My name is Troy Page and I’m a didgeridoo enthusiast and video production artist. This blog follows my experimental journey of making and playing didgeridoos, recording music and making videos, as well as stories of the people I meet and the places I visit along the way.Click here to e-mail me.
- Troy Page on Flickr
- Troy Page on YouTube
Supporters:
Mongrel Studios
Flood Page, “Tranquility” Big Island Style
In 2009 Encinitas resident and guitarist Tim Flood embarked on a vision quest to the Big Island of Hawaii. There Tim met my father Brant Page and spent a few days helping out on the coffee farm I grew up on. Brant encouraged Tim to connect with me upon his return to California. At the time I had recently moved to Encinitas and thanks to my pop, Tim and I met up and we quickly became good friends.
This video has been years in the making. In fact, I started filming for it a decade before I ever met Tim. In 2000 after I finished high school, I gathered up all the money I saved from videotaping weddings and shooting photos of Hilton Luau guests and spent it on a Sony VX2000 DV camcorder. It was my favorite toy and it went everywhere with me including a couple dozen strenuous Big Island hikes and camp-outs.
I’ve always been amazed by how beautiful our world is and when she shows her magnificence I feel the need to capture it. At the time I didn’t know what I’d be using it for, but I was going far out of my way to capture it. Tim tells me, “You were receiving the download.” Yes, “the download”!
The timing was perfect for shooting this performance, I had just finished constructing the largest didgeridoo I’ve made to date. Eight feet long with a bell a foot wide, plays in the key of C. Spring bloom was in effect and Tim’s Encinitas backyard had nasturtium flowers blooming all around a small wood deck, a perfect colorful stage.
We both feel it’s fitting to have our music paired with the beauty of the Big Island as our first music video. It brings the Flood Page story full circle.
Video with 11 notes
Troy Page Didgeridoo Solo, “Cascade”
This is my first video playing the djembe and didgeridoo at the same time, something I’m still getting used to. I called this song Cascade because it reminded me of a waterfall, steady but moving and tumbling forward.
I challenged myself on this video project from the start by tilting the camera on its side, giving the longest width of the image to the vertical space rather then the normal shape of video. I did this because I knew it would force me to creatively find ways to fill in the blank areas on either side of the video clip. Plus I’d have more resolution to work with when digitally zooming in.
In the editing process I first started experimenting with duplicating & mirroring the original video image. Once I ran out of ideas for the mirroring effect, I looked to my collection of photos. Adding colorful Hawaiian nature photographs was just what the video called for. Worked out perfectly because I happen to be wearing a Aloha shirt the day I shot the performance.
My friend Tim Flood gave the audio track a good EQ mix and got the levels just right. I also incorporated a couple Big Island photos that my friends Michael Peters and Kanoa Kimball took. I’m happy about how this one turned out and I plan on making more videos like it. Aloha!
Video by: Troy Page
Bing Family Tree - surf video featuring music by Flood Page
Produced by Saltwater Collective, in this video Bing Surfboard team rider Chris Del Moro enjoys riding three new surfboard designs: the Speed Square, the Dharma and the Spork.
It was Chris’s idea to shoot the sunset silhouette which I find visually stunning. Overall I’m happy with the footage, the animations and the art direction. Most of all I’m happy to have music that I recorded of my friends and I jamming out featured as the video’s soundtrack.
The first track of music is called “Spaceya” by Flood Page, my buddy Tim Flood on electric guitar and myself on didge. The second track by Cosmic Teepee is a jam track I recorded in Australia featuring the musicians Dave Rastovich, Howie Cooke, OJ Newcomb, Hilton Dawe and Chris Del Moro. The third track is a Mellow Tribe original jam called “Aviator Glasses”, recorded here at my home in Cardiff with my friends Nathan Westergren and Nathan McConnell on guitars, Matt Westergren, Daniel Compton and myself on Djembe drums.
As I write this, I notice the total youtube views has exceeded 10,000 today, and it’s only been two weeks since I posted it. Bing Family Tree is becoming one of the most popular video I’ve edited in a long time.
“If there was ever a good time to go….”
Chris and I shot this video locally around San Diego during the January/February swells of 2011, and on one of those days, just as we pulled up to the beach a man had died while surfing. As we walked down to the shore Chris encountered one of his friends who was coming in and she said just before the man died he appeared to be having a lot of fun, catching the longest and best rides of anyone in the water. Further down the beach we encountered a lifeguard who still had the man’s board and hat. He asked us if we knew the surfer because they still had not identified the mid-to-late 40 year old who apparently died of a hart attack.
Chris paddled out and I set my camera up on the rocks above the beach. A moment later three older men who had just come in from surfing walked down the beach and started talking with the lifeguard. I watched as the men broke into tears and after the lifeguard left the surfers walked out into the water waist deep. While holding each-others shoulders they shared a prayer for there late friend. Everyone on the beach that day kept saying the same thing, “If there was ever a good time to go…”
Bing Family Tree
Produced by: Saltwater Collective
Filming, animation and editing by: Troy Page
Artwork by: Chris Del Moro
Additional surf footage by: Rick Starich
Video with 1 note
“All Fly Like Eagles” - Healing Vibrations For Japan
This project came about when my friends Tim Flood and Michael Joseph Ferguson asked me to join them in a concert event they arbitrarily planned for March 19th, 2011 titled “Music For The Planet”. They started preparing for this event months ahead of time and just one week before the concert, a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.
Japan was on every one’s mind but there were also a number of other things happening at the same time. On the night of our performance, a multi-state coalition led by US, British and French forces started a bombing campaign against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his army. Also the night of our show we were experiencing a full moon that happened to be closest to earth since 1992. I got a glimpse of the moon as it rose over the eastern hills that late afternoon and it was noticeably larger then I had ever seen before. Plus, March 19th happened to be the eve of the Spring Equinox placing our event on the last hours of winter. Good night to slow down to songs of positive intention.
This song is an American Indian chant call, “All Fly Like Eagles” and this performance was my first time playing along to this chant. Pre-show during rehearsal & mic-check, Michael asked me, “Do you have a b-flat didgeridoo?” My favorite didgeridoo at the time was in the key of b-flat, but I left it at home because b-flat wasn’t going to be used in any of the other songs we planned that night. Luckily my roommates attended and brought my b-flat didge just before the show started, and we were able to sneak one last song into the mix. “All Fly Like Eagles” became my favorite performance of the event. I especially liked hearing the audience join in.
Our performance was held at a little yoga studio in Del Mar, Bindu Yoga. The next day a large storm rolled in and my friend Matt and I took a trip back to Del Mar to film the weather. Over the duration of the week- long storm I picked up shots here and there and added them to the video.
Drawing from my experience working for truthout.org, I searched the photo website flickr.com for creative commons photos related to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. (Creative commons photos are photos that have been authorized by the photographs owner, enabling others to legally re-purpose the image {under preset guidelines} without having to pay royalty fees). Thanks to these photographers contributing to creative commons I was able to add a montage of disaster, rescue and relief images to the video.
I hope that my efforts in creating this video leads to more donations towards those Japanese earthquake and tsunami survivors in need.
Michael Joseph Ferguson - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Tim Flood - electric guitar, backing vocal
Troy Page - didgeridoo
Prem Das - tabla
Jill Jancic - backing vocal
Video Shot & Edited By
Troy Page
Audio Engineer
Tim Flood
Video with 2 notes
Troy Page Didgeridoo Solo, Desert Meditation
So many crazy things happening in my world and the world at large… so much all at once, it can sometimes make me feel disconnected and uncertain. My remedy is to take time, slow down, meditate by focusing on my breath and the sound of the instrument. Didgeridoo meditation helps me let go of the negative thoughts before they have a chance to alter my direction.
March of 2011, a small group of friends and I headed out to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to celebrate the birthday of our good friend Nathan McConnell. We pulled up to an absolutely picture-perfect campsite just as the evening sky turned golden. We ate, drank and kept warm around a blasting hot fire in celebration.
I initially got up early after a good night’s sleep to capture the sound of the morning birds in the frigid winter air. After setting up my audio gear I realized it wouldn’t be much more trouble to set up a camera to shoot a performance video as well. As I began to play I could feel the wildlife around me reacting to the sound of the didgeridoo, especially the birds. After I finished the meditation I turned the camera around and shot a series of scenic shots in the adjacent area and WALLA!… a simple video that I feel well represents the emotions and energy I received while playing in this beautiful desert landscape.
Video by: Troy Page
Video with 1 note
Clifbar Lightwaves w/ Chris Del Moro, Californian Adventures
Clifbar, Lightwaves is a joint effort between the energy bar company, Clifbar and the production team I work with, Saltwater Collective. In this episode, professional surfer and artist Chris Del Moro heads out on a surf road trip along the California coastline from San Diego to San Francisco with the goal of painting a whale mural on the side of a co-op preschool.
I wasn’t able to make the trek up north with the boys but I was able to contribute to this video with editing, animation and music…
To my liking and enjoyment we invent a lot of original tunes at my home in Cardiff, the “Mellow Tribe” casa. One stormy weekend evening my friends, the Westergren siblings, Matthew, Nathan and Sara, came by to hang out and share a jam. The first track of music in this Clifbar video was recorded that evening, a song called “It’s Raining, Inside”. Sara was inspired to sing this line because we had a leak in our ceiling that was dripping into buckets on the floor. I had to edit out the lyrics for the Clifbar video because they didn’t match the theme, but if you’d like to listen to the entire jam while also watching two cute baby chihuahuas click here: “Its Raining” - video by Matthew Westergren.
The second song is also a jam from a Mellow Tribe party we had a while back.
“Its Raining, Inside”
Sara Westergren, piano & vocals
Nathan Westergren, lead guitar
Matthew Westergren, rhythm guitar
Troy Page, Didgeridoo
Video produced by: Saltwater Collective
Filmed by: Justin Krumb
Editing by: Troy Page & Justin Krumb
Animation by: Chris Del Moro & Troy Page
Honolua Surf Co. Commercial
This commercial is a project produced by the Saltwater Collective production team and was first screened at the Save The Waves Film Festival in Victoria, San Francisco. I shot most of the footage, edited it and helped create the tune in the background.
This video’s soundtrack is a good example of how recording weekend jams can pay off. Contributing to this song titled “Outback”: Matthew Westergren and Nathan Westergren on guitars, Sara Westergren on drums and myself on didgeridoo.
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