Recently, I had the joy of working with a German publishing company that produces coffee table books based on different themes. They wanted a video to showcase their brand but allowed me creative space to come up with a direction. I settled on one they had on their list but haven't explored yet: abandoned villages.
The concept follows a photojournalist as he travels to Houtouwan Village - a fishing village that's been taken back by nature after it's inhabits left elsewhere in the early 90's. I remember reading an article on it several years back and it's beauty really stuck with me.
Getting to the island was a bit stressful. Little information can be found on it and it's hard to navigate without knowing the language. Thankfully, I got to work with a small team of collaborators and we made the most of an amazing experience.
Spending three days on a beautiful, serene island made the project worth it. The people that still live around the area are very friendly and accommodating. There were no bad angles to film in. The focus was just finding the best ways to capture the life of a photojournalist as authentic as possible. I believe we did, as we created a comfortable environment and go the most out of our respective disciplines. Two versions of the video will be available to view in May of 19'.