Episode 45 | Backcountry Creativity

May I suggest making solar prints as another way to be creative in the backcountry? The materials to bring are lightweight, and you’ll want to figure out what sort of basin you will use for fixing.

Here are some examples from a trip from last year.

One must take care, of course, when choosing materials⁠—stripping plants of leaves and cones is unnecessary and leaves traces. There are plenty of natural materials to be found.

I loved this episode, thanks for sharing your creative processes and talking about the importance of creativity in the outdoors.

This year, Ive been ‘dialing in’ my watercolor field painting kit, switched to a travel squirrel mop brush with a cover/handle and carry a small moleskine watercolor journal to capture memories of my day. Highlights of this summer were: Painting my Isle Royale National Park backpacking trip, the shore of Jenny Lake in the Tetons, stopping on day hikes & bike rides, and the fun challenge of painting in the car, looking out the passenger window on our roadtrip out west. These little paintings capture what I was doing and feeling at the time I painted them.  And painting small and sketchy, is a low time commitment and removes any pressure to produce a final piece of art.  I also love the idea of just bringing one pigment, I might try that!

Thanks again for this show. Happy trails!!
Jen

@wandering.pine

I love that! I haven’t tried watercolor since I was in my early 20s. I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind to be present enough for that to be a good experience. Maybe I should try again.

On the use of solar printing with a pinhole camera: only if you have a lot of time—on the scale of weeks or months.

For many years I’ve carried a small handheld voice recorder for notes, observations, reminders, and interesting sounds. Many of my BPL stories started as short audio snippets. After a trip, I’ll spend hours transcribing and expanding, both reliving the journey and starting story first drafts.

Like Ryan’s back pocket notebook, accessibility is critical for me. The recorder lives in a front shorts pocket, shoulder pocket, or even on a lanyard around my neck. I can take it out, press a button, record, stop, and put it back, without breaking stride or looking away from the trail. And I mostly stay in the moment, which is important, too.

My goals are to capture ideas and notes, not to document a trip. Some of my ideas span a dozen short recordings over hours or days.

I’ve tried taking lots of pictures while backpacking. But the process of photography – thinking about composition, lighting, angles, would it look better up ahead, etc. – disrupts my hiking flow too much. I should practice Ryan’s suggestion of quick, imperfect pictures not intended for publication.

And yet … I’ll probably shoot smartphone videos on future trips. For me, videography and production can be both very fulfilling and very frustrating. We’ll see.

Thanks for the inspiring podcast.

— Rex