Towards knowing and being [477]
Greetings from the shed...
Happy Friday. And a special hello if you’re new here. I’m Christian Payne, photographer, writer and generalist. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty and explore the relations between things. Thanks for stopping by.
#TheAction
On and off this week, I’ve been packing. Every journey requires a different kit list and you can be sure the gear I’ve laid out for this backpacking trip is a long way off what I took for the same trip 25 years ago.
It’s not just my kit list (below) that’s changed, the way we interact with the world is dramatically different. Back then although Livejournal had just launched, all my social networking happened in Hotmail. I started sending email newsletters in 96-97 from internet cafes in SE Asia, but up the mountain in 99 I took to writing letters again. Dropping them into a barrel that was lowered 1000ft down to the village below where someone would post them for me.
It crossed my mind to leave my phone behind on this trip. But a little voice reminded me we are pretty much inseparable.
“What about maps, Strava, email, hotel booking, SMS to the family, mastodon updates and the Substack app? What if you need a back-up camera or audio recorder? What about your 4,668 day streak in your daily diary?”
Yes, things are very different today and I can’t help but pine for simpler times.
Remember photo albums and paper maps? Remember eye contact, asking for directions, and looking out of a window?
I do. And as I attempt to re-find this place and some of these lost things, I hope to remind myself again, to revisit how it was to be back then.
#ThePictures
I have shot with out of date film before but never a roll that’s 19 years out of date.
The results you get from shooting out of date film can be unpredictable at best and in this instance the images I got back show obvious ‘texture bleed’.
This is caused when film stock is stored for a longtime in suboptimal conditions. The layers within the film can start to break down and interact with each other. Distinct edges and sharp details in the image are lost to a blurring or bleeding of fine details. Considering that you never know what you are going to get, I personally find this hazy, etherial look quite pleasing.
How the rise of the camera launched a fight to protect gilded age Americans’ privacy
Brilliant TV. The Bashers (via
)My first proper foray out after this bout of covid was a trip to the cinema to watch Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1. I love this genre. I was indoctrinated as a kid on the pulpy classics, then starting seeing the darker stuff in my teens. Now we are beginning to see more historically accurate attempts. And this film goes a log way to show how wild and complicated things were back then. Wild and barren landscapes dotted with settlements and Spanish ruins. The west had already been won. But here come the ‘white eyes’ to add some more indiscriminate subjugation and assimilation to the mix.
The full extent of the genocide will no doubt unfold over the three chapters and I’ll be there for all of them. (Although they might not all play at the cinema). It’s hard to watch, but important to do so. And there’s a lot of loose threads waiting to be tied.
Cinematically the film is long and beautifully shot. Empty your bladder on the way in and sip your drink if you want to make it through without missing anything.
I’m still thinking about it all. Which is a certainly a good thing.
#TheWords
I shared my upcoming plans for next week on Twitter and on Mastodon. It read:
25 years ago I found a piece of paper in a backpack. On it were the co-ordinates of an Alpine valley on the Swiss Italian border.
I had been given the location a year before by a Swiss guy I met in Laos called Stefano. He’d promised me if I arrived at that spot on a certain day, he'd teach me how to be a ‘Pastore’ (Shepherd/Cowherd).
I was coming to the end of a decade of travel. Not wanting to slip straight back into society, I felt this might be the perfect transition. It was the kind of job I'd always wanted to do. So true to my word, I journeyed into Switzerland and after a train, a bus and a cable car… I hiked to the hidden valley in Ticino.
Stefano was expecting me.
He showed me how to tend to the 37 head of cattle. How to forage for mountain food. He showed me how to operate the mechanical winch that would bring up the bulk of my supplies from a village 1000 feet below. After three days of tuition and guidance, he felt I was ready and left.
Over the summer there were three lodges I’d live in as I drove the cattle slowly up the valley. Simple dwellings, getting more basic as I ascended the mountain.
At the lower levels in the hight of summer there was little need for clothes. I didn’t need money so I didn’t need pockets. The villagers who owned the cows bought my supplies and the nearest person was many hours walk away. I did have Jimmy to talk to. A super smart Bergamasco dog who knew more about cattle than I ever would.
It’s still the strangest job I’ve had. Dotted across the Alps were others like me that I never got to meet. Hippies and hermits, happy with the isolation and basic living.
Exactly 25 years ago today, a helicopter flew in a supply drop. Continuing on to other Pastore across miles of mountain range. I climbed up to the ridge to find cheese, salami, flour and most important of all… wine. There was also a clean dry mattress to replace the one in the highest lodge, above the tree line.
I’d count the cows in the morning and evening. In between I’d forage for boletus and other edible mushrooms. I’d write poetry, songs and stories; carve wood and take photos.
This was one of the best times of my life. And next week, a quarter of a century later, I plan to return to that valley. Google earth tells me that one of the cabins I stayed in might still be there.
So... packing a sleeping bag, a bivi and some supplies, I plan to retrace my steps. When possible I'll share the journey on documentally.net
#TheSound
This podcast entitled ‘A Life Without Sex’ talks about contrasting ways of thinking about abstinence and what that might tell us about modern sexual anxieties.
#TheConsumed
A Beyond Burger allegedly has a carbon footprint 10 times lower than a standard beef burger.
Although it looks and cooks a little like a regular beef burger, it needed all the trimmings to feel close to one. Plus the jury is out on whether it’s actually healthier.
#TheThings
While packing I noticed that my trusty Victorinox Huntsman SAK had an issue. The fire steel I swapped out for the toothpick had snapped off and was trapped inside one of the scales. It’s not that I find the toothpick useless. Far from it. It’s just that when camping, having a back-up fire starter is very useful indeed.
This video taught me that submerging the knife in 70°C water helps with removal of the scales, as well as ensures a better fit when reattached.
You can use the toothpick to remove the scales but I had another knife to hand. You might also see a little damage where I attempted to drill out the fire-steel and failed. The final image shows the cleaned, dried and reassembled knife with a new fire-steel being inserted. Should the knife survive my upcoming trip, I shall treat it to some new scales as you can get some sets that will also take a pen.
And why a Swiss Army Knife and not my Swisstool? As well as being legal to carry it’s just friendlier when travelling on the Eurostar.
Plus if you can see on this photo below I’m wearing the knife I just repaired. I also still have the leather pouch it’s sitting in.
In fact I still have the Jack Wolfskin backpack the socks, belt shirt and British Army issue respirator holder that is carrying my camera round my neck. The Tilley was sadly stolen with a Landrover defender and has been replaced with multiple spares.
I had thought about heading back to the mountain with much of the same gear. But it was hard work back then and now, 25 years older, I figure I should take advantage of modern technology. Especially in regards to the backpack.
As I’m aiming to be self sufficient in regards to shelter and food, I’m going to be carrying 15% of my body weight, around 12KG. The backpack I chose is the Osprey Exos 48. I found it on sale in Italy for £110 inc postage and tax.
Here is what I’ve packed but I may still thin things out. Eating the wet food (MREs) will help me shed a couple of kilos from the pack weight. And in order to take my phone out as little as possible, I plan to show people some photos of where I’m heading. Someone might even recognise the place.
Wearing
Shorts, T-shirt, socks, boots, undies, shirt. Rab hoodie.
Packing (in an Osprey Exos 48)
Clothes
Tilly hat / Lightweight walking trousers / Longsleeve merino top / Montane Featherlite Gilet /T-shirts x2 / Undies x2 / Socks thin x2 / Socks thick x1 / Patagonia Houdini / Snugpack poncho
Sleeping
Sleeping bag / Sleep mat / Silk liner / Bivi
Tech
Phone / Swiss Army knife / Camera + Batteries / Phone charger + cables/ European adapter / Audio Recorder + headphones / VHF/UHF Radio / Kindle / Solar panel + battery
Other
Water bladder/ Water filter / Passport & money / Notebook and pens / printed photos from 1999 / Torch / Lighter / Firstaid kit / Washkit / Travel Towel / Sunscream / Mozi repellent / Toilet paper / Rucksack liner / Rucksack cover / Cooking pot, burner + gas / Coffee filter + coffee / Flapjacks / 5 x MRE packs
Got some Moo cards delivered today.
I went for the mini card that takes photos from your Flickr (or other) account. They arrived much faster than expected. I have both colour and B&W but just showing the latter. I miss handing over something physical to a stranger-to-be-friend. On check out it offered me a referral code that will give you 25% off should you want your own cards.
#TheThanks
Thanks once again to the subscribers that pay $5/month to get all the content I share into this feed. Stripe are putting their prices up, not affecting you but eating to the increasing small amount that I get.
Please consider upgrading to become a paid supporter. I’m going to have to put the prices up soon (everyone else has) but if you subscribe now it will remain the price of a coffee per month for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for being here, sharing and liking.
#TheWeb
The approaching smartphone ban in schools is triggering a rise in dumb phones.
As I plan to be in Switzerland next week, who might that be near Lucerne on the Documentally community map?
A font to add to your arsenal.
Search before smartphones.
Some of my other places include Letterboxd, Flickr, Strava, my audio RSS feed, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Birdsite, Bluesky or Daft Social.
Collective intelligence, engineering, DIY, the human lifespan and humility all spring to mind when reading that carbon dating has just shown some termite mounts to be around 34,000 years old.
#TheEnd
Thanks for reading. All spelling mistakes are intentional.
In regards to my upcoming journey, all I have is a cross on a map. So that’s where I’m heading. I’ll be travelling overland as I did in 1999. But this time by train - London > Paris > Zurich >Biasca and then hitching and on foot. A national newspaper has asked for a possible feature so I’ll keep the next updates for supporting subscribers only. Everyone else… see you on the other side in a few weeks.
“We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”
~ Peter Bieri
Return,
See you out there.
Over…
I remember you doing that trip we had not long been in India etc. together. I remember you asked me to meet you over there. If my memories correct didn’t Tina stay for sometime?
Have an amazing trip! Will be great to follow your adventures this time around. Record some sounds too.