Channeling Meriadoc

[Mistwalker]

While I am waiting on some of the things being made for other parts of the project, my thoughts have mostly centered on Meriadoc Brandybuck. I much prefer Tolkien's version than Jackson's. I chose the Wingman for Merry because I thought it suited the personality and the area he lived in. Living down on the border along on the Brandywine River, and especially in the shadow of the old forest, Merry lives in a less sheltered part of the Shire. So his personality differs from the others, and he has a bit more attitude. So yesterday after work I imagined Merry preparing for a wander in the old forest, and then went wandering in our own old forest. Though nothing in these photos gives them any context, some of the largest trees in these pics are more than 4 feet in diameter. The photos aren't the greatest. I only took my phone and the light was getting low in the gorge I was in, but I thought they might be a cool moment's relief for anyone who has been stuck inside all day the way I have been...

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[Warrior108]

Pretty cool! I think I like the 2nd water pic the best (right before the mud/tracks pic). They're all great ..

Looking forward to future channelings.

 

[Mistwalker]

Pretty cool! I think I like the 2nd water pic the best (right before the mud/tracks pic). They're all great ..

Looking forward to future channelings.

Thanks Jerry. Yeah, I liked that one myself. I could have captured the reflection better with an actual camera, but I liked how it turned out. There will definitely be more, several characters I have to try to get into the minds of for this project

 

[Luca917]

Perfect knife choice for Merry.

 

[Mistwalker]

Perfect knife choice for Merry.

I thought so. Tolkien doesn't say much about the knives the Hobbits carried, but the nonchalant way he speaks of Sam "pulling out his knife, cleaning, and whetting it" in Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, is a reminder that this story was written at a time when people still understood that anyone who lived such a lifestyle, would have at least a small knife, and made as well as they could afford, and that the use of them would be quite common in day to day life. Frodo, Merry, and Pippin, all come from well-to-do families. That gives me a lot to work with creatively. The first time I saw the Wingman, I saw both style and attitude, and thought that would fit Merry very well. Still thinking on Pippin.

 

[Fiddleback]

Neato idea. I think that was a good choice for Merry. I'm also wondering what you're going to choose for Pippin.

 

[Mistwalker]

Neato idea. I think that was a good choice for Merry. I'm also wondering what you're going to choose for Pippin.

Pippin is somewhat of a wild card, and harder to pin down. He is rather simple and innocent, like most of the Hobbits, yet he has spent a lot of time wandering the East Farthing and Marish with Merry, hanging out with Farmer Maggot, and spending at the Inns near the border of the shire. So I see him as having a mix of influences, some of them more on a subconscious level. I have it narrowed down to a few. But for each Character I listen the story with a focus on the dialogue specific to that character. I am still studying Pippin. For anyone who likes these stories as much as I do, but doesn't the time have time to read them, Recorded Books published audio books that are in my opinion wonderfully narrated by a man named Rob Inglis. I listen to them a good bit.

 

[trestle]

That big fir is being loved to death by something. Well, maybe not death anytime soon.

 

[Bill510c]

Very entertaining and interesting read Brian. I really like your whole approach to this. As always I enjoyed the photos and narrative, nicely done sir...

 

[Southern Gent]

Is it just me, or if you look hard enough at the third picture from the top you can see a Ringwraith...weird.

 

[lmalterna]

My beloved ASP has to fit on someones belt

Very cool project you have going.

Bill

 

[Bmurray]

good stuff Brian

 

[Mistwalker]

That big fir is being loved to death by something. Well, maybe not death anytime soon.

For one thing it is on the edge of a wet=weather water course. In times of flash flooding a lot of water can come down through there bringing dead fall with it and things rub on the lower trunk.

Very entertaining and interesting read Brian. I really like your whole approach to this. As always I enjoyed the photos and narrative, nicely done sir...

Thanks Bill, I'm glad you like the idea of this project. I have gotten reactions ranging from "that's an awesome idea" to "that's a silly idea", but it is something that is deeply personal to me, and a very special project in my early teens the books served as an escape from the abuse at home, as I would run to the woods in the afternoons and evenings after my chores were done and read them in areas on the side of the mountain I had been wandering and playing in since early childhood. Places my stepfather never knew existed or would have bothered trying to find. Sometimes at the base of huge old White oak trees, and sometimes in small caves or under shelter rocks along the bluff. Then later on in my late teens and early adulthood, it served as sort of a moral compass when things took a turn for the surreal and like was rather dark. It is a project I have wanted to do for a very long time, but just how I was going to approach it didn't start taking shape till a few years ago. Then I started gathering things for it, and scouting locations to do the photography. I used to love drawing still lifes in art classes, but the simple bowls of fruit and what have you were never complex enough to suit me, and I would always add in things that weren't there on the table and backgrounds from my own mind. I find I enjoy them much more with a camera.

Is it just me, or if you look hard enough at the third picture from the top you can see a Ringwraith...weird.

Lol, nice touch!

My beloved ASP has to fit on someones belt

Very cool project you have going.

Bill

The Asp is definitely planned for this. In which capacity depends on which handle configuration I can get it in.

good stuff Brian

Thanks Bob





Yesterday, on the way in from work, I was driving along a very old road here on the mountain, that inspired thoughts of passing through the "Woody End" and leaving the road and taking a shortcut the Buckleberry Ferry. I hadn't eaten my lunch of leftovers from the night before, so I decided to stop and play with ideas through the lens, and have a late lunch along a stream.

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