One false start and I'm off

There’s a muddle in my mind. Fundamentally it’s about what I want to do and what I think I should be doing (see the earlier Banksy quote for clarification). Partly it’s a confusion about the way in which I want to produce the Borders photographs (spontaneous, like the Eastbourne Pier pictures, versus tight, controlled, composed portraits) and, perhaps most importantly, it’s about where I want to do them. Druskininkai and Palanga are fine ideas, but on a practical level the prospect of making several repeat trips to places relatively far away from Vilnius is making me shy away from my original idea. At least for the moment. As I’m in Vilnius, and will be tied down here for a few months at least (I’m taking over the editor-in-chief’s black swivel chair at Vilnius In Your Pocket for a while) I should really do something in this city. As such, consider Palanga and Druskininkai a false start (albeit a false start that’s generated lots of interesting ideas that I can feed into the Vilnius project). Vilnius defensive walls it is then. The wall once signified one’s place in society. You were either ‘in it’ or you weren’t. Despite its removal, this situation still exists today. What’s known as Old Town (Senamiestis) remains the place to be, despite the wall not being there anymore. Most expats live in Old Town (it’s from my friend’s apartment in Old Town that I’m writing this post in fact), as do many rich Lithuanians. The best hotels are here too. Now that I’m focused on this project, the first main question is do I keep the project wall-related (at least visually) or do I open it up and concentrate on the things on either side of the wall? More food for thought. I’m still very interested in a project made up of portraits of people against what’s either left of the wall or against walls in general. I should say at this point that I don’t want to say anything big or clever. I only want to show the world in an interesting way, the world in this instance being the centre of the capital of Lithuania. I’m still very interested in the historical and cultural aspects of the project, and will borrow these from the two abandoned ideas and try to fit them into the new project.

Here are my current project rules and guidelines

• The words and pictures have to be related but at the same time there should be a distance between them. A border even.

• The work must be produced using domestic photographic equipment.

• An element of chance and randomness must exist in the practical work.

• The work must be commercially viable.

• The finished product should be presented as a series of postcards.

I’ve been looking at old documents, maps etc, and have almost completed a map of where the original wall and city gates once stood. I’ve almost completed it. Two minor surprises (very minor in fact) were that the northeastern section of the city defences was in fact a river. No wall stood here as far as I can tell. Secondly, and again it comes as no surprise, the royal palace, cathedral and arsenal were contained within a second defensive wall that made up the town’s original castle, which is now most destroyed. I haven’t managed to find a section along the western side of the city, and am just about to go out and see if I can find some clues. This is fun detective work. There’s nothing available on the internet show where the original walls stood in relation to the city as it is today. I’ve emailed the department at the Municipality responsible for the wall project I think I already mention but have had no reply.

This is fun.

Finally, I should mention that I’m rather please that this project should coincide with my current employment. The two are nicely related, so I won’t have to jump from work to school to such an extent as before. It also means I can publish some of the project as I go along.