Meet Filmmaker Bryce Alan Flurie
Our lives are a journey and the choices we make have the opportunity to take us down a road that reveals our passion and allows us to serve others well. Bryce, co-owner of Red Dirt Recollective, chose a life of creating beauty and helping others see their own incredible journey through photos and video. This week, we get the chance to hear from the heart of our filmmaker, Bryce Alan Flurie.
Filmmaker, Bryce Alan Flurie
From apartments in Garbage City Cairo, to remote huts in Ethiopia, to houses in Russia and the United States, I have found a treasured picture of family members on the wall. One thing most cultures have in common is the ubiquitous family photograph displayed for all to see. I grew up with a wall of my ancestors, all long dead, displayed at the top of the stairs. Even though I’ve been in homes all across the globe, I’ve never seen a display quite like it.
As a photographer and filmmaker I’m fascinated by the display found in each home. Whether prints from large format cameras where the subjects had to stand still for many seconds or small format snapshots taken at special gatherings in homes long ago. They speak of time and place as much as the subjects do.
Bryce, His Brother & Grandfather In The 1970’s
I remember my grandfather setting up his 35mm camera with a timer to take a picture at a family reunion. Not one to move fast for anything he would set the timer and shuffle 29.5 seconds of the 30 second timer back to the group while all the adults were yelling at him to hurry up. Being a man of colorful vocabulary he had some multihued language for them the whole way back. But without fail every time before the timer wound itself out and the shutter clicked, he turned on his heels to face the camera. He repeated this exact scenario multiple times in a row to much laughter, and much cursing on his part!
But here’s the thing. As much as I love photography it is a literal fraction of a second of time. If we go back to the story of my shuffling, cursing grandfather and apply the “Sunny 16” rule many film photographers learned, it was probably 1/400th of a second depending on the speed of the film he was using. That's a pretty small sliver of time. A small sliver of time that by itself couldn't possibly transmit the context of my grandfather lining us all up and shuffle-swearing the whole way back. That’s what I remember from that day. Not the picture. The context and the story is what is most memorable.
I love stories. That’s why I”m blessed to be a filmmaker. I love story so much, I’ve devoted my career to it. Good storytelling does something important for a family. And it’s something I took for granted growing up. I’ve talked to so many of my peers who didn’t grow up around the table telling family stories. It just isn’t natural for some people so sit down and talk about their lives and their history. As co-owner of Red Dirt Recollective that’s where I come in. I want our customer’s story to not only be beautiful but to be as clear and well told as possible. I’ve had a lot of practice. A customer recently asked how many documentaries I’ve made. I couldn’t come up with a number. It certainly has to be over a thousand after 25 years with a camera.
Even though I don’t know the exact number, every one of these stories matter. Every individual and every family's story is important to rescue and share.
Even if your parents or grandparents don’t think they’ve done anything special in their lives, your kids and grandkids, as adults, would give anything to have their stories. I don’t recall any stories my grandfather told me. I was 12 when he died. I just remember him chewing me out for making too much noise in the woods (he was a tough old coot with a soft spot for the grandkids) but as far as his life, I only know what my father told me about him.
It’s a shame because it’s all second hand accounts. Second hand accounts don’t often stand up in a court of law and our families shouldn’t have to settle for them either. I’d love to know, as colorful as I’m sure it was, what my granddad was thinking as he shuffled back that day. I’ll never know, but I’m committed to helping others rescue their family stories so they can. Whether it is colorful or not.
Rescuing family stories is one of the reasons why Red Dirt Recollective exists. It is our desire to meet you where you are in your storytelling or lack thereof and help you rescue your own story for the younger generation.
We love story and can help you find yours.
Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,
Jody