Signal Chain — Episode 4
Welcome to the fourth episode of Signal Chain. This pop-up newsletter is a creative collaboration between generative musician Duncan Geere and photographer Oliver Holms.
We’re taking turns to send new work to each other. Each new piece is inspired by the piece before. We’re building a chain of influence together and you’re along for the ride. New installments are released on the 1st and 15th of every month, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in the footer.
::SC04::
Hi Duncan,
Here’s my image for part four of Signal Chains.
I looked for a suitable image a few times in the last couple of weeks, but nothing worked for me. I think that I made two mistakes. The first was to spend most of my time looking at my pictures from Sicily, which seemed like the most fruitful recent set of images. But when I listened to the music again today, I realised that it feels urban, man-made, and dark to me; which doesn’t sit with the crisp light and pale landscapes of Sicily. Secondly, I previously listened to the track a few times and then went in search of the image that would fit my memory of the music. Instead, today I listened to it once first, so that I could pay full attention, then I set it on loop while I was looking through the images so that I could inhabit the music. I pulled out a few things here and there, but as soon as I saw this image I knew it was the right one. To say I ‘knew’ is inaccurate of course — like with most creative choices I felt it in my body, not my mind.
For me, so much of editing is quieting the mind and flowing through the images waiting for a response from my body. I’m searching for a feeling of ‘rightness’. It’s a subtle sensation, easily masked by too much thinking. I’m aiming for a relaxed, open awareness — like softening your gaze to spot small birds in the undergrowth.
It’s a weird kind of not-doing. You can set things up to improve your chances of success, perhaps playing a certain track on loop, or working in the early morning or late evening when the house is quiet. Something that will reliably push you into a highly receptive state.
But once you start editing, you have to put aside your concepts about how the process is going, or your ideas about what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ picture. You’ve got to feel your way through.
Oliver