Beyond the Frame 73/
Anniversary weekend. Fine Art Postcards nearly sold out. Life release in Cambodia. Seven Days Walking – inspiration for a photography project.
Nine years with the Trouble and strife
I hope you’ve had a splendid weekend. It’s been a good one for us. Mrs G and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary with a very fine Ruby.
No, not an expensive, red gemstone. A Ruby Murray.
Cockney rhyming slang, innit? Ruby Murray = Curry.
As we shared a naan bread stuffed with Gruyère cheese – a questionable culinary fusion one would only find in Switzerland! – we reflected on our good fortune and agreed that we hope the next nine years are just as memorable as the previous nine.
Cheers!
“My most brilliant achievement was my ability to persuade my wife to marry me.”
– Winston Churchill
In this edition, we visit Cambodia’s capital city and I share an idea for a photographic project based on the music of Ludovico Einaudi.
Postcards
I didn’t anticipate the response I’ve had to my Fine Art postcards. Some are now completely sold out and very limited stock remains of others.
One reader wrote to say that she plans to self-address her postcards and hand them out to family and friends, asking for the postcards to be posted back to her some time next year.
I think it’s a marvellous plan, which I’m going to borrow. It will be interesting to see which far-flung locations my postcards might be returned from.
I’ll try to add one new limited-edition postcard to the store each month. Meanwhile, you might still find some available if you hurry.
Looking back: Life Release
On the banks of the Tonlé Sap River in Phnom Penh, people take part in a Buddhist ritual known as fangsheng (life release). Small birds – typically swallows and sparrows – are purchased and then set free with a prayer into the open sky. The act is a form of offering, performed to earn spiritual merit or karma.
The tradition can be seen across much of Asia. Depending on the location, devotees might also release fish, turtles, or eels. Each life release is believed to bless both the giver and the animal released.
Life release is not as popular as it once was as its environmental implications have become more widely understood. Sometimes animals are recovered and sold again. Non-native species have been released, resulting in unintended – and costly – consequences for the hopeful merit-makers.
The appeal is easy to understand. Freeing birds from their wire cage and releasing them into the sky, watching them rise freely and scatter, is a compelling metaphor for the very human desire to see our hopes and dreams take flight.
Looking forward: Seven Days Walking
If you find yourself looking for some creative inspiration, here’s an idea that occurred to me last night as I was drifting off to sleep, listening to music from Ludovico Einaudi’s beautiful Seven Days Walking project.
The seed of Seven Days Walking germinated during the daily walks that Ludovico took from his home in the Swiss Alps.
“The idea I had in the beginning was quite vague,” he says. “I wanted to create something that was like a circle of music, without any stops.”
Even though the path he trod was much the same each day, he noticed variations. The same objects would appear differently on different days, things changed, new objects appeared, he encountered different people.
He began to sketch musical responses to his walks. “After a few days, I took those recordings and started to listen to them.” Slight variations reflected the subtle shifts in his daily observations and he asked himself, “Why should I choose between them?”
“Each time I was seeing something different. I would see a light, an animal, a house, a person, something I had not seen before. I thought that all this was very similar to the creative process: the times when you search, the times when you feel lost, and those when you suddenly discover something. I thought of my walks as variations on the same theme — the same musical route in seven slightly different versions. Seven times the same path, in seven days. Time expands. Tone changes. The gaze is lost in space. The mind is transformed.”
– Ludovico Einaudi
I’m enchanted by the idea that something beautiful can emerge from a seemingly mundane activity. Walking the same route day after day might seem like a recipe for predictability. But of course no two days are the same. The weather changes, the light moves, patterns shift, objects appear. And we, ourselves, are never exactly the same on any two days.
Locating a state of mind that allows us to be open to all possible variations is a form of meditation. It matters not whether the route we tread follows an Alpine track, drifts along a Mediterranean beach, or climbs the floors of a multi-storey car park. Inspiration flows from the infinite variations.
“In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject.
The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
The Seven Days Photography Project
As I lay in bed, lulled by the dreamy melodies of Seven Days Walking, and imagining Ludovico’s daily walks, I thought, “I should try that with a camera.”
Often the simplest ideas are the best.
And so, when I next find myself in the same place for seven consecutive days, I’ll take a walk along the same route each day and make seven photos in seven different places along the way.
One route, seven days, seven photographs a day.
I’ll try to notice what changes from day to day, not only in a literal sense, but also what’s different in how I engage with the route. Will some days be more energetic, other days more relaxed? Will I have time to be more patient on some days, hurry more on others? How will the inevitable differences in my mood affect what I notice and how I choose to photograph?
I’ll share the results, 49 images, when I’m done.
If you feel inclined to take on this mini project yourself, I’d love to see what you find. If you share the results, I’ll compile a gallery of all the Seven Days images and post a link in a future newsletter.
Jolly good. I like having a creative imperative to make new and different photos – and a seven-day project should be easily manageable.
You can find all seven albums that came out of Ludovico’s Seven Days Walking project on Apple Music, on Spotify, and on YouTube.
I hope you find some time to listen to Ludovico Einaudi’s Seven Days Walking. It’s perfect for a wistful Sunday afternoon.
Until next time, go well.
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Beyond the Frame 72/
Magnum’s World in Colour exhibition. Six new fine art postcards. First thoughts on the Leica D-Lux 8 compact camera. Plus some cultural recommendations.