Vacationing on a Greek island sounds like a great idea in summer for many people. Skyros, where I’m currently based, is such an island, but I am not one of those many people, since traveling and vacationing isn’t my favorites sort of speak. Of course, I do not have to lose something in order to appreciate it, so I certainly acknowledge the value in vacationing here for a month every summer.
Yes yes, I have the luxury to go on vacation for a whole month. On a Greek island. And I’m complaining. Hmmm…
The price of creativity
Whenever we travel it’s normal to shoot a lot of pictures and videos. Our creativity overwhelms us and so, every year I find myself shooting a lot of content, which eventually just takes up space in the hard drive. Thus, in the past two weeks, I have accumulated over 1000 pictures and 100GB in video for yet another summer. Although I am hoping I’ll make use of all these in some kind of short film or documentary, I don’t expect to stop any time soon. Nor buying more and bigger hard disks…
The beginning is half of the whole
I woke up very early today, much like I do every day. The sheep that were passing along outside of the house had some effect on that obviously. Yet, I haven’t missed almost any sunrise, given the view is something I truly enjoy in Skyros.
And since I got up I said, why don’t I film a quick episode for YouTube? Maybe it’s the beginning of something greater after all.
Life on Skyros island and brainstorming ideas
Every year I end up bringing more filmmaking gear to the island. Cameras, tripods and a whole bunch of equipment that someone could claim that I could shoot even a movie with all that stuff. This year I even brought my office’s 38-inch monitor with me! You see, my eyesight has got a lot worse lately and I’m struggling to read in small screens from up close. Getting past forty must have played a role as well.
Also this year, I have brought a drone with me for the first time, which I have already used, when I filmed the sunrise in the so-called Windmill of Skyros and the chappel of Ayios Ermolaos.
Everyday life when vacationing isn’t all about cameras. Usually, in the mornings I go out to the garden, which I hugely appreciate as I live in a flat for the rest of the year. August is the month that figs are in season as well, and no matter how funny it sounds, collecting figs first thing in the morning relaxes me. Not to say that I am not a calm guy. Yet, I find it truly relaxing and in addition, there’s the sweet reward of my effort by the end.
Most of the hours are spent with the family as expected. When I have time for myself, I very often walk up and down and around the house, thinking of all sorts of things. Maybe it’s due to the middle age crisis, maybe it’s just that I simply enjoy thinking of everything thoroughly. All this time that I cover miles thinking, I always believed that sooner or later, on some of those miles, I’ll brainstorm the idea that I was craving for. And I believe the fresh air, the unobstructed view, and the moon helped for that moment to come in the previous days on the island. My enthusiasm for my idea was so big that I wanted to share it on social networks. That also made me a lot more active and to post a lot more of my thoughts and pictures from the island. But the issue is that I had the moment I was expecting, the moment when I found a point, a life goal, a vision. Told you, I’m getting old!
The purpose of creativity
At least now all this content is online. It takes up a role instead of space in my hard disks. You can all watch it and I don’t need to describe what I shot during my vacation in Skyros or what outstanding scenes exist in the hard disks. Which have A LOT MORE beautiful scenes.
The vision
But most importantly I have now acquired a target which I was eagerly seeking for during the last years. A vision, that will make a point again each time I get the camera in my hands and decide to film a scene. Because now I know that I’ll use all these scenes in the biggest project of my life that I’ll talk about in a future episode. Don’t miss it!
