31 - Narrative

I've known since the days of sitting on river banks colouring in with my Nan whilst my Dad and Granddad were fishing that I wanted to do something creative with my life. I've been a graphic designer for a decade now (wowzers) and that feeling has never gone away.

Lately I've been thinking about the products I create (and am beginning to curate) and really honing in on what I already know and the process behind the knowledge and actions that get it all done. I want to transfer that greatness in to some other areas that I'm interested in and at the same time give an even stronger footing to whats already there.

I have realised that beyond design and creating, all of my true loves have a narrative quality to them. Magazines with photographic spreads that tell a story from start to finish in eight photographs. Books that weave a character and their tales in to my mind and heart from a first person point of view. Movies and TV that draw me in to their own colourful reality via a story-teller character. I'm even talking way back to Never Ending Story as one of my earliest film loves, I wanted to fly that luck dragon so so badly! I'm not a writer or an illustrator but I crave the feeling of telling it all larger than life in a way that is memorable, nostalgic, meaningful and has staying power.

Right now my hero is Ed Bloom in the movie Big Fish. The man who tells every story in his life in such a fantastical way that each moment is embellished and elevated to the stuff of legend. I truly believe that we all have the power to harness our stories and experiences and root them in nostalgia and a touch of magic to make our lives immortal.

All images taken from the film "Big Fish" - Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc - 2003

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