Christina and The Storm Leopard book video

Christina came over to North Berwick a couple of months ago and worked with me to  produce a book video for The Storm Leopard which is now posted on YouTube. Chistina is an artist  with a uniquely expressive style that combines beauty with emotion. It is a magic combination which connects her audio, graphic, animation, video and musical compositions.

Rather than making a simple promotional trailer, we wanted to express the motivations that drove me to make the journey across Africa and the even longer journey of writing Storm Leopard – a cogent mix of enchantment with Africa, passion for wild places and irresistible challenge to understand the environmental crisis. It was my first attempt at trying to express such things on video (which shows, despite Christina’s patience and skill) but I hope it may at least give a flavour of what was going on.

Most of the images are from the book or my own collection, but a few are “borrowed” from elsewhere usually to bring home a message. I hope you will forgive me for any transgressions. I’d be happy to have your feedback.

We hope you enjoy the video. Many thanks to Catherine for giving me the idea in the first place, to Des for technical help with de-hissing the audio track, and to all others who helped with the production in one way or another.

About Martyn Murray

I fell in love with nature when I turned twenty-one camping under Acacias in East Africa, surrounded by giraffe and zebra with my nape hair raised by the distant roaring of lions. I went on to work for fifty years in Africa, Europe and Asia as an ecologist and conservation consultant. A few years ago I moved to the Isle of Lismore to pursue my passion for reconnecting people with the natural world. My first book, The Storm Leopard, is a journey across Africa and into the heart of the environmental crisis. My second, Origin of Species: Bite-Sized, contains the essence of Charles Darwin's greatest work – his theory of evolution by natural selection – in a text that is 15% the length of the original. The third, Beyond the Hebrides, is the story of a sea voyage in an old leaking boat and on how to keep personal freedom alive. I am currently working on a fourth which is about the global collapse of the natural world. Its working title is, In This Together. It challenges us all over our current connections with nature. More details are on my website, www.martynmurray.com.
This entry was posted in Nature Books, The Storm Leopard, Writing. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Christina and The Storm Leopard book video

  1. Lorrie Collins says:

    Hi Martyn

    I loved the video. Hearing the words of the old timer: “they will all disappear one day. Every single wild place” is chiiling. It inspired me to immediately write a song/poem, called “Careless”. All 6 verses and the chorus took 10 minutes. That´s a record for me! So thankyou. Whenever I perform the song I will credit it to you and your book.

    By the way, this is a lovely site.
    Keep up the good work!
    Lorrie at the Lake of Constance, Germany

    • hey Lorrie of the Lake of Constance,

      That is brilliant. I mean totally BRILLIANT.
      I am looking forward to hearing you perform the song.

      Martyn of the Firth of Forth, Scotland

  2. Kirk says:

    Waiting eagerly for the next thoughtful MGM insight and/or creative endeavor….

    • hey Kirk,
      It’s been awhile; problem is I’ve been thinking – no funny comments please!! And the more I think the less inclined I am to write. Best solution I’ve been offered so far involves a log fire, a hammock, the sea and a month without any distractions…

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