{"id":6281,"date":"2020-03-02T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/?p=6281"},"modified":"2020-03-21T13:04:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T17:04:04","slug":"the-world-of-colin-finlay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/the-world-of-colin-finlay\/","title":{"rendered":"The world of Colin Finlay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kyra Lieberman \u2013 In Motion Staff\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Colin Finlay being interviewed at the Southeast Museum of Photography at Daytona State College. (Trevell Jervis\/In Motion)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., Colin Finlay is an artist, activist and creator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n He debuted his new documentary film, \u201cHearts Road,\u201d at the Southeast \nMuseum of Photography on Jan. 30 for a record-breaking turnout of \nstudents, faculty and community members. The film explores Finlay\u2019s work\n over the past 30 years and millions of miles traveled. He composed all \nof the music in the film and chose some of his most impactful captures \nfrom over the years to create powerful images about the \ninterconnectedness of the natural and human worlds. Having traveled to \nmore than 90 countries and witnessed regime changes, wars, natural \ndisasters, joys and horrors, Finlay has a rare perspective on life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     But the path was not always clear for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cI had a difficult time. I struggled my first 18, 19 years of school,\u201d \nsays Finlay. \u201cIt was a really difficult thing for me to overcome. I took\n my own initiative and moved back home after I flunked out my freshman \nyear in college and had my job and paid for my own classes and books and I was going to take the classes I wanted to take.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n He enrolled in every class that interested him, from astronomy to \nmodern art to music theory at the University of California, Santa \nBarbara, and went from a 1.66 to a 4.0 GPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cI was already ready to go, I already had my sights set on whatever \nelse the world was going to bring, what I was going to try and create in\n the world and UCSB was the conduit for that.\u201d He adds, \u201cI never took a \nphotography class. I’ve never taken a workshop, I’ve never had my \nportfolio reviewed, I’ve never worked for anyone as an intern.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n His first job was a cover story for Scholastic Magazine about the \nconflict in Northern Ireland at the time. He wrote and photographed the \nstory, an asset he had developed out of passion. Then it was a story in \nCuba, then Kenya, then the 10-year anniversary of Chernobyl in 1996.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cI was interviewing and photographing children so that kids here could understand what their lives were like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     His first book, \u201cThe Unheard Voice, Portraits of Childhood,\u201d is a collection of photographs of children living in conditions of war, famine, genocide and conflict.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \n \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit there and read about Apartheid in South Africa, \nI\u2019m going to be there at the press conferences, I\u2019m going to be there \nwith de Klerk and Mandela, I\u2019m going to experience this with my own eyes\n and not just what someone is telling me. There were a lot of times I \nsaw history unfolding before my eyes in these countries and in these \ntranscendent moments, like Mandela ascending to presidency and coups in \ncountries and earthquakes and genocide in Darfur and Rwanda and wars in \nthe Middle East.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n He tries to \u201ccross the line\u201d whenever possible, to view a conflict the \nway people on all sides of the situation do to get the full picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cYou have to go in there without an opinion one way or the other. I let\n the story tell me where it\u2019s going to go and what it is. I\u2019m here to \nrecord that and reflect it in images with pure honesty. That is the \nvalue,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long road. A long 30 years. A lot of \nincredible stories. It feels like I’ve lived 10 lifetimes in one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     His focus has shifted in recent years to a new subject: climate change and climate justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cIt was very easy to tell that the world was shifting, being in Antarctica\n with the scientists, seeing the polar bears and understanding what\u2019s \ngoing on there in the Arctic Circle, understanding the plight of the \npolar bears,\u201d he says. \u201cProjects like that were getting under my skin 15\n years ago. And it became the main focus of my work.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cHearts Road\u201d focuses on the impacts of climate change and the \ndevastation it has already brought. Human interference in the natural \nworld has impacts on us, from ice sheets melting and the ocean rising to\n droughts in southern Africa to earthquakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cLuckily I was able to have the fortitude and support of people that \nhave allowed me to have the life of a pirate. Going on these vessels \nfrom place to place in 90-odd countries and all the millions of miles \nI\u2019ve flown and I\u2019ve by-and-large chosen\n to go on these trips. I take assignments that fit into what I want to \ndo and the journey that I want to take and be responsible for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cThe same thing with Hearts Road and the documentary. I\u2019m not going to \nsit there and tell you what you think about the documentary. I\u2019m not \ngoing to have a curator telling you what to think or a scientist telling\n you statistic after statistic after statistic. I’m going to let you \nhave your journey. My photographs and my music are the guide. Where you \ntake it, that\u2019s the beauty. Where you take it in your mind and I’m not \ngoing to tell you what that is. Because I trust you to have your own \nunique experience. Then it\u2019s you <\/em>and it\u2019s not about me, which is why my name is not at the beginning of the film, it\u2019s not until the end.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n He is also keenly aware of the changes and blows to the photography \nindustry since the advent of the internet and social media. Multimedia \nis the way of the future and artists must constantly stay a step ahead \nof Instagram and the tools that are now in every person\u2019s hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n \u201cEverything changes. Photographers have had a tough time of it and a \nlot of photographers have lost their way, to say the least,\u201d he says. \n\u201cThere’s a new horizon out there and we\u2019re right in the middle of it. \nAnd the work that I do is my response to that new horizon. It is what it\n is. I don\u2019t have to be hopeful. I\u2019m happy to be where I\u2019m at with the \nphotographs, with the music, with the art, with the writing, with the \nbooks, doing what I\u2019m trying to communicate and share.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n What\u2019s next for Colin Finlay? He is working on a quartet of books, the \nfirst two of which are available now, that include chapters on various \ncountries he has visited. Each chapter focuses on a different country \nand has two recipes, three photos and a playlist of songs from that \ncountry, from Rwanda to the Bahamas to Iceland. His goal, like with the \nfilm, is not to tell people how to feel, but to let them experience the \nculture of various countries through some of the best media: food, music\n and real stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     He notes that there is an almost constant among recipes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cOnions, garlic and some kind of oil! The world over, for the most part, this is how they start seasoning their food.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n Through his many mediums, Finlay focuses on what brings the planet \ntogether, not what is tearing it apart. By showing some of the greatest \ntragedies, from war-torn nations to the aftermath of oil spills, he \nhopes to inspire change in policy and mindset, with his photos providing\n a little help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cWe\u2019re all on our way to being better people and hopefully turning this world around.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     You can visit colinfinlay.com to learn more and explore Finlay\u2019s work. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., Colin Finlay is an artist, activist and creator.
\n He debuted his new documentary film, \u201cHearts Road,\u201d at the Southeast Museum of Photography on Jan. 30 for a record-breaking turnout of students, faculty and community members. The film explores Finlay\u2019s work over the past 30 years and millions of miles traveled. He composed all of the music in the film and chose some of his most impactful captures from over the years to create powerful images about the interconnectedness of the natural and human worlds. Having traveled to more than 90 countries and witnessed regime changes, wars, natural disasters, joys and horrors, Finlay has a rare perspective on life. Continue reading The world of Colin Finlay<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6284,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281\/revisions\/6284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}