In the past month I can’t count how many times the following exchange took place: “Have you seen Avatar?”, “No, I haven’t seen it yet” I would reply. After a while, I felt as if I was living under a rock. Last night I decided to crawl out from under my “no, I haven’t seen Avatar” rock.
I was told I had to see it in 3D on an IMAX screen. Popcorn in hand, I found myself in my IMAX seat, smack in the center, eagerly anticipating the Avatar phenomenon to begin. And what a phenomenon it is!
This is not an attempt to write a movie review for Avatar. I can only say that I enjoyed the movie immensely; I found it to be visually amazing.
What I want to share with you is an observation. In my opinion, the creators of Avatar have set a new standard for how we can expect movies of this genre to be made. Be it because of technology, creativity, inspiration or whatever other reason or combination of reasons, every so often, every industry experiences benchmark breakthroughs. The key is to recognize the need for improvement in whatever we do and to identify and put into use ways to achieve those improvements, constantly raising the bar and setting ourselves apart.
If anything, Avatar has inspired me to strive to be better at what I do, personally and professionally.
Grace Ormonde
PS. These photographs are from a wedding I featured in the 2000 issue of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style. (Yes, I have been doing this magazine that long- in fact, even longer and it feels like I only started yesterday.)
The bride and groom were Rhode Island School of Design graduates and the wedding took place at the New York Botanical Gardens. Their invitations included a request for guests to celebrate nature by coming to the wedding dressed as bug, bird or gnu.
Bridesmaids were dressed as butterflies, groomsmen as lizards, the minister as a cardinal of the church. The bride’s dress was transformed into pea hen wear while the groom wore a cloak covered in peacock feathers. The bride’s stepfather walked her down the aisle dressed in formal skunk attire.
This wedding was so much fun and the only one of its kind ever submitted. It was shot by Jasper-Sky Photographers.
