leorbaum
Apr 24, 2008 11:58AM

The idea for this piece came together during a road trip to New Mexico. At the time I was excited to experience the feel of the land, and had read a lot about the mystery behind the Anasazi culture. Many of the shots were taken in Chaco Canyon, easily the most memorable area I visited. It felt as if the whole area was hanging on by some mystic balance, hoping to not to be disturbed. Camping there overnight, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a terribly strange and high pitched wail. It went on for close to an hour. It was definitely something animal but too difficult to identify. The next day, I was driving past one of the sites and I discovered a ragged hyena looking at me as it crossed into the brush. Held my breath for a moment and quickly convinced myself I had just seen what kept me up last night. I shot footage that whole day and felt respectful of how I was doing it. But I couldn't help thinking more about that strange sound. Was it a sign of some sort, some kind of warning call? As I immersed myself in the landscape, I imagined some form of spirit had been offset here a long time ago, in ways I'll never know. 'Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown.'