A Little Night Music

My latest illustration - a bombastic baroque bat band!

My Camino

Camino Frances, August 2014 from Benjamin V on Vimeo.

Almost two years ago to the day I indulged my itchy feet and set off to trek across Spain, following the well-trodden pilgrim route to Santiago. During this trip I tested the patience of everyone I met with endless video making, and have finally got round to putting together a short film compilation! Many thanks goes to all who I shared this journey with, without whom this would not have been possible.

Pilgrim Procession

I spent the summer of 2014 following yellow arrows for over five hundred miles across the north of Spain, on a route known as 'El Camino de Santiago'. Every year this ancient pilgrim path is traversed by countless individuals from all walks of life, making up a colourful and ever-shifting nomadic community. Pilgrims are motivated by various spiritual and recreational inclinations as they walk, both alone and together, towards places unknown.

Twenty Five

Year Twenty Five from Benjamin V on Vimeo.

This video is the result of a year-long period of rather obsessive documentation. It is a sort of montage of my year - using one second of footage from every day - starting with my 25th birthday.

I hoped that by committing to such a project I might be more likely to make the most of each day, in spite of a lot of directionlessness and a less than ideal overall situation. And much of the time I felt that the filmmaking process did indeed inspirit more active participation in the unfolding of my life, allowing me to be genuinely more engaged with and appreciaitive of where I was and what I was doing. At other times though it felt like something of a barrier between myself and my experience - introducing an element of affectation and artificiality to the unfolding of events.

All in all I think documentation of this kind is a fun and worthwhile part of living, just as long as we're careful not to let it become the point of living itself!

Sincere thank yous are extended to everyone who I knew and shared some of my twenty fifth year with, for making the year what it was and for helping to put this together. Thanks to everyone who contributed a bit of videography, and especially to those who put up so well with having my camera endlessly in their face for a whole year!

Goats, goats, goats!

 

How many goats does this unusually-shaped tree contain? The answer might be closer than you think...

Morocco Moments

Sahara Retreat 2014 from Benjamin V on Vimeo.

Just a small video I made, comprised of a collection of moments from the retreat I attended in the Moroccan Sahara last month.

Birthday Menagerie