“That which unites us is far greater than what divides us.” The first four words of this sentence are subtitle, and subtext, for “Path of Liberty,” an immersive outdoor photo and media experience on view through fall 2025 at Freedom Plaza on Manhattan’s east side.
The creative groundwork for this project was a mammoth effort involving an extensive crew both on the road and behind the scenes. In today’s podcast, we catch up with two principals of this project’s creative team—creative director Daniella Vale and director of photography, Scott Beardslee—to learn more about their daily lives during two months spent traversing the country by van to interview a broad group of everyday Americans.
From the founding idea of capturing the diversity of people across America to the curiosity and resilience of the crew when working on the road to the complexities of orchestrating the many sensory elements for an immersive experience in exhibition, our discussion is rich with creative insight.
As Daniella shares during our chat, “I always tend to make three films. There's the film I write, the film I shoot, and then, usually, I rearrange everything and make a totally different film in the edit. So, I've gotten pretty accustomed to non-attachment and rolling with things. That's where the magic happens too.”
Guests: Daniella Vale & Scott Beardslee
Episode Timeline:
- 3:28: The inspiration behind Path of Liberty and Daniella’s role as creative lead.
- 6:59: Daniella and Scott’s respective backgrounds in photography and film, plus being curious and distinctions between finding the moment vs creating the moment.
- 12:02: Daniella and Scott’s first introduction in the New York film world.
- 15:14: Building the crew for Path of Liberty and the challenges of traveling and conducting interviews on the road.
- 21:35: Daniella describes the three films she makes in the process of writing, shooting, and editing, plus the importance of learning to adapt on the fly.
- 26:54: Memorable stories from the Path of Liberty road trip.
30:56: Episode Break
- 31:30: We all want to be happy, but there’s a difference between freedom and taking advantage of freedom
- 34:42: Daniella discusses her time in Japan, and the cultural contrast between American individualism and societies that put the group over the individual self.
- 41:00: The gear Daniella and Scott traveled with and how it affected the project.
- 47:59: The interview process with portrait subjects, plus making natural portraits in the moment.
- 58:32: The Path of Liberty installation in midtown Manhattan, the pride of subjects gathered from across the America, plus the complexities of the post-production process
- 1:05:39: The immersive aspects of the installation—from the sound design of the audio to the visual continuity between the photographs and the on-site terrain.
- 1:14:19: Scott and Daniella offer career advice for developing as a creative—leave room for being curious.
Guest Bios:
Daniella Vale is a New York City-based photographer, film director, and producer. Her creative passions began early, influenced by her uncles in Pittsburgh’s avant-garde film movement. While attending university in Tokyo, Daniella worked on photography and documentary projects. She later moved to Bollywood, where she collaborated with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Cannes-winning director Manish Jha. In New York, Daniella has worked for brands such as VICE, MTV, Google, and Prada, and with talent such as Alicia Keys, Deepak Chopra, and Lucy Liu. Her portfolio includes work in fashion, branded content, docu-series, and narrative films across various global locations. Career highlights include participating in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner and being featured in Allure magazine for her directing work. And of course, most recently, Daniella headed up the creative team for the immersive outdoor installation, Path of Liberty: That Which Unites Us, which we’re here to talk about today.
Scott Beardslee began his career in photography, working as a 1st and 2nd assistant. Yet his passion for narrative filmmaking soon inspired him to take a different career route, focusing on shooting films, commercials, and music videos. Upon graduation from San Francisco State University with a film theory and production degree, he pursued cinematography and later attended graduate school at The American Film Institute in Hollywood. Before he became serious about filmmaking himself, Scott worked as a gaffer for many established A.S.C. cinematographers. Currently, Scott is a Director of Photography in the Union Local 600, working on commercials, music videos, and television.
Stay Connected:
Path of Liberty
Daniella Vale
Scott Beardslee
Host: Derek Fahsbender
Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
Executive Producer: Richard Stevens
B&H Photography Podcast