HEARTS ROAD
a 3o - year journey of the soul
Photographs by Colin Finlay
lecture and reception jan. 30 at 5pm
About Colin Finlay
My photographic career, is owed to the people, the landscapes and the animals that I have knelt before. I am witness, I am empathy and I am compassion. I honor all of those with whom I have shared time with in this beautiful world. I am who and what I am because of you. One word exemplifies each and every breath that I take on this earth, and that word is gratitude. I have been blessed with many awards and accolades, Tiffany Crystal Eagles, Emmy nods and a Knighthood. At the heart of my journey is the evolution of soul, transcendence. I'm simply in pursuit of living an authentic life. One filled with the joy of love, music, photographs and the written word. The effortless search for the divine in all that we do.
ABOUT HEARTS ROAD
Hearts Road was photographed in 95 countries and produced over a period of 30 years. It represents one man's journey of evolution, his deep spiritual growth and ultimately his return to the seat of his soul. Transformative and prodigal, it also becomes a journey for every one of us. Take your innermost mind and, through his eyes, and his lens, discover a world that few have ever seen. Through some of the darkest and brightest times in our history, his photographs take us through a portal, exploring disappearing traditions, the path of religious pilgrims, war in the Middle East, Apartheid in South Africa, Antarctica, the Arctic Circle, Alberta Tar Sands, Mountaintop Removal, the Grizzly Bears of the Brooks Range, and literally dozens of other amazing experiences. Colin Finlay seamlessly stitches together the common links that unite us all in our struggle to comprehend both the staggering beauty of nature and the plight of our common humanity.
The film sits squarely in the middle of the non-verbal documentary tradition, allowing viewers to discover, create, and draw their own conclusions. Talking heads and voiceover commentary will not tell the viewer what to think or how to feel. Rather, the viewer is left to his or her own fertile imagination. The documentary transforms, and in many ways becomes a self-guided meditation, becoming a journey to the viewer’s soul.
Finlay has travelled silently, and alone, leaving the smallest of footprints, and often working with only two camera bodies and three lenses. Though a three-time Emmy-nominated videographer, he allowed the power of the still image to tell the stories, using the moving picture sparingly.
Following his worldwide adventures, Finlay spent nearly four years in his studio writing, creating, and recording the music which would ultimately become “the voice” of the photographs. Set to his ambient score, the music literally transformed his images, and in turn, the photographs reflected back. Evolving, morphing the two until they spoke as one. As a firsthand witness, Finlay felt the music needed to come from within, to be written, produced, and blended with his photographs by him, and him alone. The transformative power of music now extends to a new dimension filled with imagery.
Make his journey your own. Discover your own truth, transform yourself, and in the process, gain a deeper sense of your own self and your place in this bright and beautiful world. We can all make a difference, and now is the time...