The Road Goes Ever On And On
A path leads to the sea, under a stormy sky, on Nólsoy.
Do the words "The Road Goes Ever On And On" ring a bell?
They form the basis of a walking song featured in The Hobbit (There And Back Again) book and the film The Lord Of The Rings, The Fellowship Of The Ring.
In the film Gandalf mutters the first line or two when he first appears in the Fellowship of the Ring.
Later Bilbo sings a few lines after leaving the One Ring behind and heading off to Rivendell to finish writing his book.
Here’s my favorite versus from the song:
“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.”
The first verse features in the motion picture film the Lord Of The Rings, The Fellowship Of The Ring. Though, from memory, the third line is changed to read as follows:
How far away the Road goes on
Frankly, I prefer it that way.
The above photo was made on the tiny island of Nólsoy in the fabulous Faroe Islands. I love how the sunlit grasses frame the path forward.
The sunlit foreground and mid ground speaks to a hopeful beginning to the journey. Though the approaching stormy sky might suggest that the road ahead may not be an entirely easy one.
Such is life!
A track near Twizel in New Zealand reminded me of Gollum’s Song.
Tracks, Paths And Roads
While we may, on occasions, set off with a particular destination in mind, it is the road itself that provides the adventure and allows us to navigate our way from the journey’s beginning until its eventual end.
Of course the road can take many forms from humble sheep trail to a major freeway. But it doesn’t stop there.
The famous poem Road To Mandalay refers to the journey along the Irrawaddy River between Rangoon (i.e., Yangon) and Mandalay in Myanmar.
Thinking a little out of the box the word road can be seen as a metaphor to stand for the journey itself. For example, "His Road Is A Difficult One".
This photo features a walking track through a small, forested area near the town of Twizel on the South Island of New Zealand.
Locations around Twizel were used in the Lord Of The Rings films and this particular site reminded me of a scene at the end of the motion picture film The Two Towers.
It’s the scene that features the track Gollum’s Song.
Beautiful day and a narrow road on Suduroy in the Faroe Islands.
The Call Of The Road
It was beautiful, but extremely windy when I made this seemingly peaceful image on Suduroy, the southern most island in the Faroe Islands.
The wind was blowing a near gale, yet the landscape was caressed by soft sunlight. The road offered a way forward and the promise of adventure.
I had no choice but to get back into the car and follow the call of the road.
As you can see I'm very interested in metaphors associated with the road and the journey.
You can explore these metaphors in some of the classic John Ford western films.
Settlers travel, by wagon train, through hostile country on their journey west to California, itself a metaphor for a kind of promised land.
The path, up through the snow, on Huangshan Mountain in China.
Music And The Road Ahead
I love the song Are You Going To San Francisco by Scott McKenzie. It's such a beautiful and positive song. Yet each coin has two sides.
Former Beatle George Harrison tells a different story about the reality he observed when he visited the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Fransisco during the days of Flower Power.
He spoke of spotty faced, drugged out and hungry teenagers who, after making the pilgrimage to San Francisco, had no where to go and limited means by which to change they’re situation.
I also love the Bee Gees song Massachusetts which talks as much about looking back, to home on the East coast, as it does to the dream of a better life suggested by the journey west.
Again, it’s the other side of the coin and a reality check for many that the dream may not always turn out the way we want it do.
Perhaps it’s also a metaphor that challenges the notion of the American Dream.
Songs, films and memories from my childhood often flood in and spark my imagination, particularly when I'm putting myself through physically tough and emotionally difficult times on my travels.
I remember humming more than one song, exploring the notion of the journey, as I trudged up these snow covered steps on Huangshan Mountain in Eastern China.
Rather than taking you out of the experience I think songs and visually potent memories help make sense of the experience in which you find yourself.
I think this image is a good example that, while the road is not always easy, the way we experience the journey can be profound.
We should neither fear nor avoid experience as it’s the canvas onto which art is formed.
After many difficult travel experiences I’ve learned that adversity is often the springboard from which creativity can flourish.
Great photos don’t just fall out of the camera.
We create them as much through effort, persistence and inspired vision as we do through great technique, composition and post processing skills.
I wrote a post titled Pain and Courage: The Glorious Life of a Creative Spirit which I’m sure you’ll find inspirational in your own creative journey.
Deep snow and encroaching mist almost hide my path on Huangshan Mountain.
Living Life, With Each and Every Step
This image features part of the trail I followed on my journey hiking across Huangshan Mountain (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in China.
Blue is an emotively powerful color and I’m happy with the deep blue color of the light present in this image.
I think the bluish color quite accurately portrays the feeling of trepidation I experienced hiking along this lonely mountain trail, in the middle of winter, as visibility declined.
However, I was determined and reasonably well prepared. That gave me the confidence to continue my march forward.
Always fascinated by what’s around the next corner, or over the next hill, I open push myself that much further than my body wants to go.
“Just one more photo.” That sounds like an apt quote for my gravestone, though I hope I’II stay above ground for many, many years to come.
While I had to discover just how physically difficult that path across the top of Huangshan Mountain really was, I knew I was on the right path and that I’d eventually reach shelter.
Being dressed for cold mountain weather helped and I knew that, as long as I stayed on the trail, I’d be fine.
That knowledge, and the need to catch my breath, made it easier to stop and make photos to document this amazing journey.
As long as I stayed on the path I’d be fine. It was exciting and I was very much living life, as I puffed and panted my way up and down the seemingly endless trail.
There’s one very positive thing about such a grueling physical exertion. It puts you very much in the moment.
In saying that it’s photography that’s been the primary motivation for me to undertake such physically grueling adventures over the years.
The Creative Journey
It’s great when our photos have meaning, for us and for our audience.
Sometimes the audience finds a sense of connection or understanding in the story associated with a particular location, or by the way we depict the primary subject in our photos.
I also love photos that explore the experience of the journey.
Authentic meaning and experience are what we all desire, particular when they’re encapsulated within a purpose driven endeavor.
It’s why travel and photography are such great partners in the creative process.
I consider myself to be an artist. But that’s not because I live in a garret or wear black.
Neither is it because I apply any weird or wacky post processing treatment to dramatically change the look of my photos.
I consider myself to be an artist because my photography is driven by a passion to create beautiful, life affirming images and a desire to help heal our world, one photo at a time.
It’s the personal, creative mission I’ve embarked upon and the reason why I do what I do.
And a big part of that mission is to help other people explore their own creativity by teaching them how to use their camera to make truly memorable photos.
Do you live in or around Melbourne, Australia and want to talk about taking control back from the machine (i.e., camera)?
Feel free to contact me directly to discuss a private, one-to-one photography class that will put you on the path to realizing your own creative potential.
