Sunday 18 July 2010

la famiglia

So this evening I finally got a chance to look over some of the footage I shot at my dads birthday. I put a little video together for it, just a nice little video with my family in. I've always known how important family are, It's obvious, but It's not until the last month or two I've thought about it a whole lot more. I film so much and just whack it in a folder on my computer. I'm not necessarily going to make a video out of it, but I want to be able to look back on it. That's not just my family either, that's my friends too. When I'm old, I want to look back at what and who was current in my life at this moment.

So I was filming my uncle, granddad, dad and nonna, well, just my whole family really. But I didn't really tell them I was filming. I feel that you get the best footage when people are natural. I love just capturing conversations and emotions like that. If you tell people you're filming, then they try to be funny and it just doesn't work.

My granddad is 81 now and is still a fit as a fiddle (I don't really understand that saying but I assume it's relevant here). He bikes everywhere, to the allotment, to the pub, to see his friends etc, and is still really healthy. He's such a lovely man, he makes the best Italian biscuits in the world.

la famiglia from PJ Liguori on Vimeo.

16 comments:

maryvangils said...

This is lovely. It'll be great when you can look back on videos like this when you're older. Also, it's good to acknowledge and share a bit of your personal side with the internet. =)

Sam said...

I love reading your blog. This probably sounds silly, but your video made me cry. Just the though of capturing candid moments like these that you will always have to look back on.. it's really beautiful.

Anonymous said...

I really like your Videos but I enjoy you blog more because it shows a little bit more of you and your life.
A lot of people don't appreciate their family. I think it's great that you do.

MissisG said...

How lovely. A strong family and good friends make life so much richer.

I was so upset when we were burgled and all our footage was taken - I didn't care that they took our watches, wallets, phones, our day old car...that stuff didn't matter. But the fact that they took video of our children's first steps, first words, our christmas's and birthdays - that was gutting.

Your blog and more personal videos are really lovely. You reassure me that there are nice boys out there for my girls when they grow up. Yes - I'm an "old" follower ;)

Sophie Bryce said...

This is such a lovely blog. Your personal videos and blogs are so heart warming. Having footage to look back on is always helpful, especially if you're going through a hard time. There's always light at the end of the tunnel :)
Keep up the amazing work :)
xxx

Anonymous said...

:) <3 just lovely x

Darrow said...

your family is strikingly italian. i love it.

katles said...

hey peej,
i love reading your blogposts and your videos are always really creative.
when you say there is a lot more to you than just your videos; i think that people who can understand you and are on the same wavelength as you will be able to see a lot more under the exterior, even just by watching your videos.
that is just what i think. i don't know if you intend such things though :)
it is lovely you are appreciative of your family. i have an older sister who is around your age and it seems she doesn't have much time for her family! but then again, family will always be the people who you can go to in the end.
i look forward to reading more blogposts in the future~
~Katy

Eva said...

Good memories are the most beautiful things in the world in my oppinion, they're usually so bittersweet. Sweet, cause they can still bring me joy, but bitter, because I know that these moments are passed, I can never really have them back and relive them. But when they're captured on video, it makes it possible to see them again, so I feel like these moments become alive again. And to me this is magic. Yup I think it's magical to capture moments.. in our lives.. And I want to create this magic. So this is one of the reasons I want to make films for the rest of my life, either capturing the life around me, or trying to catch and capture and bring out my own dreams and fantasies.

Eva said...

(okay I shortened my comment a bit and now when I read it through again, I guess I deleted the parts that actually connected it mostly to your blogpost.. but basically yeah, what I first wanted to say was, that I like watching old videoclips too. :) but it kindof grew to a tiny essay :D )

Stacey-Louise said...

truly lovely video :)

Gui said...

My grandma is a italian eighter. She's the best and i know how you feel about it. She hates cameras and its too hard to film her or even take a pic, but i am always trying. There was a day that she said that if i take another pic of her i will never be able to eat in her house again. Of course i haven't stopped, but im carefully now!

(im sorry, im learning english xD)

Lynley Eavis said...

Thankyou for sharing (:

I document my fleeting moments with my sun 660.

What i love most is that our families and many others share qualities; the same experienced wisdom in their eyes, using their hands to assist in vocalising their thoughts as they wonder around the garden. The italian culture is evident no matter where our families have moved to, whether that be in the UK or Australia.

By the way, i beg to differ, my nan makes the best italian biscuits in the world :)

Caliowin said...

I love your blogs, they always feel genuine and honest. I enjoy seeing another side of you. I found it lovely to watch your family together, just relaxing and enjoying each others company. Really quite beautiful.

It's so nice to have that record of a family moment too. My grandmother has dementia, and its got so bad that in the last month or so she cannot remember me anymore. It's heartbreaking, and I have to fight to remember her as she was, she has been a huge influence on my life, having had my grandparents share a house with my parents, me and my brother since I was four years old. She taught me so many things- and there is so little real footage of her just being her. She isn't her anymore. Treasure that video, and make many more.

Keep being you PJ, you seem to me a remarkable young man.

Unknown said...

PJ,
I only just discovered your blog today and spent some time reading a few posts for the last 25 minutes or so. And you're right, this side of you really doesn't come across in most of your videos. At least not very clearly, because a lot of your videos are very abstract. At first, reading your blog posts that seemed to practically burn with such depth and emotion, I felt confused, and maybe a little bit shocked. But I was also really grateful. I think people who post things on the internet, whether it be videos, or photos, or even pieces of writing, often form personas for themselves that they can slip into in order to avoid showing their true selves to the world. And that's understandable, because, at least for me, sometimes it can be difficult to even show my entire true self to my closest friends.
What I'm trying to say is, thank you for being honest and true to yourself. I have found it very inspiring.
Keep filming and keep blogging, you are great at both!!
-Meghan

Kate said...

I think in a way I enjoy your blog posts more than the videos, because you're just being yourself rather than trying to entertain (not that your videos aren't awesome, they are).

You have a really unique outlook on life. I also carry around a tiny notebook for writing ideas, but it gets neglected a lot. I wish I could be more consistently creative.

Lovely video of your famiglia, especially the music.