Trade 26 | Yestival
Dave Cornthwaite's Yestival is a weekend micro-festival comprised of two nights camping away from London and an outpouring of stories in every shape and form - amazing, funny, positive, honest, tragic... It’s maybe a little difficult to put into words (or even pictures) something titled as it is, attended by the ‘YesTribe’ and tag lined ‘Say Yes More’ without it perhaps sounding a little cheesy...
“It’s not a cult”
The weekend was a lot of different things to a lot of different people who all shared a mindset.
For some the festival seemed to be a life epiphany, inspired and declaring plans and drastic decisions there and then. For others it was simply an event to camp and hear cool stories for a couple of days.
For me, listening to those stories and having those discussions, it was a reminder that in saying yes to a pursuit I've made this giant leap towards being who I want to be and creating this standard of work I aspire to create. I'm not there yet, I don't know how to get there, I've inverted my lifestyle and I'm still adjusting and grasping with that.
But I was in a field full of 400 people who were looking for their leap, on the verge, in mid air or already landed. In being surrounded by this I felt a little more equipped to solve the challenges, a little more backed up, a little more open.
I would've never have had that experience if I hadn't of made my leap of faith. It was truly an awesome event and something quite special.
Then again, the queue for coffee at the festival was always so long I went without all weekend.
Maybe everything I felt there was caffeine withdrawal...
I hadn't public spoke on my project before. Thank you to all who attended. Every person who found me afterwards to talk about it or even just to say they enjoyed the talk meant a lot.
It's also led me to launch a little evolution of the project. More on that at the end. First, what you came here for.
And if you're curious and not involved yet, join the YesTribe on Facebook to get started.
Location
Trade
British photographer moving between hosts and countries through a back-to-back series of creative trades. Exchanging my photography for all of my needs in a mission to reach every continent without needing money.