home is where the heart is….a rolling stone gathers no moss….it is hard to kill a moving target….whatever…..i am just content to sleep in one bed for two whole weeks….that has not happened lately….since the three week holiday with my family way way way back in december, i have not been in one place for more than a few days….so, to now have 15 days in Oaxaca is a luxury i am soaking up with every passing minute…
however, i will move on next week to Norway and then and then, well i just will not have a "home" for all of 2008….the shock of the loss of my New York loft at first left me dazed and confused, but quickly survival instincts kicked in….and then and then, true beauty….an IDEA!!!
forced evacuation has led me to voluntary exile…for my upcoming photographic project, i MUST not have a home…i do not WANT a home…i CANNOT have a home….that would ruin everything….telling you now about my IDEA would ruin everything too…it is time for me to "disappear" into my work…
it may surprise you that "travel", in and of itself, has never been a source of inspiration for me…discovery fascinates, but "discovery" is also right around the corner…travel has always been totally incidental to whatever creative ideas were rolling around inside my jetlagged brain…ironically, i never set out to "see the world" even though that is exactly what happened…and i did not "leave" until i was over 30…
my first 17 years in serious photography never took me out of my own country…i was perfectly happy photographing life around me and my own "backyard"…i had no sense of the "real world"…then fate forced me out the door to learn about other cultures and countries….looking through the international viewfinder became my whole "real education" …certainly this is one of my most priceless assets….but now, that same "fate" brings me to a creatively "logical" project which will at least keep me culturally and photographically "at home"….albeit without any place to stay!!!
i will now begin my daily Oaxaca "routine"….starting with a nice walk to the "zocalo", one of the best plazas in the world …i will find my perfectly positioned table and chair…get some coffee and pan tostado …mull things over…think david think…maybe i will take a picture or two…chat it up with my "old friend" and waiter Pablo who will be just now seeing his children off to school…the morning light is nice, so i must leave you….
so, i just have time to ask you quickly….would "sleeping around" stimulate you, or do you need an "anchor" to do your best work??
HA!
David your energy is just amazing! and influencing!
ha…. new ideas… new ideas! rolling stones…
Just a deep breath and a camera is all I need. Makes no difference where my bed happens to be.
Good hunting to you Mr. Harvey.
You seem to be a gourmet of lemonade, as in ‘when life gives you lemons’, an optimist extraordinaire. And why not.you are a living example of the power of positivity. I am excited for you and the new project.
When you have time, I hope to hear from you/talk with you about direction, seek a bit of guidance from your sageness. Also curious as to whether the tempbooks site will ‘go live’ and if you have other thoughts about exhibition/publication/whathaveyou..
In any case, I wish you great pleasure in Oaxaca..I loved it there..is there bouganvilla in bloom now I wonder?
And the anchor/freedom question..I would want options, but I am a nester for sure, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a nest in a hammock on Zipolite..near Puerto Angel, if you have a minute, it used to the stuff of legends, heard it’s more touristed now, but still, may be worth a night by the waves.
David…
For me staying too long in one place is like tying my thoughts up..
That special state of mind when I’m on the run..Everything flows when..
Unfortunately I’ve been avoiding any major trips for 3 years now.. Hopefully that will change in September when I’ll be setting off to Caucasus for whole month :)
Good Luck with the Idea David
@ Marcin
Hi, I like your new website. And Photos of course. Moody Cuba..Sweet!
David,
I agree travel just to travel is tiring and tedious. Travel needs a purpose. I think extensive travel has changed me. My ideas about people, the world blablabla. I have been living out of a suitcase for the last 13 year, as I told you before this experience ‘de-rooted’ me. So no place is really home, I could live anywhere. I don’t need an anchor, but nowhere I sleep as good as in my own bed, anyway it’s good to have a base to relax. The answer to your question:
I don’t think it really matters, I need a story I am really passionate about, can be close or far away from…..’home’.
Good luck with your new project.
DAVID:
Yesterday, I met and drank with your former student Mike Berube (the one you dubbed “Harry Potter”) :))))))….
we had a wonderful 2 hours drinking and talking and discovered we’ve many many life-threads in common (surfing, skateboarding, cameras, grandparents who “made” us photographers, death of friends, deep love of stories, etc) :)))…I adore him and cant wait to introduce him to Marina and some great folks/photographers here in toronto :)))….I should tell you that I have re-named him though….
he’s not Harry Potter….but Harold!….Harold, from Harold and Maude….the harold who’s suffered but at the end of it all is playing his banjo and dancing out against the sky and sea and cliff….
Mike, if you are reading this DO NOT WATCH THIS CLIP, AS IT WILL GIVE AWAY THE MOVIE!!!!…
———————————————
As for the question of anchor….let me say only this….
like you David, I was a wander,…rootless and born of the surf, a hungry and eye’d-open traveler who was at peace anywhere i’d lay my head and back and ass. My parents, for good and ill, bequeathed me this: born in california, living in asia, us, running around, rootless, but somehow always anchored to that which appeared always the most ellusive: family…like Basho with his cloth bag upon his back and his head stuff with his haiku, my body was filled with the smell and scent of my family, the South, their voices, the stories, though i never found a home: the result of us always traveling, parents divorcing, many homes, many states and cities….until the day i was married at 38 and my anchor, the emotional and spiritual rootrich center, hooked inside the place wherever marina and dima are….even here in toronto, a place i dont expect to remain, the root and home is and will always be there: with them….for like a turtle, they are my shell and where i go next, where WE go next shall not change that….for i will never find a home, a physical home (i realized that before i got married), but it’s settling to know now that my home is encased in the rooty-trunk of the tree of our family…after toronto may be NY, maybe me France, maybe California, maybe a place i have not yet imagined, but it remains…
so where does the best work come from…for me, it’s always been when i feel, somehow, connected, when a place or person enters and climbs along that anchor chain…
and most often for me, i have to be physically lost and hungering….
send u a picture from a series i’ll submit to Fader magazine later this week….we’ll see what they say…maybe, David, that picture says more than i can today about this…
the heart is a pulpy river and that river rushes along side the 4×4 of my life…
homeless, but at home in the world…
hugs
bob
p.s. DONT FORGET TO CHECK MY EMAIL ABOUT THE MERCY BOOK PROJECT…i’d love for u to participate….joined hands David….
ps. the room looks lovey lovely :))…i can smell the salt of the sea air and the lick of the white sky….
more harold and maude (no looking Mike until after you’ve seen the movie!)
David,
Why am I not surprised to hear about your ‘homeless wanderer’ project? I more or less anticipated this- and even suggested it- back when the Kibbutz got evicted. It seemed to be the logical outcome of where your life was heading. So of course I wish you Good Luck and Vaya Con Dios!
My guess is that astrologically you have a lot more air, water, and fire than earth in your make-up. You are apparently not the gardener or builder-of-stone-houses type of person who needs to settle in on a piece of ground and build something substantial. This may be temperamentally true for most photographers! But I suspect that after your year of homeless wandering you may find yourself craving a place to ‘go to ground’. But I’m certain there is much to be learned from a purely ungrounded existence. Some argue that we humans are originally hunters and gathers and nomads by nature. Since you’ve spent some time in Oz, you’re probably familiar with Bruce Chatwin’s ‘The Songlines’, but if not I highly, highly recommend it as at least one companion volume to carry on your travels… it’s filled with pithy quotes from a galaxy of wanderers and students of wandering waxing eloquently on their lives.
For me personally the desire or need to wander like that came in cycles… at certain periods of life I was homeless and in motion for a year or more at a time, but finally needed the security of ‘my own space’ in a very physical and territorial sense, and I ended up once living in an isolated cabin in Idaho for six years, then a tiny sticks-and-paper Japanese dollhouse in Kyoto for 12 years… Now over sixty, I am addicted to having my physical privacy and my tools and books around me. But the years of homeless wandering, and the memories and ideas and thrills of those times- and the photographs- are the greatest treasures that I now hoard.
I can easily picture you lingering over breakfast in the sunny Zocalo in Oaxaca since I spent many mornings there myself in the winter of 1980, getting my regular fix of jus de naranje, huevos rancheros, and an ‘americano’ or two while enjoying the view of the plaza. I liked to sit on the north side in the mornings… then, in the evening, bands always played in the Zocalo, sometimes mariachis, sometimes a Vera Cruz-style marimba band, vendors sold carmel pancakes, cotton candy, and ices, and families promenaded. I wonder if the old Hotel Principal is still the best place to stay in Oaxaca?
Saludos Amigo,
Sidney
hi David…this is your “bag man” at BH. This entry in your log has hit a real home with me. I have always considered “home” photography the only way to go. “My life” as it goes from day to day…it’s the way I’ve always shot stuff. To make my life “on the road” as you suggest would be a nice “as my life goes” from a different perspective. Unfortunately the money to do this is not available to me……………hence where I work. If I could travel wher ever I wanted to go….assured that my pictures would have some resale value………….damn, I’d do it in a heartbeat ..
Born in France, escaped to the US, and only property I own is in Thailand…. For me, “anchor” means a cambodian beer! :-)))
Patiently waiting for the unveiling of your homeless project, David.
For me, photography is just an excuse to be an explorer. A wanderer. A drifter. A nomad.
I am fascinated by the in between. Not the dots on the map nor the web of roads that connect them. The in between, the forgotten places no one goes where small lives are being lived unchanged. Get off the bus in the middle of the trajectory, start to wander with no purpose and surrender to serendipity. There is no science to it yet it has never failed me. These are the moments when everything comes together for me, the discoveries are many, and I walk a little swifter, and my mind clears, and life is beautiful, and nothing can get me down, not even the rain. Rain brings neither depression nor hope, it just augments whichever one you’re feeling. And so in this moment of optimism the rain only broadens my smile, as I walk around completely soaked and speak to everyone I meet, even if it’s only a tip of the hat and utter “caballero”.
GOOD JOB MARCIN,
nice website:
http://www.marcinluczkowski.com/
I can’t answer this question, as it requires a basis for comparison and I do not have one. I’ve lived my whole life in the Hudson Valley; everything I photograph, everything and everyone I know is here, and I’ve never really been anywhere else. I went to Sicily twice, when my brother was stationed there, and I’ve been to Biloxi, Mississippi, to see another brother get married to his psychotic ex-wife. That’s the extent of my traveling, and I went to those places before I became interested in photography. I tend to get lost easily, even around here, if it’s a place I haven’t been to in a while, and as a result I stay in the places I know. So I have no concept of the nomad’s life or whether this helps or hinders one way or the other. I imagine it would help, what with something new happening every day.
Good question David.
Never posted before, but why not?
I’m a grad student at OU and my classmates and I just returned recently from our 10-day magazine shoots. It was basically our once chance to go anywhere in the US to shoot whatever we wanted.
Guess you might say it was our once chance to play “house” and pretend for a second that we were shooting for that yellow bordered publication.
The experience taught me a lot.
1. It’s not all that glamorous. Here I was all by myself filled with nothing but self-doubt:
Why am I here? Are my photos all crap? What am I missing? How can a hack like me pull this off? My brain ran rampant with self-doubt.
The only fix for me was junk food, good light, and good frames. My body didn’t thank me for the food, but my heart and soul ate up the images.
Like you probably know it was a roller coaster ride. The highs were amazing and the lows were anything but. At times I felt like I couldn’t shoot my way out of a wet paper bag, but when the great images hit I felt invisible.
It got lonely after awhile and thank god for my “project road map” cause once I was out there it was the one reassurance I had. It probably would of helped had I checked in with Terry more often back at school, but I lived to post about it.
What you wrote in Divided Soul really summed up a lot of it for me:
“Making compelling pictures is natural compared to finding out what is really going on.”
So true.
For now I’m happy with having my background as my playground again, but time will tell.
Tim
I`m bouncing off the walls of my suburban comfort here in Japan, but my family need me to be here with them, and with them I am home. I am trying to convert my wife to the idea of a little more routelessness however as that has been pretty much all my adult life and I miss it. The university of life, although a cliche, is still the best education I`ve ever had and I want to give my kids some of the same.
When started on the road 15 years ago the way was already growing crowded. Now I think travellers, even to the most remote of places, have an identity as travellers due to the sheer numbers of them and this has made it difficult to be in some places and get real relationships with those that live there. But like the post about photographing strangers: a smile and time spent make all the difference. Most travellers now are passing through and the movement with the ego-boosting collection of experience it brings is the point. Even if those experiences are picked up like ticks in long grass they are still counted. Myself, I like to get to know the tick`s family, his name, his ambitions in tickdom, find his history and…(okay so this metaphor has run its course!!) but what I mean is that travel is exactly about the points on the map and the places at either end of the route. Things may happen along the way but the speed with which we encounter them makes them less knowable. Mark J. Davis is right that the unknown places inbetween are the most interesting but getting off the bus halfway along the route is the end of the journey as far as I`m concerned and the next bus may be some time away thus you are there for “quality time”.
Good luck with the project anyhow David, forgive the rambling. I am newer in photography than I am in travelling and it is a subject i am passionate about. Indeed my passion for both is very great now. Unfortunately as long as I am not at your level of success and skill I have a choice to do one or the other it seems. Your lifestyle is my ambition, my Japanese wife`s vacation tradition of 4 days rushed exposure to another country is not.
I wish you all luck on the road and look forward to seeing the pics. I also hope you are more than comfortable in the many beds of the next year or so.
Bon Voyage
Damon
MARCIN…
it is always nice to see your new work….and you know i love your “texture” of Cuba….is spring coming now to Poland or still dark and gray as you sometimes describe?? i will have some new ideas for you soonest, so do not wander too far….
BOB…
my apologies for not having read your email yet…i am hopelessly lost with my email now…but, i will make a point to read yours in the morning….without even reading your mail i will do whatever you want me to do…i do hope that it will also involve meeting your anchors Marina and Dima…
very interesting that you used a turtle metaphor…i raised and studied eastern box turtles when i was a child…always thought them interesting for two reasons…they moved slow , but live a long time and , as you point out, they carry their “home” with them everywhere!!
so, you met Mike Berube…yes, Harold and Maude!!…but, do you not agree he “looks” like Harry Potter??? in any case, great guy and i am so pleased you met….
SIDNEY…
yes, you did suggest at least a version of what i am about to do…well, i have not told you exactly what i will do, but your wisdom prevails as usual…
actually, if there is one “home thing” i do enjoy it is puttering in the garden…i used to have a rather extensive water garden and took to raising koi….the koi provided so much peace and beauty…and , after this one year of “road trip”, the first thing i would do is to build another koi pond…
THOMAS….
thanks for dropping me a note….i should see you again in a couple of weeks…i do not need a new bag, but will probably buy one anyway!!!! please show me your work at some point….
HERVE….
wait a minute…you have property in Thailand? but, you do not live there do you??? i do not think so, but maybe i missed something somewhere along the line…
PANOS…
only one sentence from you??? are you ok???
we will meet soon….and i have been thinking about a really cool project for you…but, you might have to drive with both hands!!!
AKAKY…
well, the “grass is always greener”…i always wondered what it would be like to have lived the way you do…sounds very nice to me…in any case, i think it is all about “balance” and the weights on the scale vary from person to person…i will meet you soon too….
TIM…
OU is special for me…so many great friends teaching there and i know so many grads and undergrads…almost went to school there myself…
it is great you had the above experience and conclusions…i will be swinging through Athens sometime in the spring, so perhaps we will meet…
ERICA…
i should return to New York from Norway on March 10…i will be pleased to go over your projects with you…please call me soonest after i return and we can set up a time…mike just came down to Mexico, so maybe we can go “live” this week…if not, very soon…sorry for the delay…
EDWARD…
sounds like we are similar….my “ace in the hole” however are strong family connections…so even if i do not have a roof over my head, i know that my family will give me at least “emotional shelter”….
cheers, david
Damon,
I have some sympathy for your predicament (and wonder where in suburban Japan you are living? not that there’s a whole lot of difference between most Japanese ‘burbs!)
While most Japanese are conditioned from early age to always be busy, focused on work and family and ‘ganbaru’-ing, there have been some great Japanese travellers and some of them were and are also good writers, so you might try to get your wife more interested by having her read some of their books, if she’s a reader. I’m thinking especially of Uemura Naomi the great mountaineer, Arctic and Antarctic explorer; Kaiko Ken (or Takeshi) the journalist, gourmet, and fishing enthusiast; and Honda Katsuichi, another ‘deep embedder’ traveller and journalist… these guys date from the 60s and early 70s and their books are around in cheap, readily available ‘bunko’ editions. The next generation includes several personal acquaintances of mine who are adventurers and also good writers: Noda Tomosuke, the canoeist and non-fiction writer; Shiina Makoto the novelist and essayist; and Yumemakura Baku, ditto… and a much younger guy who is an impressive solo adventure traveller named Kunori Yasunari. There are probably even more now that I don’t know… it’s been ten years since I left Japan. I also personally know two great Japanese travel photojournalists whose web sites you should check out, Sato Hideaki (also known as ‘Shuumei’) who is a big nature guy, and Ito Takashi (who has been deeper into North Korea than any Western photographer):
http://www12.ocn.ne.jp/%7Eshumei/menu.htm (Sato- he also has a blog) and
http://www.jca.apc.org/~earth/ (Ito)
You also bring up a very interesting topic about how there are so many travellers that when one travels, mostly one bumps into other travellers… this is another huge topic, and I’ll save my comments on this until after some others have had their say. Good luck with the marriage of East and West!
Sidney
I’ve been on the road since last July- what little I do own sits in a friend’s basement and I have no idea where and when I might find ‘home’. But I’m loving every minute of my latest adventure and sleeping around is amazing stimulation! Though I think even on the road a little structure is needed. But either way, it’s the best way to combine life and work. Here I sit in Guatemala, writing my own script, and the only thing I wish for is a nice hot bath!
I was trying in the early hours of the morn to think of the positively connoted equivalent of homeless..just got it, unfettered. David, I like to think of you not as homeless, but as unfettered.
thank you for the note, will do..and no desire to rush you on the site, just curious, mostly..
hey david… after I left the santa fe workshops, I sold almost everything i own and am living loose and working on pictures. right now im in an internet cafe in cancun, mex. everything I own is in my 4 bags that I can fly with. I´m not sure where I´m headed next or how i´m going to pay for it, but I´m trying this nomad thing out too… anyway, look forward to the project and good luck on your travels. — Kendrick
oh and if you got any advice, i´d love to hear it, perhaps in a blog post!
DAVID…!
I KNOW I’M DRIVING!!!… i told the whole world, i’m driving!
12 years driving in L.A traffic, that’s kinda training… driving!
Not even one parking or diving ticket since 2001.!!!!
So let my project involves driving, god damn!…
Let’s drive this…. Let me do everything through a caaaar!
… i know we’ll meet soon and someone needs to photograph, the “gonzo” side effects!
peace
p.s: too much rain lately over here( West Coast!… Expecting STORM tonight!
DAVID:
:)))…no rush. read the email tomorrow. The Mercy Book project will mean our anchors will be joined :))))…read the email entitled “mercy book”…and the last email i sent (with the pic of the child wearing chester hat and clock in background), was just a pic, after a dream i had…
As for Harry Potter/Harold: yes, I adore him: he is a great person and soulful skater/surfer and I expect big things from him too (photos), but for me, most importantly is that I love the breath of his spirit and soul…he’ll meet the marina/dima anchor soon…u too (i trust) in May :))
Panos:
sometimes i miss driving a car (head out the window, music like tongue in my ear, cigarette, wind, space) alot…now, no car, no cigarettes (at least with nicotine ;)), but still the wind..
running
hugs
b
DAVID, I will be in NY sometime from March 21 on. I hope we’re still on for that period.
Did you send me an email with your number? I either lost it in the trash or???
Here it is again – michael@photonphotos.com
Ciao,
Michael
Harold and Maude is one of my all time favorites! Love it.
As I’ve said previously…”sleeping around” was my MO for years. Since 1995 India has been more my home than San Diego was. I had no interest in settling down and yet here I am shopping for door knobs and the like in Santa Fe. Now I will have to find a way to stay inspired while “at home.”
I look forward to hearing about your new project. Since you will also be staying close to home (although without one) I’m sure your tales will inspire me…as they always do.
Yes, David, I merely took advantage of the opportunity when the baht (thai money) was low and the deal clean and affordable back in 2000. I have spent months traveling and staying in Asia/Thailand since the late 80s, but I do live and work in San Francisco.
MARK J. DAVIS…..
sorry amigo,i missed your post the first time around…yes, serendipity is the most beautiful word…sounds just like what it is!!!
SIDNEY…
sad news…the hotel Principal no longer exists..closed down two years ago…all else that you describe on the Zocolo is totally intact…
KENDRICK…..
well, i do not possess the wisdom to give “advice”….however, keep me posted of your travels…where?? if you are going to be in the U.S. then i would “suggest” you jump on board with my travels for a few days…in the meantime, soak it up….and i am totally pleased to hear from you…
AMIRAN…
sometimes people ask me if i ever get tired…my answer is always the same: a hot shower and a good night’s sleep, softens all problems….
PANOS…
of course it must be done from your car….yes, L.A. is American car culture personified…when the oil runs out, L.A. will be the first place to go…i mean, you guys drive for EVERYTHING….if you go from a restaurant to another bar or whatever, you will drive even if it only two blocks away..right??? i got “caught” WALKING down the sidewalk in L.A. once…people felt sorry for me as they sped by in their super hot pickup or mint condition ’57 Chevy…the car is part of YOUR identity …if you can drive and take a bong hit, then you can drive and take a picture…so, think about it….i have some ideas, but i want you to think about it first…you need a “hook”…one other element to make it sing.. think…then, think some more…
DAMON…
whatever you do , do not think of “level of success”…this is paralyzing…by just working on a personal project that totally rocks your boat, you will have more than a “level of success”…something that cannot be taken from you…yours to keep…if you “love it” enough , it will show…this finished body of work will take you somewhere much further than anything you can imagine right this minute….
cheers, david
David
Yes! Spring is comming! And I must say that we have very warm winter now. No snow, no -20 rate Celsius…I hope no more!… global warming?… I hate winter. Yes the sky is grey sometimes long time. many persons jump through window, two days ago next bulding… ehhhh… And gray sky by month… it is in my hometown. I should write story about as i promised but realy no time.
New ideas? I will waiting with curious in my heart
when you will have good net connection and some free time I would like to write to you a mail about my project we talking about and asking for advice. maybe in next week?
I wish you good time in mexico… hmmmm in mexico? you must have good time!
ok. that’s all
running
Maciej and Panos… thanks
I welkome new writers :)
peace
David here is a little hint: nine years ago and after having done a lot of it for fifteen years I found out the act of traveling was really boring, expensive, bad for the environment etc… But being somewhere else remains essential for visual stimulation purposes. One needs that feeling of unbalance to keep the eyes alert. My solution: stick to one place far from home. Dig in for a few years. You’ll see: rewards guaranteed. No useless pressure, higher concentration level, better knowledge about the place, less superficial relations, so much more time to work… I could go on. Downsides? Sure.. But they’re no match…
And granted: if there had been no wine or Côte d’Or chocolate available in Phnom Penh maybe I wouldn’t have stayed that long…
Mr. Vink
Nice to hear you here. Your news site (blog?) is great but little quiet.
“And granted: if there had been no wine or Côte d’Or chocolate available in Phnom Penh maybe I wouldn’t have stayed that long…”
ok… now I must visite Phnom Penh myself!!
Marcin Luczkowski
Marcin,
You mean the news site is quiet because there are no replies to my posts? It was initially only meant to let people at Magnum know what I’m up to in my little boomtown… But if I never really expect replies (it’s not really a dialogue place like this one) they are always welcome. You’ll get better reactions to your replies from David though…
(sorry for the intrusion David..)
MARCIN….
honestly, i am not really going to have any time to have a meaningful exchange with you until i return from Norway on march 10…i am anxious to hear of your new project,so let’s have at least an e-chat in mid- march…
JOHN VINK…
that is one thing i have never done…actually live “outside” of my own country…i have thought of it many times…a move to Paris or to Barcelona or Havana or BKK or someplace in Mexico..frankly i have not done that only because of my family…just figured i could never be so far away from my aging parents , my sons etc etc…i can totally imagine what you say to be true…i think the only way that would work is if i was not traveling around as much as i am already and saved the travel time to go see family…we all have different “circumstances”..
thanks for writing john…you have always provided great insight…i do hope to see you in june in paris….
peace, david
Mr. Vink
I ask, but I known the answer I just expected reply.Maybe you will writing more on this forum? I’m huge fan of your work as you know. You have great easiness for taking pictures. and great eye.
I wish you luck.
David
yes yes, only when you will have a lot of time. That why I asked. I will ask again when you will return to new york. No hurry. thanks.
While I hate to quote You to You, David, one of your thoughts from Divided Soul (I’m in buenos aires, and I like the way the intro works in spanish better anyway!):
“Me encuentro en un torrente simultaneo de necesidades y sensaciones primarias”
I think my best moments come from a combination of excitement and nervousness driven by the discovery of a spark, a thought, an idea. Lying in bed, running 100 mph… it’s less about place and more about THAT feeling…Sometimes my senses are on high alert at home in my apt, other times it’s entering a room or a world for the first time. What I’m still trying to figure out is how to PUT my senses on high alert. Yesterday I was at an amazing home with a group of characters, and I couldn’t make IT happen, and the pictures didn’t come. Time, I suppose.
That said, the pictures will never be the same the second time I enter a place, and the pictures taken on the 100th time will find something hidden on the first 99. A combination perhaps?
Hum. Maybe I should pack my rucksack and travel within my own city. I always have much more energy when I don’t wake up at home…
No se por que pasa lo que me pasa, quizas sea la vejez, quisiera quedarme aqui en mi casa , pero ya no se cual es.
An anchor, definitively !!
I’m just back home, after a 2 month long trip down in Antarctica. Hard to be back, but I need it : the “routine” that you are talking about helps me think about my pictures. When I’m on the move for several weeks, it is finaly too hard for me to have a good sight on my job. That’s why I need my home, my anchor, to relax and to get new ideas…
Keep us update of the LA dates, Panos and David, if some of us can join.
David, not sure if you will be in Paris in June, but I will be.
Who knows, John Vink, I may even ring you up in Pnom Penh with your permission (no portfolio to show, no sollicitation of opinion, no fear!), comes April, though that may be the month you escape the soakedness of the region’s water festivals.
DAVID SAID:
“..when the oil runs out, L.A. will be the first place to go…”
panos, calls THE BOSS on the phone:
or this rare incident below..
I am never happier than when I only have a small carry-on suitcase and a camera bag! Yes, travel has become a pain to some degree. But, I prefer the small travel woes to the day to day stuff that comes with owning a home, cars and pets. I am ready to downsize…
An anchor for me is like a chain to my soul. Need movement around to feel movement inside, as I’m a wanderer in search of a dream…
“One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time” (Demian – Hermann Hesse)
David, sounds like you are ON THE ROAD to me. You can only be exicted about such a prospect.
You know, one of the things I admire about Dylan is his life on the road, constantly touring with his band doing his thing. You will be touring doing YOUR thing. For some, this transcience seems to produce a an explosion of creativity. I have a feeling that you will become addicted to it – just having that freedom will be amazing.
The last time I took an extensive road trip was in 2005 when I went to Saskatchewan and just explored the province for nearly two months and all I had to think about was the next picture. It was great!
Once my current project in East Anglia is finished I have the feeling that I may need to move on myself. I grew up in the region, moved away, and eventually felt this great urge to return there and photograph. But I think the camera is my connection to the place, even though it is “home” and my family is there. It is nice though to be able to photograph so close to home but you can’t do that forever, well I can’t I don’t think.
Today I headed out on my mountain bike riding the local farm tracks, forgetting about photography for a couple of hours. And then I suddenly came across an old run down farm that I hadn’t seen before and which looks like a perfect place to photograph for my project. Being “home” has its advantages.
I’m taking your workshop in Oslo. It should be an interesting place to photograph. I look forward to meeting you.
Best,
Justin
“sleeping around” does stimulate me, actually. i get a bit stale if i stay put too long – i finally just came to terms with that fact. i have a home, and i’m standing on it no matter where i’m at.
oaxaca, especially, TRULY stimulates me, as does chiapas. god how i envy you right now. after i moved out of 475 (yep!), i headed to the west coast and then moved to mexico and guatemala for a while. did a lot of moving and “sleeping around”. it was the breaks in between moving where i actually PRODUCED (i’m a jewelry designer) but the moving around, and the things i saw and learned, all fed into it. yeah it’s a bit of a pain sometimes, but… it also taught me patience, something i never had before.
i discovered your blog, btw, because of 475 being in the news and having old friends email me and tell me what was happening. and i’m so glad i did – i’ve really been enjoying your blog. and by the way, i was 26 before i ever left the country, myself. my first trip? egypt. didn’t make it easy on myself. most people go to europe or something.
oh and p.s. a previous poster suggested zipolite as a beach spot.
it’s got some tourists, but it’s still idyllic – also, it’s one of the few (optionally) nude beaches – prepare yourself for Italians in speedos, or less. i, however, would suggest Mazunte, instead (next beach over).
they’re all beautiful, but Mazunte’s my spot (and if you go there, make sure you walk out to Punta Cometa – and take your camera). just an hour or so east of puerto escondido, right next to Zipolite.
When you travel , it usually means you are making the effort to leave the comfort zone and flex those ideas , musings and hankerings into something that justifies getting off your ass in the first place,
Travel – shows commitment!
I’m mostly travelling on assignments now and the buzz that comes from landing in different places and hitting the ground running is something else.
But now that I have a family to come home to, that travel is now more often than nott assigned and I’m shooting my own stuff a lot closer to home.
Travel with an agenda , an idea trancends tourism , It becomes a quest!
You gotta have a quest , otherwise whats the point!
JOHN VINK, SAID ABOVE:
“…David here is a little hint: nine years ago and after having done a lot of it for fifteen years I found out the act of traveling was really boring, expensive, bad for the environment etc…
Posted by: John Vink | February 24, 2008 at 05:18 AM…”
PANOS ASKS:
I don’t know if anybody noticed the recent visit-post of another MASTER of photography…!
… how cool and REAL is that ….HE admits that …”traveling is bad for the environment”!!!!!!!!
people ENlighten up…. Throw away your NATGEO…
and forget about that “safari in Africa”… you planning for years…
Stick with your motherfucking corvettes idiots…
And stop traveling for no reason.. just to test your new plastic CANON LSD somewhere in the north pole, or whatever….
But nobody ever told you, that regarding the chaos theory,
even a butterfly or a “click” from a canon lsd1000 in america, can cause a TSUNAMI somewhere in Thailand!!!
God damn… plastic lovers… stop mplesting the world by your “travels”… keep your shit at your bathroom…
why you have to spread it around???
why a “big cruise ship” has to consume half the amazon river( energy wise) just to move 400 lazy asses around the world???????
why… whats so special…
In other words… move around, travel, if you benefit the world… if you are helping the world… not just to test your freeky canon,
or just to “see” the world…
The world doesnt need to be seen, IDIOTS,
it needs to be helped and saved!
But i know, you are an artist… you only see the beauty… not the pain….
… AND OF COURSE… I’M NOT GOING TO BED LIKE THAT!!!
yall know me by now…
QUESTION TO MR. JOHN VINK…?
panos scratches his head!!!:
“WHY SO UNAPPROACHABLE ,,,??!…MR VINK ?
Why ( not only you, my fellow greek also, mr Nikos Economopoulos… and many more…)
No, no, no… i’m not comparing anybody to DAH’S openness, and
straightforwardness .. He is not an IDOL, a DEMI GOD,…
he dont belong at the “ELITE”… he talks to us…..
he is teaching for free or “peanuts”…
With all my respect… “is there an elite, out there mr. VINK?”
..in other words, i agree with Glenn…!
That’s all i wanted to say…
peace, again!
???
goodnite my friends::’
o.k!
take this one, if you can: