Day 12: Brain Dead

Today was a bit of a break for me mentally. I started by skipping breakfast and sleeping in until nine. It was glorious. I finished editing the photos from the project last week, which is a large amount of stress that ended. We spent the day before lunch working in our groups getting presentations ready for tomorrow. We’ll be presenting our concept for an interior space here in the main building where the offices and café are. We also presented our group ideas for the prayer walk in the woods today. It was nice for my mind to not be freaking out the whole day. It feels good to slow it down a little. We’re still working on a lot of projects but my brain doesn’t realize it, so that’s nice.

It was nice to put some of the things I’ve learned here to practice. Things such as, don’t question the creative/art director. Things like that have been a bit difficult to get the hang of. I don’t mouth off or anything, I just like to insert my opinion, which usually conflicts. It’s been a very humbling experience. I’m glad I’m actually learning from this trip and not just sweeping my experiences under the rug. It’s definitely a different type of learning than I thought it would be. But it’s very good. Today was also very exciting in the realm of my personal work. My buddy Max and I figured out some cool stuff for the future, which I’m super pumped about.

One thing I realized I’ve missed here is a day of rest. We had three days off from work, but they were just as busy and full of things as the workdays. God gave us a day of rest and I need to find a time to rest. I also need to find time to spend with God. My time and relationship with Him has been lacking since I’ve been here. We’re so busy that it’s hard to find time for Him, but I need to put aside that time. I think it would really help.

Sorry I’ve been posting short lately, my brain is fairly decimated. Oh one thing I did want to say that I forgot the other day. When we visited Salisbury Cathedral, I licked it. That is all. Goodnight. Oh oh, I’m super tired of my hair too, and I wore yellow pants today. Ok, peace out!

Day 11: Design

We started working on the big design project today. It was mostly brainstorming and research. I’m also still working on the photos from last week. It was another mentally draining day. There is a lot happening and I wish I could tell you what all that is, but my brain doesn’t have the capacity to work it all out right now. I just wanted to give you a little something from the day. It was a long day.

I had a cup of tea, which was wonderful. I played some volleyball, which was short and I did less than wonderful. I had a good talk with some of the guys tonight and figured out what to do to resolve some conflict. So I’m going to be figuring that out in the next couple days. Also, I really want a haircut. Sorry for the short post, like I said, it was a long day.

Day 10: Beauty in the Simple

Today was our last day off before jumping back into work. We woke up at six in the morning and were ready to leave by six thirty. We all hopped on a bus and a little over two hours later we arrived at Stonehenge. It was pretty cool to see in person, but also somewhat disappointing. Some things, like the Grand Canyon, you have to see in person. You see photos, and in person it’s so much better, Stonehenge isn’t really like that. I feel as though it is as impressive in photographs as it is in real life. I’m still very glad I got to see it, but it was a bunch of big rocks. I’m sure there are those that would staunchly disagree with me, however.

After Stonehenge we went to Salisbury Cathedral. So very good. This is a cathedral I have literally studied before. I’ve studied photos and even paintings of this cathedral for years now. It was so amazing to see it in person. I would compare my experience of Salisbury Cathedral to that of the Grand Canyon, it is better in real life. The spire is so tall it’s ridiculous. The size of the cathedral as a whole is extremely impressive. Another thing that is so impressive about this particular cathedral is that it was built in thirty-eight years, so unlike many other cathedrals, it only has the elements of one architectural movement; and now I feel like a nerd.

For lunch I tried some authentic English fish and chips, not my favorite thing about the day. To salvage my lunch I stopped by a bakery and everything was all right in the end. From there we went to Lacock Abbey and Fox Talbot Museum. It was an abbey that is fairly rich in history, but the main attraction is the fact that this is where William Henry Fox Talbot created the first photographic negative. Another distinguishing factor about the abbey is that parts of several of the Harry Potter movies were filmed there. And just down the street in the small town is where Harry Potter’s house from Godric’s Hollow is. So that small little town definitely has its claim to fame in a couple different ways.

We ended the day with dinner in downtown Harpenden. It was a long day and the bus made me sleepy every time I was on it. With all of the busyness and running around of the day, it was easy to get lost in it all, but one of my favorite moments of the day didn’t involve grand ornate architecture, or mysterious stone structures. One of my favorite moments of the day came from listening to Beirut and Alexi Murdoch while watching the English countryside roll past with all of the green and yellow. It rains here quite a bit, or so I’ve heard, so everything is green, and there are also fields and fields of what seems like endless yellow flowers. The flowers are grown for rapeseed to make cooking oil. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever had the blessing of seeing. It’s funny that at the end of the day, I saw centuries of man made buildings, some of which are so grand and beautiful it left me in awe. But the grand works of man aren’t what I remember best; it was the simple beauty of yellow as far as the eye can see. It wasn’t in the exciting and grand commotion; it was the calm and subtle beauty that caught my eye the most.

Day 9: Tired Feet

Today we spent the day in London again. We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral for church this morning. It was my first time at an Anglican church. It was also my first time drinking booze in church. For their communion they use actual wine, wine is gross, I definitely don’t like it. The service was very good. It definitely was not Baptist, the sermon was only about ten minutes. It was a liturgical service, which is good because I like liturgical services. There were lots of robes involved. The cathedral itself was the most impressive building I think I’ve ever been in, or at least close to it. Since we were there for the actual church service we weren’t allowed to take pictures. The cathedral was not only a massive building; it was ornately decorated with statues and gold leaf engravings. It was cool to see architecture like this in person. I’ve studied buildings like this for years and it’s nice to finally see one of them in person.

After church we went to a modern art museum, Tate Modern. There were some really cool exhibits there. There were also some really stupid pieces there, or at least I think so. It was very cool to be able to see, in person, some of the art that I’ve studied. It was exhilarant walking around the corner and seeing a Piet Mondrian painting. I’m so familiar with his paintings, which isn’t a large accomplishment, that I instantly recognized it. There were also several installments by Dan Flavin that were exciting to see. It’s strange to see art that I recognize, but have never seen in person. There were numerous other artists that I could go on and on about, but I will refrain. Outside the museum there was a guy making huge bubbles. That was extremely exciting also.

We had to be back at the compound by seven for dinner, so with what time we had left we went shopping. We went to a place called Primark. It is only in the UK and I have known about it for a couple of years. They don’t have an online store so you can only get clothes from there while over here. I’ve heard good things about it so I thought I would check it out. The clothes are pretty cool and the prices are cooler. The day did not seem as long as the last few ones have, but my feet feel like it was still a long day. I’m getting pretty good at navigating the Underground too, which is pretty cool. Now for a night full of relaxing and photo editing, and away I go!

Day 8: London Adventures

Today was a vacation day. We didn’t do any work; we only did touristy activities. We all went to downtown London today. We started at London Bridge. It was very big, and contrary to popular belief it was, in fact, not falling down. We went to the Design Museum after that. There were a lot of new inventions displayed that haven’t hit the market yet that were intriguing. After that we went and ate our bagged lunches and went to the British Library. We saw an exhibit on propaganda, which was curious. In the library they have several treasured documents. I saw original manuscripts from Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Magna Carta. Sadly I didn’t get to touch any of them.

We went to a place called Camden town. You know in the movies when people are walking through a very crowded market where there’s no space to get through and there are vendors all over? That’s what Camden town is like. We walked around there for several hours. Got some lunch from one of the local vendors, and hopped on the Tube to discover other parts of London.

I talked to lots of people today, which was quite fun. I talked to too many to remember all of the conversations but I’ll tell you about the most memorable ones. The first man I talked to was playing the violin down by the subway. He was from Brazil and said that when people with cameras that are rude to him get too close he “licks their lenses.” He also told me that I was more polite than most people. The second very memorable conversation I had was with a gentleman that was with a group of Hare Krishna. They all came through the train station dancing and playing music and passing out literature. It was quite exciting. I talked with him for a while about his beliefs and what they were doing and why they were dancing around. I got his email too! I’m going to convert him.

The night was filled with walking the streets. I got some good night photography and quite a few good videos. There were some street performers by one of the large intersections. There were several break-dancers, and one statue guy. He was dressed all in gold-covered clothes. Even his face was covered with a gold mask. He would stand motionless for several minutes until eventually he would move suddenly and scare people. It was intimidating. He was very good at standing still.

The day was filled with adventures. I also had the chance to get many photos taken! I have a bit of a back up on editing my personal photos since I’ve been working on projects so much. But they will appear eventually, don’t worry. My feet are very sore, and they don’t like me.

Day 7: Do Over

Today was the last day for working on the photo project that has been consuming my life for the past several days. It was a very long, very tiring day, but what day isn’t over here? We shot the five photos we hadn’t shot yet, and we also reshot two of the photos we did yesterday. It was a much busier day, but much less stressful. We ran around finding models and props and getting locations set up. We directed, and shot, and reshot, and reshot. Now I have quite a bit of editing to get done. But the tiring and stressful part is over, so I can catch my breath. The presentations for the nature walk got pushed back until Wednesday also, which is extremely helpful.

One thing about this trip is that alone time doesn’t really happen. To have time alone, one must go very far out of their way. It’s not impossible, just harder than normal.

I’m very tired, and would like some sleep, so with that, goodnight.

Day 6: Stress

Today we hit the ground running, yet again. No more client meetings, just brainstorming and shooting. We regrouped today into bigger groups and split up the work. We separated it so that everyone was Art Director for one shoot, and everyone is photographer for one shoot. Me and the other person are now leading one group each; and within those groups we’ve split up the workload. It was by far the most stressful day yet, and had the heaviest workload. I learned a lot about leadership today. I learned what things are necessary and should be pushed, and what should be left as is. In leadership, one must pick their battles. I did not have trouble with this today; my team is great and has been a blessing to work with. With the amount of work we have had to work through I have learned a lot, even without having to go through some of the harder parts of leadership. There were a lot of situations that could have gone very badly today if I had not pushed for certain things, and backed off of others. Tomorrow we finish our last five photo shoots, then after editing them all we get a few days of rest before starting in on some other projects. But before that my other group also has our nature walk proposal, which is also a pretty big project.

After dinner tonight a bunch of us played dodge ball with several of the staffers here on campus. It was exactly what I needed after the long day. The local handyman Emmanuel, from Switzerland, made it much more exciting. He was by far the best one out of all of us. There is usually a dodge ball club that meets on Thursday nights but tonight it was pretty low key. After playing around for a couple hours I made myself a nice cup of Earl Grey and just relaxed for about twenty minutes. After that I headed down to “The Dungeon”, which is what we call the room we’ve been working in while we’re here. My nights mostly consist of editing for now, but I’m not complaining. It’s good work. I enjoy it.

I really have had a wonderful time here. It’s a lot of hard work, but in the end hard work is what I enjoy the most. I think that partly comes from my upbringing. Granted, I wasn’t raised with a camera in my hand, but hard work has never been something I’ve shied away from. It’s both a blessing and a curse. If I’m not busy, with work or school, I kind of go crazy. I can’t handle inactivity. If I’m not doing something productive I feel like I’m useless. So the work here has been very rewarding, but also very tiring.