Natural Attraction

Ecomusicology

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KATELYN CALHOUN EXPLORES NATURE THROUGH FILM AND MUSIC.

Words by Amy Lynch Photo by Winston Garthwaite

As a kid, Katelyn Calhoun loved being outside so much, her dad would have to call her home with a megaphone when she lost track of time. In her teen years, the Ohio native discovered she enjoyed tinkering with video production. Now, she’s parlaying her dual passions for nature and film into a career.

When Calhoun moved to Indianapolis after she graduated from Ball State University, she immediately began making connections within the city’s close-knit film community.

“I’ve met a lot of folks through the commercial video world,” she says. “When you meet a few of them, you suddenly know all of them because the network is so strong. Everybody knows everybody, and if you really want to work with someone, you can find a way.”

After a year and a half in sales administration at NUVO, Calhoun ventured out on her own in 2016 to form Teardrop Pictures, a nature documentary production company telling stories that celebrate people, places and animals.

“The vision is to get a teardrop trailer and travel around the country making small documentaries and sharing them with the world,” she explains. “We’re still working on getting the trailer, but we have made a few films!”

While many big-picture nature conservation films tend to address sprawling topics like the rain forest or climate change, Calhoun’s projects thus far shine a light on exotic creatures and locations here in Indiana. Funded by an Indiana Humanities Council grant, Teardrop Pictures’ first film Braided with the Current examines the impact of the White River on local lives, positioning the waterway itself as a main character.

The Indiana Forest Alliance then invited Calhoun to shadow along during its northern long-eared bat surveys in the Hoosier National Forest, leading to her second film Snag in the Plan in 2019. Next came an introduction to the eastern hellbender salamander, an intriguing amphibian that would go on to inspire Calhoun’s latest project, Hellbender in the Blue.

“The salamander is endangered in Indiana, and a species of concern in the eastern U.S.,” she points out. “The Nature Conservancy has a Blue River office where you can actually find the salamander, and Purdue also has a program called Help the Hellbender.”

Hot on the heels of a Kan-Kan Cinema premiere, Calhoun is gearing up for a film festival circuit. Hellbender will run during the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Montana this April, and make the regional rounds as part of the Indiana Humanities Waterways Films tour this spring, March through June.

Having worked with composer Eric Salazar on both Snag and Hellbender, Calhoun is quick to recognize the value that music brings to her films.

“I always include a composer in my budget,” she says. “To have someone who knows music theory and can bring their own human element to tell the musical side of the story, it’s everything.”

Nature, movies and music — it’s a winning trifecta. “If I’m having a bad day, sometimes I just take my shoes off and go out in the backyard, and I feel better in 30 seconds,” she laughs. “Film and music have the power to do the same thing. There’s magic in that.” ■

Learn more about Calhoun’s work at https://www.teardrop.pictures/ Calhoun’s work is featured in Classical Music Indy’s CMI City Sounds project. Find these installations at Richard G. Lugar Plaza, Indianapolis International Airport, and Garfield Park. Learn more about Indiana Humanities’ Waterways Films and Unearthed initiative at https:// indianahumanities.org/program/films/ Ecomusicology

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