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Paul Winter & The Winter Solstice
Having been a fan of Paul Winter for several decades, it has been really exciting to have the opportunity to work with Paul both photographing and filming the Winter Solstice Concert, at The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
We are currently shooting footage to create a documentary of Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice, this wonderful event that Paul has performed here for over 31 years with various noted musicians and dancers.
The Winter Solstice is an amazing, yet quite challenging event to try to capture “on film”. The Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world spanning more than 2 football fields in length and standing 12 stories high. Paul opens the concert high in the Narthex under the Rose Window at the West end. His opening Calls are answered by a percussionist in the ambulatory at the far East end of the Cathedral. And from that moment on, the concert moves from one end to another and is in constant motion.
The ever-changing light, the massive expanse of space and the constantly moving dancers and musicians performing to audiences both sides of center stage in the Nave makes for guerilla shooting for our crews. While challenging, I can’t think of more fun one could have with a camera! The video footage we are getting with the DSLRs is quite spectacular and we are all very excited to continue crafting the documentary.
“We were much impressed with the superb footage you got at Solstice. It is vastly superior to any filming that’s been done there in the past. I’m deeply grateful to you for your enthusiasm for filming us and your dedication in investing your energies and resources into shooting it.
You have definitely opened the door for me to DVD and filming possibilities about which I was pessimistic before.”
Paul also participates in the The Blessing of the Animals and performs the Summer Solstice Concerts. This year he performed selections from his 2011 Grammy Award Winning album MIHO, JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAIN.
The sneak preview for the upcoming documentary is located at VIMEO. Check it out and please feel free to post your comments..