finite

what would you do if you were all alone?

watch the trailer for my new short film FINITE:


FINITE - trailer from Natalie Raymond on Vimeo.

alone

ventured out into the wilds this past weekend to shoot my newest little short film project.
fossil falls is a spectacularly weird geological feature about 2.5 hours north east of los angeles.

the film, finite, follows the last human being alive as she makes a decision about what remains of her life.

one year of poems

A post shared by N. (@natalie_raymond) on Feb 20, 2018 at 11:23am PST

I started the poem a day project one year ago with the vague idea that it might be kind of fun to write 100 poems in 100 days. Now it’s been 365 poems & an entire year.

I never really had an end game in mind for this project. It was always just sort of a thing I did for practice. Creativity is, after all, a muscle. I haven’t really decided or even much thought about where it would go, so in that vein I think I’ll keep going for now. Maybe two years of poems has a nice ring to it?

Thank you for reading along.

in the bones

BONES (full poem/film) from Natalie Raymond on Vimeo.

My first excursion into the overlapping space between poetry & filmmaking is this experimental short called BONES. I wondered: how can we bring poetry from its flat life on the page into the dynamic world of visual experience? I imagined a kind of music video for poetry. BONES is the result of these imaginings.

More: natalieraymond.com/bones

This short will likely be the last time I am *in front* of the camera. As I was editing this piece, over a year ago, I was almost unable to watch the clips I was in. Instead of being a kind of "actorish" modesty I felt like I looked uncomfortable. Many months later I had my aura photographed & one thing that was mentioned to me was that my aura read as me being unsure of if I want to be photographed or not. The photographer told me: you're not totally comfortable in front of the camera.

This is true. In the months since I've been thinking about this, turning it over in my mind. Really, all the time I spent fancying myself an "actor" was forced. I was never comfortable in front of cameras or on stages, but I was able to conceal this by not being myself, by trying to become the character. Of course you cannot ever really become a character, there are always still shards of you inside. When I watch myself in my acting projects I feel acutely aware of the viewing experience. You can see me being watched in my body language. What a liberation it is to now be the one doing the watching!

new adventures are coming...

I recently decided to get back into traveling, after being pretty stationary in either NYC or LA for the past 10 or so years. I'm starting small, but working my way out to larger trips.

To that end I started a travel blog, Angelino All Over, to document my adventures both close to home & far away. Give it a click if you so desire. My first post, about Lime Oregon, went live today. Stay tuned for more adventures in the US & abroad.

reeling

My project of late has been to work on the frozen-in-place-ness I feel because none of my work is perfect, or good enough, or made on fancy equipment. It's a kind of imposter syndrome I guess. I keep wanting to wait to begin until I am sure I will already be good at it (great?) & I have the excellent cameras & lenses & stabilizers to go with it. But if I keep waiting for these things I'll never get anything done at all.

So, to that end, my first ever directing reel went live today in all it's rough glory. I am still working on the audio & music, & have a few more projects I am hoping to add soon, but this is my first go. Watch it below or on my website: natalieraymond.com/reel.



Natalie Raymond Directing Reel (Rough Cut) from Natalie Raymond on Vimeo.

new looks

A little bit of a new look for natalieraymond.com as I transition from being in front of the camera to being behind it. Moving toward directing, screenwriting, & producing is a direction I never would have seen coming even just 5 years ago, but my recent soul searching has lead me to start making the switch. Look for more projects coming from me in the next several months.

Also very pleased to announce that my book, missoula., was deemed a semi-finalist for the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky book prize. This was the first time I have sent the manuscript out as a whole, & I'm quite pleased with the result. Read my poem a day project to get your daily dose of poetry & look for more publishing news in the near-ish future.

I will be making a real effort to blog more this summer! Watch out!

-N

daily

started a new project.

writing a poem

every. single day.

READ IT: poemadaydoctoraway.tumblr.com

"unrelated poetry side stuff"

I don't really write poems outside whatever current project I'm working on. I have a research based approach to making poetry, which means that when I'm working on a manuscript I'm working on it all the time & not burning energies (& words) on unrelated poetry side stuff. I don't think I'll ever be the kind of poet who publishes a "collected poems" at any point... there just aren't enough to "collect".

When I'm working on something I cut away all the fat & focus my energies on that something. I don't have the stamina to be writing prolific amounts of poems on wide ranges of concepts.

All that being said, I was in oregon last week... my first visit since burying my grandmother. & though the hybrid memoir I'm working on now (see: missoula.) doesn't involve her, I found myself jotting out a little missive on staying in her house now that she's gone: