In the summer of 2006 I traveled by train from Moscow to Beijing. As mile after mile passed, I thought about how difficult it is to get
behind the fleeting glimpses of landscapes and people. We can stop our journey, to explore and even live somewhere
in order to get to know it better. But in the final analysis, all our
experiences and encounters are transformed into memories of the places
and people we have passed. Our imagination fills in the gaps and
gives our memories life. These memories — assisted by our imagination
— are what we understand as our knowledge of a place or person.
The project that I developed for this journey was aimed at trying to take
some control over the ephemeral nature of travel, and specifically movement over far distances. To accomplish this I consistently photographed
the landscapes and scenes that passed by during the entire train journey
from Moscow to Bejing, a series which resulted in thousands of photographs
of places that I could only observe in moments when on the train.
Imagination then became the key with which to unlock each captured moment,
enabling the observation of that place or of those people fixed in time
in that corner of the world.
The images were edited down to create a series called the Trans Siberian
Flipbook, which consists of a long, running series of images covering
the distance from the beginning to the end of the journey. Most
images in the series convey the sense that the viewer is standing in a
single spot, observing. However,
occasional glimpses of a reflection or a blurred image remind the viewer
that the scenes are in fact being seen from a moving position.
Thus, the series exists both as a whole — an entire journey — and as individual
parts, in that every single image creates a unique observation point,
a unique experience, within an ever-changing landscape. The entire
series thus allows the viewer to observe the journey at his or her own
pace or even to stop and observe landscapes that had been but a fleeting
moment during the original journey.
—
Jeff Vanderpool
FeatureTrans Siberian FlipbookJeff Vanderpool photographed literally thousands of landscapes and scenes that passed by during one train journey from Moscow to Beijing. Every image was shot from inside the train. Far from being a travelogue, this series explores the intersection of imagination and memory.View Images
Feature
Trans Siberian Flipbook
Jeff Vanderpool photographed literally thousands of landscapes and scenes that passed by during one train journey from Moscow to Beijing. Every image was shot from inside the train. Far from being a travelogue, this series explores the intersection of imagination and memory.
Trans Siberian Flipbook
Jeff Vanderpool photographed literally thousands of landscapes and scenes that passed by during one train journey from Moscow to Beijing. Every image was shot from inside the train. Far from being a travelogue, this series explores the intersection of imagination and memory.
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