4th May 2011 Three rainy days
It’s been raining for 3 days in Chongqing and the visibility is really bad. I haven’t taken a single photo during this time but it’s been a productive time.
Firstly, I’m finally setting off to do a ‘trial point system’ tomorrow for 4 days. This is one of my original ideas for tackling the river: to divide its length in equal sections, to travel along the river but only take photographs at the dividing points. In 2009 and 2010 I tried this system on the River Ribble, but the Yangtze is a whole new story. It’s simply tooooo big! Now I have many questions towards this system but things will only get clarified after the test. I have randomly pinned down a starting point near the city of Yibin, about 400km upstream from Chongqing. From there I’ll travel downstream, taking photographs at the dividing points of every 100 km. For the time being only 5 points will be tested but hopefully I can have a taste of this method. Two local friends are going with me, it’s great to have friends and to discuss plans with them.
We have also decided to have my residency exhibition in a new art gallery-cafe in Jiangbei District in Chongqing. Now I have a nice place to work for, I can collect more pebbles and take more photos.
Also I’ve spoken to a famous geologist and explorer, Mr. Yang Yong, who is going to the source area of the Yangtze this summer. It’s possible that I can join their team and go to Tibet. How exciting!
I’ll let you know how our point system goes…
