Buried deep down inside every one of us is the longing for adventure. We long to go to the unknown, and see what we have never seen before. For me this is particularly so. Perhaps I can attribute this to my upbringing in a military family. I never lived in a particular place longer than 3 years. Now, I start to get a little antsy if a stick around one place too long. My Father, as a military pilot, has seen the globe, traveling to almost every continent and many countries on his deployments. Each journey he came home to his excited family bearing gifts from the foreign lands. This, no doubt, also kindled the fire of adventure in me at a young age. Peter Forbes suggested that these stories carry weight not only from one generation to another, but across many generations and through nations. He continued to explain the powerful influence of stories. A perfect example of this power is Martin Luther King Jr. when he spoke to thousands in his legendary speech “I Have a Dream.” Forbes points out that Dr. King in a courageous attempt to motivate opted not to pound the pulpit and demand change, rather, he spoke beautifully of a story that could be. This common dream motivated individuals, families, communities, and a nation to act. Stories like Dr. King’s changed the course of history forever. This same influential power was wrought on me as a boy as my father regaled me with his adventure-packed tales. I was helpless against its power, and the desire to form stories of my own has only grown throughout the years.
My music mosaic is a reflection the influence of my father’s stories on my life. The photographs were taken in a series of road trips my wife and I took as we moved to Provo from Hawaii. At the start of each journey is an excitement. Unknown roads and beautiful destinations lie ahead. Then once we got on the road that excitement quickly died as the hours of pavement and tunnel vision had its toll. Thus the pictures I chose to include show excitement and repetition. Just as I felt boredom and the repetitious yellow lines would overcome me, a new and magnificent vista would rise above the horizon. Again the fire would rekindle and the image would engrave itself on the pages of my own stories.
The music, performed by Andy McKee, called Art of Motion also matches the feelings of our road trips. It begins with fast picking and tapping of the guitar. As I listen antsy feelings resurface. Yet in the middle of the song there is a peaceful lull. The fast finger picking dies and a repetitious bass string follows. I can see the yellow lines passing again. Finally the song picks up again and the “magnificent vista” of the song bursts out again. The song ends suddenly leaving a desire for more. I will always seek more adventure.As I envisioned this project while listening to the music my mind merged the images of the road passing before me and a film strip doing the same. Thus I felt it would be appropriate to show the repetitive nature of the song and my experiences on the road trip by compiling the pictures into a film strip.
The song can be heard at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWC9s3hH-cw
I also posted the individual pictures to see them closer and the emotion in each one.
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