Subtitles section Play video
-
Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business
-
and a life that you love. In our fast paced world, it’s really easy to miss the beauty
-
that’s often right in front of our face. And today my guest has devoted his entire
-
career to giving us a glimpse of the magic and the wonder that surrounds us each and
-
every day.
-
Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning producer, director, and cinematographer who’s been
-
shooting time-lapse 24/7 continuously for nearly 4 decades. Schwartzberg is a visual
-
artist breaking barriers and telling stories that celebrate nature and life. Two of his
-
recent TEDx talks are regularly cited among the top watched of all time. A 15 episode
-
web series based on his viral video, Gratitude Revealed, is currently on Oprah.com and he
-
was a guest on Super Soul Sunday. His moving art series, which explores the beauty and
-
majesty of nature, is available on Netflix. His most recent films include Wings of Life,
-
narrated by Meryl Streep, and Mysteries of the Unseen World, an IMAX film narrated by
-
Forest Whitaker. Over his long trailblazing career, Schwartzberg has earned a myriad of
-
awards and honors and was recognized as one of the top 70 cinematographers for the on
-
film Kodak salute series.
-
Louie, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.
-
Great to be here.
-
So you’re a pioneer in the field of time-lapse photography. What inspired you to get into
-
this unique aspect of filmmaking?
-
Well, when I graduated from UCLA I wanted to shoot the highest quality resolution film
-
I could, but I didn't have any money. So I got involved with time lapse because I could
-
shoot one frame every 20 minutes and it would take me a month or two to shoot a roll of
-
film, which was four minutes, and that enabled me to kind of do high quality cinematography
-
but, at the same time, not spend a lot of money. But in addition to that, it really
-
filled my sense of wonder. I mean, being able to see the world from a different time and
-
space, it changes your worldview. It broadens your horizons. I mean, to see the world from
-
the point of view of a flower or the point of view of a mosquito or the point of view
-
of a redwood tree, makes you really understand that we have these narrow windows that we
-
look through and if we can begin to open up that portal, it opens up your heart and definitely
-
feeds your mind and your soul.
-
Did you ever have dreams to be a traditional filmmaker in the sense of, like, I want to
-
go to Hollywood and make those big movies? Or was this always something that you dreamed
-
of perhaps since you were little? I was curious about that trajectory.
-
Yeah, well, growing up in Brooklyn I had no idea I would ever be filming nature, let alone
-
filmmaking. My parents were Holocaust survivors and if they didn't experience, well, neither
-
did I. But when I went to UCLA I got involved in documenting the anti-war movement, which
-
was something that was… it was a way for me to fight back, a way to record the police
-
brutality against the demonstrators, especially against women. And that turned me onto photography
-
and filmmaking, which then turned me onto my greatest teacher. She taught me everything
-
about lighting, composition, and color. It was mother nature. And that was the path I’ve
-
been on because mother nature teaches you really how to live a creative and sustainable
-
life. So I followed my passion more than dreaming about being a Hollywood filmmaker and, interestingly
-
enough, Hollywood caught up to my vision because then we built a large company, they started
-
licensing time-lapse cinematography for commercials, music videos, feature films. And not just
-
time lapse but, you know, aerial, slice of life, contemporary imagery which did not exist
-
before. So basically I created the stock… the contemporary stock footage licensing business.
-
That’s incredible. And it’s something that I know in the beginning of my career
-
just beautiful stock photography and all those things, it made such a difference just to
-
have these beautiful images, so thank you for pioneering that.
-
Yeah.
-
One of the things that you say that I love, that beauty and seduction are nature’s tools
-
for survival. We protect what we fall in love with. Can you tell us more about that philosophy
-
and how you’ve seen that come to life over the course of your career?
-
Well, I’ve had a camera going 24 hours a day 7 days a week for over 3 decades shooting
-
time lapse flowers. Flowers are beautiful, right? You love them as well. And capturing
-
their beauty and the way they move to the light seduced me, and that was enough to keep
-
me going but I think there’s really a greater story, and that story was when I found out
-
that the bees were dying. Well, you can’t tell the story about the bees without telling
-
a story about flowers and how they co-evolved over 50 million years. I call it a love story
-
that feeds the earth. So that relationship between the animal world and the plant world,
-
gives us the most nutritious food we need to eat: fruits, nuts, vegetables, and seeds.
-
It’s the foundation of life on our planet. And that relationship of pollination is based
-
on beauty. I mean, this gorgeous flower and its color and its pattern is saying to the
-
pollinator, “Come over here, I need to reproduce. I’m ready to go, I need to be fertilized.”
-
You know? So the insect, the bee, gets, you know, nectar and pollen so that it can feed
-
its young. The flower gets its DNA moved from one partner to another because plants don't
-
have legs and they can’t walk. And they can’t mate and they can’t date without
-
a messenger. So life is all about, you know, DNA moving forward, and so beauty and seduction
-
is nature’s way for life to move forward. And we are hardwired, just like they are.
-
I mean, you’ve got a beautiful dress on today.
-
Thank you.
-
The pattern and the colors are designed for my eyes to notice it. Correct?
-
Yeah.
-
So we’re hardwired to respond to color, taste, touch, and smell. It’s… it’s
-
in our… well, it’s just in our soul.
-
Yeah.
-
Now, advertisers use it all the time to manipulate people. There’s always a pretty girl next
-
to a car.
-
Yeah.
-
Right?
-
Hopefully not so many moving forward, but yeah.
-
No, but… but, you know, we, to be honest about it, they use sex all the time to sell
-
products.
-
Sure.
-
And… and they’ve studied it really well because they know they can manipulate you
-
in a certain way. So nature has, you know, has kind of embedded our sensibility to respond
-
to vibrations of color, light, touch, and smell. And that is what motivates, I guess
-
it… it truly makes the world go around.
-
Yeah. You know, I was actually thinking about that particularly for Wings of Life, which
-
is narrated by Meryl Streep, and it is a breathtaking feature from a decidedly feminine perspective.
-
Right.
-
And I thought that was fascinating and I was curious how you came to that choice, if you
-
started the project with that in mind or if that was something that evolved from starting
-
to look at the footage and what you were shooting.
-
It really evolved. You know, most nature programs are based on predator vs prey.
-
Yes.
-
Which is very manipulative and, well, it induces fear, fear and anxiety, but it gets good ratings.
-
Shark Week is always the most popular show on television. But if you really study nature,
-
if you’re present and mindful and observant, it’s the little things that make the world
-
go round. It’s the billions of interactions, as I said earlier, between the pollinators
-
and the flowers, it’s the foundation of life. And that story is a feminine story cuz
-
it’s about relationships, cooperation, symbiosis, nurturing. That is the foundation of life.
-
So obviously I had to tell it from a feminine point of view and who would be the… the
-
best female voice in the world? Meryl Streep. Right?
-
I loved it. I mean, I keep going back to it. And I’m so thankful that there’s a portion
-
of your work on Netflix, which I’m a subscriber. So I was just sitting there and listening
-
to it and watching some things again and particularly, the other thing that got me curious was thinking
-
about you and your process in this, particularly with Wings of Life. And wondering, you know,
-
do you do so much research on these different flowers and the different insects and the
-
different birds and the animals before you actually go in to shoot? So I was thinking
-
about particularly the bucket orchid.
-
Yeah.
-
And the orchid bees.
-
Right.
-
And just how extraordinary it is that these bucket bees come in, they get seduced by the
-
nectar, and there’s one escape route and she holds onto that bee until she can glue
-
down those pollen sacs. So I was just curious to hear from you how much research you do
-
before and what is… or, versus, what is the process? Like, woah, that actually happens.
-
As a documentary filmmaker I’m always on the voyage of discovery.
-
Yeah.
-
So I’m not an expert about insects or flowers, but what I do is I work with scientists and
-
I hear all the, you know, research and the stories and I pick the most seductive story
-
that I think will help me tell the grander story of what we’re trying to, you know,
-
show. So the orchid bee, I loved it ‘cause it reminded me of a guy going from one bar
-
to the other trying to score some perfume so he can get a date. Right?
-
Yeah.
-
But every time he does, he almost dies.
-
And that’s what got me so scared with that scene. I was like oh my goodness, is this
-
orchid just gonna kill the bee?
-
Yeah. So the typical male is going from bar to bar trying to pick up a girl and, you know,
-
and every time he does he almost dies. But after that experience he does it all over
-
again. The drive for life to go forward is so strong, it’s unstoppable. And in most
-
species, I mean, they’ll give up food and water in order to mate. You know, and it’s
-
pretty amazing and powerful. So when I… so rather than just doing a story about a
-
bee, you know, I hear, well, there’s a bumblebee and there’s a honeybee and then there’s
-
the orchid bee. What a rare experience it was to shoot that in Panama. As a matter of
-
fact, it really had never been recorded on film before. But when the scientists told
-
me about that story I thought it was a great opener because it’s not lovey dovey, it’s
-
not a Pollyanna story. Right?
-
Right.
-
I mean, it engages you because the bee almost dies.
-
Yes.
-
You know.
-
Which that’s exactly what I thought was going to happen.
-
Yeah.
-
I thought he was out.
-
And it’s remarkable and it’s incredible and he looks like a martian.
-
Yup.
-
He’s like flourescent blue and turquoise. So that was a good way to kind of, you know,
-
grab an audience.
-
That’s awesome. And the other thing that I love, I happen to have a real affection
-
for hummingbirds.
-
Yeah.
-
Like I know a lot of people do. And seeing them do those acrobatics and how you’re
-
able to capture something that moves so fast that we wouldn’t be able to see if you haven’t
-
captured it and showed it to us in this new framework.
-
Well, that’s the beauty of slow motion again. We live in this narrow world, we’re recording
-
right now at 24 frames per second. That’s the human POV. There’s a lot of… when
-
I say POV, point of view.
-
Yeah.
-
For the audience.
-
Yeah.
-
And what a wonderful way to expand your mind and your consciousness to realize that there
-
are so many different ways of looking at life that is real. And slow motion, with the hummingbirds,
-
it puts you into their world of, you know, you’re seeing the combat, you’re seeing
-
the twirls and all those acrobatics but to our eyes it’s just a blur.
-
Yes.
-
You see a hummingbird go by go [woosh]. There it went. And so to be in their world, to see
-
it from their point of view, it opens your heart and I think it makes you appreciate
-
life, it makes you appreciate hummingbirds, maybe it’ll make you put up a feeder in
-
your backyard.
-
Yes, I have them.
-
Do you?
-
Yeah.
-
And… and that’s good because I think it generates compassion.
-
Yes.
-
By being present and mindful, and gratitude.
-
Let’s talk about the power of focus. You know, in this world, especially with technology,
-
which I think can be such an asset and then sometimes it can be a hindrance, I hear so
-
many people struggling with what to focus on. They have so many choices from what foods
-
to buy, from what to do with their businesses and their careers and what to watch and what
-
to read, and I know for you, you really have to choose your focus. There’s so many things
-
that you could put your camera on. And even within the frame of what you want to shoot,
-
there’s so many different angles. So I’m curious if you can speak to how choosing where
-
to focus both in your work and your life has evolved through what you do.
-
Well, I think it’s a wonderful metaphor if you look at it from a cinematographer’s
-
point of view. You have to choose the right lens, the right F-stop in order to tell a
-
good story. And it means you can focus on the object that’s important and a lot of
-
times you want that background to go out of focus because it’s a distraction. It’s
-
really true in life, right? We have to choose what’s most important because there is a
-
lot of distraction. So, you know, rather than just, you know, shooting wide open and making
-
it be out of focus, we need to choose really what our life’s journey is about and our
-
path. And it’s a beautiful metaphor to kinda see the parallel between the two. I think
-
when you find what inspires you and what your passion is, then you can find that path. And
-
once you find your path you’ll never use your way.
-
Mm. Speaking of finding what’s important, I know something that we share in common is
-
a deep love and a practice for gratitude and being grateful for our lives. And there is
-
a quote in the beginning of one of your talks from Neale Donald Walsch and it really speaks
-
to what I feel like is the heart is gratitude is “the struggle ends when gratitude begins.”
-
Tell us about gratitude, because I know it’s so important for your work and it’s helped
-
me in watching your films want to slow down as I’m walking down the street here in New
-
York and everything I’m doing. Even today I was thinking about this interview and coming
-
here and I particularly chose not to listen to a podcast or do anything and to take in
-
the beautiful scenery, even the concrete, and the people around me.
-
Right. Well, when you’re grateful and you have a lot of good things going on in your
-
head, as you described, walking here to work for this interview, there’s not a lot of
-
room for negativity.
-
Yeah.
-
I mean, that’s just a really simple idea and there’s always something you can be
-
grateful for. You know, you have your health, the fact you were walking, the fact that you’ve
-
got, like, 5 fingers.
-
Yeah.
-
The fact that you’ve got food on the table. I mean, those are the values I think you can
-
always go to and avoid that feeling of problem solving, my to do list, the negative energy
-
of things that need to be fixed. I think naturally the brain goes in that direction because of
-
its survival mode.
-
Absolutely.
-
Of always thinking, “I need to survive, I need this, I need that.” But I think what
-
we need to do is nurture the good things. When something good happens we tend to kind
-
of let it go in our head and out in about a moment, as opposed to nurturing it, savoring
-
it, kind of sponging in it, right? And, again, by filling your bucket with gratitude there
-
isn’t room for the negative energy to come in. And once you change your world view then,
-
you know, things start to flow. Instead of forcing that job opportunity to occur, if
-
you kind of just let back and be patient about it, it… the universe will probably allow,
-
you know, the opportunities to come into your life that you really want to have happen.
-
Mm. For me gratitude is, like, a spiritual power tool that can instantly shift it all.
-
Like, when things are just going down the tank, if you can take that pause and recognize
-
what is going right. It’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever used in my life and I was
-
excited to talk to you about it today.