Perseverence

Kinda funny how Borkum only really allowed me to balance rocks the first and last days of my visit. the rest of the time it mostly forced me to play with sand due to high winds (which was an interesting tangent in itself). actually this last day was the windiest of all but we **needed** to shoot some footage of stone balance to keep with the plan of the film. So we improvised with unwavering intent. all seemed hopeless up until this moment. Even I nearly lost my cool in the process . . . Borkum has many sides. It took a few days to align with the island’s rhythms. Finding this side was very nice after a week of spontaneous alien sand castles. and my camera equipment had enough sand too (surprised it still works  )

Something i know from relatively extensive EXPERIENCE is that stone balance is highly unpredictable. It is constantly at the mercy of the elements, which makes it a slight contradiction to the prominent human will of scheduling and controlling things. Second lesson from my experience is that despite the often unpredictable circumstances, patience and perseverance are among my most powerful allies — those and continuous awareness of my shifting environment. it does not surprise me (in hindsight) that i ended up finding myself in a pair of borrowed fishing waders and an enchanting pool of water. haha. i can’t explain how this even really worked out, but just as i predicted, the existence of balanced rocks seemed quite magical considering most elements hinting NO. i guess i kept saying yes enough with an open heart for my environment to finally cooperate.

Here is the final short film that I was helping out with, which is an artistic promotional film for the island of Borkum: