Climbing was Easy.

This video below is the work of my journalism module About Photographs inspired and supervised by digital story teller Daniel Meadows. In this module one had to find a participant you have never met before and tell a interesting story in their life to the backdrop of old photographs taken by the participant. My participant (found on UKC) was called Rob Ward an old school climber currently living in LLandaff. Over a series of interviews I learned much about his climbing career and his life in a period of intense climbing he undertook in years 1970-74. There was so much that could have been said about him it was unbelievable; the difficulties lay in firstly cutting a story together into just over two minutes long, and secondly making the story interesting and understandable to non-climbing viewers. 

As the story began to take shape, it took on a bigger, more introspective role. Transcending the story about Rob returning to the alps (thirty four years after he first set out), to become a narration of the attitudes and spirits of climbers themselves. It analyzed how different the world of climbing has become in 30 odd years; how everything about the sport has changed and how Rob and I have climbed in two different world. In spite of this, one can identify the same spirit, the same yearning and the same passion in both Rob and I, regardless of the vast wastes of time that separate us. Ultimately the film tries to encapsulate the indefatigable essence of climbing, that which doesn't change with the times and fads. It tries to understand  why  we took up this passion that has consumed our lives. Whether it has been successfully or not, I leave to your judgment.

Climbing was easy.

The years before-

-I knew. 

back then.

Is it easy now?

or hard.

Sameness.

Do I feel the same-

-as they once did?

Do I act the same?

The Ghosts-

Playing.

Preceding.

A World apart from Me.

Memories of actions-

-once done.

Faded.

Forgotten.

I don't remember.