Walks
My walks and thoughts ++ some video taken with my phone
reflections and collection
Here I explain my thoughts through my mindful walks. Before recording things on my walks purposefully, I did record things unpurposefully. I collected them at the beginning of this page. I then add some videos I took (with my phone) purposefully during them, and some initial experiments I did at the beginning. ////I show my referencess, link my processes and attempt to give an understanding of my journey.
Unpurposefully recorded walks:
I go for walks around my neighbourhood, I go for walks before going to the grocery store, I use any excuse sometimes to go for a walk. They help clear my mind, they are mandatory to feel connected to the world and my body - moving my body reminds me that I need to take care of it, I cannot ignore it exists. I like recording special things - like pictures, moving things also hold value. I use recordings to capture the joy and pleasure that certain ways of moving generate me. Objects, living things, wind, water, they exist independently. They exist even if no one is witnessing them. It feels validating to reflect on how I exist even if no one is there to witness my existance, and same with any object, living thing, element, etc. The fact that I am there to whitness it, doesn’t change it, doesn’t alter it. My friend Odhran once said: I like to think about a bug I saw once in a mountain, I like to think it will always be there, on that rock, that it will always be a constant.
When I look at the water, I like to see how it moves. How the shapes of the trees move when the wind blows. They always look different, it is a constant mutation. I like to do that 45minute walk to go and stare at that pond, and look at those reflections moving.
But I also like to record my movement, how I leave things behind while I walk. If I move I am the subject in motion. If I stay still I can whitness the movement of others.
First purposefully recorded walk:
This is a walk I went to when it snowed. I enjoyed the clusters of snow that were formed through the trails left by cars. I liked the patterns also. I thought it was interesting to see how the information I gathered about the form was linked to the motion of my body. The more I walked, the more clear the picture I had in my head about the snow clusters. This made me think about LiDAR scans.
I also connected with the motion of my body here. It was not only about the information I gathered through movement but also the enjoyment of being in motion and the everchanging visuals. Constant change of elements, leaving some of them behind while getting closer to other ones. The existance of the object was created (in my head) through movement. The understanding of the shape was being creted through movement.
This made me think about the inability of cameras to capture this. I am probably not the only one to imagine the square that limits the picture in my mind whenever I am about to take a photo of something.
Second walk:
This is a walk I purposely did to reflect and connect with some of the ideas I previously had. I was looking for the things that brought me to the present moment. And, by being present, a sense of comfort. I wanted to specially explore the moving water. I also had the book that my mom gave me as a present with me throughout the walk. I read some of it besides the water. "Don’t take refuge in anything outside of you."
I was thinking about this statement. What is exactly something outside of you? The way we see and perceive things is a combination of things inside and outside of us. I guess meditation is trying to find refuge just inside your head. But the way your mind is build // the way you build it is how you experience the world. I see parts of myself in the moving water, the way I experience it is part of me. I could not experience the moving water without being me. Experiencing the present moment, what was in front of me felt very validating.
“The present moment is where we need to operate. When you are truly anchored in the present moment, you can plan for the future in a much better way. Living mindfully in the present does not preclude making plans. It only means that you know there’s no use losing yourself in worries and fear concerning the future. If you are grounded in the present moment, you can bring the future into the present to have a deep look without losing yourself in anxiety and uncertainty. If you are truly present and know how to take care of the present moment as best you can, you are doing your best for the future already.”
After these walks I did some tests with Runway, to access them press here!
Third purposeful walk:
In this walk I reflected on movement, similar to the first one. How we get new information of the objects around us when we move around//towards them. The new information we gain from movement, especially on a 3D space, but also about the patterns in the objects. My brain tries to find where the patterns and repetitions are. It is trying to solve the visual puzzle, looks for clues in colours, textures, and slowly tries to recreate a perfect 3D model.
This made me think about how pictures don’t really give you as much spacial information about objects as well as video does. But they do give you some information that video does not succeed on giving. It is an emotional one, it helps you link better with the emotions of a specific moment. Is it because less information to process gives you more room for connection? Video still arises memories in a similar way that photography does, though. They are quite similar - both are visual ways to capture moments - so they both still hold memory. Film photography, though, has different attributes to digital photography, especially the textures and the colours. Videos recorded with old cameras (they don’t need to be old film cameras, though) also have granny effects or the way they pixelate the image make the colour impressions of the photography to also give a nostalgic feeling to those memories.
Is it the format, or is it the way nostalgia is evoked then? Or are they linked to one another? Film photography has a special archive-like feeling. And that gives you a better sense of “archiving” your memories or “curating” them. I have a common feeling throughout my decisions in life and it is this feeling of curating. When I was writting my DH&T dissertation I felt like I was only a curator of information. Or with music, an easy straight-forward example, I like curating playlists on Spotify. We (me and some friends) even have a whatsapp group chat only dedicated to sending music links of interesting music we find.
When I choose to capture a moment with my camera (especially film camera) it feels like moments are unique and I need to get them all - if I can. Saving those memories, saving those emotions. So they don’t go away as if they never existed. I want to archive and curate them, I want to remember I felt, I was and I belonged. And that feels really validating, especially when the world is constantly denying my existance.