic at hand. I made this video of Dexi for her. In a few years, of which, she may not remember exactly when, she will stop playing with her fairy garden. I made this for her to remember. She loves this personal film and asks to get to see it often. She has already changed so much and I only wish I had plunged into this endeavor long ago for her to treasure.

If you could encapsulate something about your life today, what would you want to remember?