A creator dropped everything after a random Instagram DM from Simon Kim to join a five-day retreat in Yosemite with 100 other filmmakers, photographers, and writers. No commercial agenda, just people making work with minimal gear. She reflects on starting from her bedroom with a phone and laptop, and how saying yes to strangers led somewhere unexpected.
Hello. I know this is not your typical Yan video, but 2 days before this trip, I was not planning to go anywhere. I was at home editing, answering emails, living a pretty normal week. Then I got this DM from Simon Kim on Instagram.
It said something like, we're bringing together around 100 creators in Yosemite Valley, uh, and we want to extend an invite if you are free November 3rd through 7th.
There was no pitch deck, no detailed itinerary, just trust. And honestly, something in me said yes. So I canceled everything that week, packed a backpack, grabbed my camera, and I left. Sometimes the best things in life have started exactly like that— quiet decisions that changed everything. So I arrive. Yosemite is just unreal. It is one of those places that actually feels bigger than your thoughts. The trees, the cliffs, the way the light moves. And there are already people gathering, creatives from everywhere. Some I recognized from the internet, some I had never met. All of us just showing up to see what could happen when we shared a space and a few days together. And what made it special was that nobody was trying to sell anything. Nobody was trying to impress anyone. It was just community.
Real community.
who genuinely wanted to make things and be seen for who they are. I met so many people that weekend. Filmmakers, photographers, musicians, writers. People who make the internet feel small in a good way. People who keep choosing curiosity over fear. And what I kept hearing again and again was this idea that you do not need the best camera to start. You do not need the best lens. You do not need the perfect studio. Most of the people there started with whatever they had. I started in my bedroom, on my phone, on my laptop, propping it up against a stack of books, recording late at night because that was when the house was quiet. And somehow, from that tiny little beginning, I was here in Yosemite, watching someone premiere a film they had made in just 100 days, surrounded by people who believe in making things just because something inside them says it matters. I do not know It felt like everything came full circle. There were big moments, like singing together under the trees, and there were small moments, like making coffee next to someone I had just met and talking about what we were afraid to say out loud. There was space and silence and so much joy. I think I remembered how to breathe there. This trip reminded me why I started. Not for numbers, not for algorithms, but for connection, for storytelling, For the feeling of looking at something ordinary and wanting to hold it gently because it means something. You do not have to be big to begin. You just have to begin. The world is changed by people who show up. So if there is something that you want to make or share or start, this is your sign. Start messy, start small, start in your bedroom, start in your Notes app, start in your voice memos, but start. Because you never know where saying yes might take you.
