Friday, July 03, 2009

IMAGES OF A ROUND THE WORLD HITCH-HIKING TRIP, IN TANDIL



Making a Photo Exhibition in Tandil, Argentina. he venue was offered by Tandil University Cultural Center. Title of the exhbition was "Images of a Round the World Hitch-hiking trip". More than 50 people attended the event.






After introducing myself and The Wizard (my backpack) we carried on with the slide of around 400 photographs. I thought they would be too many, but people kept their attention focused. Many of them later bought copies of my book "Vagabonding in the Axis of Evil" (Spanish version. English one coming soon). I also displayed a hundred of my hand made postcards. Rhey allow anyone to take a souvenir home, since they are cheaper than the 20x30 I always sell.




What is behind selling a photograph? There several dimensions beyond the economic side of it. Firstly, unlike the book, people can choose among the +100 pictures, letting me know something about their likes, dislikes, etc. More importantly, the energy of the photographed episoded comes back to me when someone chooses a picture. Kids smile again, and deserts print their austerity in my eyes once again... A magic evocation that claims time for already lived moments and make life reversible...





As I said, there is something fundamental behind a simple event. I have been a nomad fo 4 years now, and my e-mail contact list has around 1400 addresses, plus some 690 Facebook friends (clic here to find my profile and add me!) This forces me to inforce some discipline in the task of recording and organizing new contacts. As ii travel, I send general e-mails telling all this readers and friends where I am, and if there is any event coming. And then the desired alchemy happens: the virtual world touches the real one, when someone comes to the event thanks to an e-mail. In this case I could meet face to face dozens of readers I had never seen before. In the picture you can see Teresa foor instance. She would always comment my blog to check I was still alive while hiking in Tibet or Afghanistan. I could have never fortold this woman whose messages often gave me strenght was on a wheelchair.




Readres geting their book signed.




My girfriend Paula and Rocío. I had last seen Rocío, from the Cyclown Circus in Thailand in 2007. Imagine my surprise!



Friends at Tandil, Argentina.



A cute boy selling bicycles made from wire in the streets.




1 comment:

Monty said...

While people may have different views still good things should always be appreciated. Yours is a nice blog. Liked it!!!