This series by Keitaro Cloward stars Itzel Aquino, Jaz, Natalie Mansfield, Mekala, and Nikki Sandoval.

That moment before everything got so complicated,
That abandon before you knew all the rules,
That laugh before you knew what was funny,
That obsession before you knew what is love,
That pain and silence before you knew what to say,
That endless amount of options before you knew the best way to get it done,
That fearful instinctual dance before you knew how to do it,
That fantasy of a dream before you started living it,
That bond of friendship before you read the definition of bestfriends,
That summer under the sun before you perfected time management,
That weekend before you knew what a balanced life is,
That maddening feeling when trying to find a gift before you knew exactly what they’d want,
That feeling like anything is possible before things got too comfortable to try 4 Weeks of Summer, a visual experiment aimed at capturing the feeling of this summer past.

“4 Weeks of Summer” is based off the concept that every summer you’ve ever experienced, on average, the summer moments can be compressed into 4 weeks. From the first moment the whirlwind of summer sweeps you away – to being completely lost under its spell – to saying goodbye to the things of summer and preparing to go back to “normal life”.

Those 4 Weeks of Summer have held so much of our nostalgia, so much of our life’s rollercoaster moments, the moments that become our life’s treasures. The 4 Weeks of Summer from which our subconscious plays us dreams through out the nights of the rest of the year.
This last summer we drove North out of LA. Ending up between the High Desert and the Sierras we stayed for a bit. The longer time passed, the less it meant.

“Thoughts from the summer”

Waiting to be together again, where does this feeling of excitement come from? Why do I know that I’ll forget everything I planned to talk about the moment we’re together. Thoughts shared like a seven course meal, starting off with the appetizers before the dishes are served. With Oooos and Aaaahs on each platter shared, where is this going, where will we end this, will it end? You tell us of the dreary life you’re headed back to, but all it’s greener grass sounds amazing, you say “no” this world is amazing. But do you really just mean different from yours? What happens when it becomes yours, will it still hold it’s magic? Do our worlds, just like us need to be constantly evolving? Just like someone close to you who’s not happy with your own growth because they feel they are losing the old you, which they love. Do we also feel that same sadness or lose when our environment changes around us, when in reality it’s the only way the space can keep our interest, by it evolving, like we evolve.

The feeling of knowing that even if the moments are a first time, holding them because they could be a last time.
How long can you hold onto something before by holding on to it you’re missing out on the chance for something else?

Something from the past,
Buried under moments of the now,
Lost from my short term,
Turned into a dream of what once was,
Shining a light in a shadowed corner of my mind,
Letting my eyes run over the textures I had forgotten were there.

I thought I could keep you,
Like the scent of last winter on a jacket stored in spring,
But time let the memories breath, till only the shell of the moment was left,
And breathing in, I know that it’s time to bring new life into it’s familiar sleeves,
Even though at first all the stories from the past will rush into my mind,
It’s time to continue it’s journey, while bring some of it’s moments along instead of leaving them all behind.

If the moment we are living becomes the dreams dreamt in the there and then,
How would we want to dance within our dreams,
How would we want to love,
How would we want to live,
These days will be our dreams of the then and there.

It was before you left for your summer,
But my summer was already deep in play.
Even though our timelines started off-sync, there’s something that summer does to you,
Like clays in its hands squeezed together till only one clay is left ready to be shaped into a moment.

The scent of fresh sweat evaporating under the heat of the sun,
The clean clear sunlight so bright, like white darkness casting it’s blanket over everything around me,
The world so dry it drinks up every drop before it has a chance to live,
And yet here we are.

Cast: Itzel Aquino – @funnyuforgot
Jaz – @letsplaybunnyrabbits
Natalie Mansfield – @nizzcore
Mekala – @mekaminq
Nikki Sandoval – @nikkisandovall
By Keitaro Cloward – @Keitarocloward