The Journey of An Alternate Pond

May 2026,

Shortly after completing the collaborative film, possible: that I made with my daughter in 2020, I started work on a new film, An Alternate Pond. This experimental film exclusively features my youngest brother, a fish farmer living in rural Alabama, and grapples with existential questions about the choices we’ve made in life and our feelings about paths not taken.

possible: exists in the internal space of the imagination and used physical environments as metaphorical landscapes. This was a departure for my filmmaking, and I wanted to further explore creating films in this vein with An Alternate Pond.

The project began with promising momentum, with principal photography completed during a fun few-day shoot in the summer of 2021, but the post-production has been languishing for a while now. The demands of my teaching career, plus some creative and logistic roadblocks, have slowed progress considerably. Recently, I’ve managed to overcome many of these obstacles, giving me renewed hope that I can finally bring this film to fruition by summer’s end.

An older woman with curly gray hair and a younger man in jeans and a white t-shirt make a bed together in an open pasture. The antique wooden bed frame with spindle posts is flanked by a wooden nightstand with a table lamp, while a green Coleman lantern sits on the grass nearby. A large herd of cattle — black, white, and tan — watches from the background across the green field.
My sister-in-law and nephew help prep the bed before a curious audience.
An older woman with curly gray hair and a floral blouse spreads a light blue quilt over a bed set in an open pasture. A white pillow and the spindle post of the antique bed frame are visible in the foreground, while three cream-colored cattle graze on the green field behind her.
Three people huddle together adjusting a table lamp on a wooden nightstand in an open pasture. A man in a plaid shirt and flat cap leans in to position the lampshade while the older woman in the floral blouse looks on closely, with a third man in a blue button-down observing from behind. A yellow stepladder stands in the background, cattle graze in the field, and the spindle post of the antique bed is visible at the right edge of the frame — suggesting a behind-the-scenes moment from a photo shoot.
Three people rigging the lamp. How many people does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

The Inspiration for An Alternate Pond

Throughout my life, I have marveled at the large impact of the seemingly small choices we make. For me, these choices have always raised questions about the unlived possibilities of the paths not taken. These questions become particularly insistent during periods of doubt, when we find ourselves wondering about roads not taken. I wanted to make a film that explored the nature of these feelings.

I set this film on the family farm in Alabama where my brother lives. The pastures, the forest, and the pond on the farm create not just a visually compelling backdrop, but a metaphorical space that echoes the film’s central inquiries. Most of the films surreal imagery came to me in dreams or daydreams, and coalesced around the film’s core themes.

A neatly made antique bed with a light blue quilt and white pillow, accompanied by a wooden nightstand and table lamp, sits alone in the lower left corner of a vast green pasture. A large herd of cattle in mixed black, cream, and tan colors fills the field, moving toward and around the bed. A flock of white birds — likely egrets — takes flight above the herd against an overcast sky, with trees lining the horizon.
I wish they had stayed just like that, but they eventually got bored and moved away.
A middle-aged man with tousled gray-brown hair and a full salt-and-pepper beard rests his folded hands on the tailgate of a pickup truck, gazing off to the side with a contemplative expression. He wears a blue chambray shirt, and a ladder rung is visible at the right edge of the frame. A soft-focus green pasture and overcast sky fill the background.
The star.
Two men confer at the tailgate of a silver pickup truck in a field. The man on the left leans against the truck while the man on the right — wearing a flat cap, glasses, and a plaid shirt — holds a Sony camera rig equipped with a mounted accessory, studying it intently. A blue cloth on the tailgate holds an additional lens and gear, while a yellow stepladder stands in the truck bed behind them.
With the ladder I will soon climb for the master shot.
The photographer in the flat cap, glasses, and plaid shirt stands at the top of a yellow stepladder mounted in the bed of the pickup truck, operating a camera on a gimbal stabilizer to capture an elevated aerial perspective of the scene below. Trees and an overcast sky fill the background.

The Collaboration Behind An Alternate Pond

possible: was such a wonderful creative experience that I was eager for another fruitful collaboration with my daughter, Amalia. We had dreamed up the concepts for possible: on the back of a napkin in less than an hour while having coffee in a cafe. We shot it over the course of two days, but only after the edit was complete did Amalia write the voiceover for it.

This reverse approach, while perhaps unorthodox, proved remarkably effective for us. Having the completed visual narrative in place seemed to unlock new dimensions in the writing, leading us to unexpected thematic depths. For An Alternate Pond, I intentionally preserved this method, anticipating how Amalia’s writing would transform and elevate the film, breathing life into the images and articulating the questions that drive the film. I wasn’t disappointed. After the edit was finished, Amalia wrote a beautiful and resonant voiceover that captures everything I had hope for and more.

Two men stand on either side of a silver pickup truck parked in an open field. The man on the left, in a blue button-down shirt and khakis, leans against the open driver's door, while the man on the right, wearing a plaid shirt and flat cap, leans casually against the truck bed. A yellow stepladder stands upright in the truck bed alongside some equipment, and gear is scattered on the grass nearby. A treeline fills the background under a partly cloudy sky — another behind-the-scenes moment from the pastoral photo shoot.
A young man in a white t-shirt sits on the edge of the antique bed in the pasture, holding the hand of an older bearded man who lies against the pillow with eyes closed. The young man gazes upward with a quiet, contemplative expression. The wooden nightstand and table lamp are visible in the foreground, with a green field softly blurred behind them.
My nephew and his father engaging in some theatrics of their own.
The photographer in the flat cap and plaid shirt is seen from behind, holding a gimbal-mounted camera as he films the bearded man lying on the antique bed in the open pasture. The subject and bed are softly out of focus in the middle distance, with cattle grazing and trees visible on the horizon under an overcast sky.

The Current State of An Alternate Pond

Currently, I am wrapping up the sound design for the film and looking forward to starting on the music composing. I am returning to Alabama shortly and will record some missing environment sounds. I’ll be working with my friend Tim Brickley who has done the music for several of my films. I am excited to see what he comes up with for this one.

Update February 1, 2026: I have completed the film! The last few months have involved working with Tim as he solved the countless problems that come with scoring a film. The score turned out great and I couldn’t be happier. After that, I completed the sound mix, a reel and a webpage. It is time to put this out into the world!

The first scheduled screening for the film is at an event on February 25th 20026 called Signal to Noise. It is a monthly event hosted by Robin Cox, the program director of the music and arts technology program in the Herron School of Art and Design. I look forward to presenting!

The photographer, crouching low on the grass with his gimbal-mounted camera, films the bearded man who sits on the edge of the antique bed pulling a match from a matchbox. Between them, the wooden nightstand holds both the glowing table lamp and an unlit green Coleman lantern. The spindle headboard and white pillow are visible behind the nightstand, with a darkening treeline across the pasture.
The photographer, soft and out of focus in the foreground, films as the bearded man walks away across the darkening pasture carrying the glowing green Coleman lantern. The warm light of the lantern cuts through the blue dusk, with trees silhouetted against the evening sky in the background.
Into the woods we go.
The photographer strides across the pasture in the fading evening light, holding his gimbal-mounted camera outstretched at arm's length to capture a low or dynamic angle. His flat cap, glasses, and plaid shirt are recognizable as he moves with focused intensity through the grass, the treeline softly blurred behind him.
The bearded man holds the glowing Coleman lantern aloft in near-total darkness while the photographer reviews footage on his camera, its small LED panel casting cool light on both their faces. Tree trunks frame them on either side, and the lantern's warm glow illuminates the ground at their feet — a quiet moment of collaboration at the end of the shoot.