21 Ja

I’ve been thinking a lot about drones lately.

Not the “death-to-all-terrorisits” kind the army uses.

The kind that deliver beautiful smooth cinematographic videos of tiny people travelling through vast wild landscapes. This is what happens when I watch too many travel documentaries on YouTube. I’m trying to wean myself of trashy tv shows, but instead I’m instilling myself with an uncontrollable desire to spend every penny I earn on travel.

What documentaries?

Well, there’s this one of two friends cycling from Finland to Singapore. Wow. Or the other one of four dude-filmmaker-photographers hanging out in Norway to reflect on their lives. Double wow.

It’s those drifting aerial landscape shots that captivate me the most.

At the same time, the films would be nothing without the personal stories behind them either.

The self reflections. The learnings. The struggles. Followed by those perfect moments of complete bliss. Cue drifting arial landscape shot.

Nothing weaves a personal narrative together so nicely as a shot of thunder clouds rolling over the mountains of Nepal.

It’s a shame that more of the world isn’t captured this way.

Imagine how wonderful it would be to rewatch the most formative events in our lives in all their cinematic glory. But not just our own. The lives of our friends and family too.

The past and the present, all recorded for future generations.

Honest, narrated accounts of the highs, lows, and every emotional rollercoaster inbetween. The dramatic scenes and the moments of stillness that nobody ever sees.

Not just a bunch of selfies from tourist hotspots.

The truth is we see almost nothing of the lives of the friends and family for the majority of their lives.

The only exception to this would be parenthood. But even the constant attention of a mother for her son quickly fades away once work and school return to the picture. After only a few years, children disappear into a void for most of the day.

I certainly don’t remember giving my parents any insights by telling them about any of it.

As we age the distance between most people seems to increase. Especially in the Western world.

I have no idea what anybody is doing almost all of the time.