Slowly Listening To Elena
SLOW LIVING & WAITING FOR THE GOOD STUFF
I'll do a full video explaining what this is, but I've joined the 'slow living' movement. There's no actual place to sign up or anything, but the movement came into my consciousness recently and it dawned on me that it was what I was already trying to do. So it's got a name and a community of people striving for the same thing in their own way.
It's hard to explain, but it's basically a mix of minimalism, mindfulness and contentment philosophy.
I spent the best part of the day with a good friend of whom I'm shooting a mini documentary. It's of her story of how she became a dancer. We were originally meant to shoot the interview in the park today, but many issues made it unfeasible. There was way too much noise for our liking and the light wasn't as great as expected. We decided that we would shoot the video on a different day, and just spent today talking over a nice coffee and cake.
She told me her story again, this time more slowly, and I just listened more attentively than before. I picked up some new information that I hadn't previously, probably because I wasn't actively listening and being present, which I'm now planning on incorporating into the project.
We also played around with some photography concepts to see if I could already find a good shot for the thumbnail of the video when it's done. The light wasn't great for video, but it was perfect for a bit of moody photography.
Her parents called her while we were sitting there chatting away. They were aware of the project and are supposed to provide us with some photos (or videos) from her childhood. They do have some, but we have to wait till Christmas to get them. I was hoping to get the project done this month actually, I thought to myself, but then another thought occurred to me that sometimes you have to wait to get the good stuff. How does the saying go? 'good things come to those who wait'. So just like that, the project has been put off till winter. I shall wait till I get the good stuff rather than compromise with the not so good stuff I already have.
Her parent's live on a small Mediterranean island where life is still slow. For them a timescale of two months seems ok. They still send things to their friends and family by post and are still perfectly fine to wait for things to arrive from afar.
I remember those days when you had to wait for a fortnight to receive a letter from a pen pall, or for your roll of film to be developed and printed. I'm willing to wait to experience that excitement again.
Peace & Love,
Adé