The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday October 10th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday October 10th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday October 10th — —

Jungles in Paris’ Micro Nations

We are highly inspired by the online platform of writer Darrell Hartman, writer for among others New York Magazine, Travel + Leisure, Details, and the Wall Street Journal, and his brother Oliver Hartman, called Jungles in Paris. It aims to redefine armchair travel using a global network of professional photographers and filmmakers, it produces and presents short, focused stories on culture, craft, geography, and wildlife around the world. Instead of splendour the Hartman brothers aim to go small and observe with an highly critical eye by focusing on the unexpected surprises uncovered by the careful traveler, from ritual skin-piercing in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley to the beautiful aesthetic of the colourful house fences one finds in Rwanda.

In an interview with The Last Magazine Darrell explains the strong focus on aesthetics:

The visual approach is one thing. Yes, we research and write up each story, but we position the visual component as the main attraction, whether it’s a short documentary or a collection of photos.

Oliver adds in the same interview. The reasons to start Jungles in Paris isn’t quite the obvious one, but as both of the brothers have been working freelancing the chance to work closely with others was one of the stronger reason to begin the platform in the first place.

And Darrell and Oliver haven’t just a theoretical connection with traveling as both are experienced travellers themselves. The contributions on Jungles in Paris are similarly wide-ranging travellers, with track records in Tanzania, the historic Romanian town of Ciocăneşti, and the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The brothers list Antarctica and the Middle East as dream destinations, but until then, the site will suffice. 

We wanted to give ourselves a job that involved learning a little more about the world every day. Not the pain and suffering, but the rare and amazing stuff that just knocks your socks off—the timeless and long-lasting things, rather than the immediately concerning ones. We wanted to discover more of that, and to share it.

We are honoured to give you a exclusive preview on a regular basis from now on – to start with this little preview of ‘Micro Nations‘ by Jungles in Paris, shot by  Leo Delafontaine. These images we share now are from Saugeais, a little town in France that has proclaimed itself an independent republic out of an ongoing series of the portrayal of small independent republics.

Keep an eye out for exclusive previews of future-stories here on Another Something and until that time enjoy Jungles in Paris.