As a UCLA film school graduate, Louie was recently honored to deliver the commencement address to the class of 2015 at the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Watch his speech and remember: all the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today.
“I arrived as a freshman poli-sci/history major at UCLA in 1969. I was studying the French revolution in class while a revolution was occurring outside my classroom door.
So I got involved in the anti-war movement and started documenting police brutality on campus. There were no phone cameras back then, so my only recourse to fight back was to pick up a 35 mm still camera. The helmeted, club-swinging police swept the campus breaking up anti-war protests. I handed in photo essays for my political science classes, which was a lot easier for me than writing papers. And that is how I found my voice….photography and filmmaking hurtled me into a world of art and technology that I am still in love with today.
Filmmaking also introduced me to my greatest teacher. She taught me everything about the art of lighting, composition, movement, color and balance. She taught me how to live a creative and sustainable life. Who was this amazing teacher? Mother Nature.
Life is all about symbiotic relationships. Nature does not waste a single molecule, and never takes more than what she needs. A path we can all follow. “