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

Jaunt of the Penguins

Penguins are known for their tendency to undertake great and perilous journeys, covering vast overland distances in search of breeding grounds, fresh seafood, and, no doubt, adventure. Less well-publicised however are the intervals between these pilgrimages, when penguin life takes on a more low-key, comfortable, pedestrian pace.

But with comfort comes predictability and tedium, and these pastoral penguins may find that the fortitude and grit that serve them so well on the road may be equally called upon amidst this more ordinary existence.

Southeast Asia trip

Trip Montage from Benjamin V on Vimeo.

A little video/photo montage of my recent 5 month trip around Southeast Asia.