Marie Laigneau on Photography and Tension:
Tension [..] is your storytelling ingredient: it opens the door to the imagination, the possible, the dream. It defies the predictable and the expected. It is your key to the extraordinary.via Storytelling in street photography: Disrupting the harmony by Marie Laigneau.
More on Art - The Art of the Street ..
It's everywhere if you take the time to look. Some more glaringly obvious than others. And some of amazing skill, talent, aesthetics and colour coordination, while others less so, just like the Art of the Gallary Wall. And some more engaging and meaningful than others. I see something new everyday on my walk to and from work through The Gallery of Street. Price of admission is a pair of shoes, an open mind, and good senses of observation and curiosity.
It is a global phenomena and the Art of the Street is everywhere I have travelled. It is no doubt a human instinct deeply embedded in us from the dawn of mankind, starting with the primitive scratchings on the cave wall. What makes it so engaging is its immediacy and the ability to address the issues of our lives in the here and now.
Ransom Riggs on Art and Street Art:
[Art can be] what’s painted on the outside of the museum wall that reflects what [we] - at least the ones wielding cans of spray-paint - are thinking now.via Photos: Venice Graffiti (Thu 17 Sep 2009) by eljeiffel.
Stephen Dupont on the Gift of Photography:
I feel more grateful more than anything, that I'm allowed to go in and capture these moments, because you don't take pictures . . . you're given pictures, it's a giftvia Photojournalist Stephen Dupont captures modern-day Papua New Guinea by Ella Rubeli.
Vivian Maier is a perfect storm of populism [..] Maier is firmly nestled in the greater canon of modern photography already. It only took a lifetime of hiding her work and a chance discovery to get therevia Self-portraits and street photographs by Vivian Maier are brilliant and haunting by Laura Hutson.
When something inside me resonates with what I see, my finger moves to the shutter. In that moment, I have understood and explained both the inner and outer worlds I inhabit. When others see my pictures and react, I know that I have captured a moment in life. These moments are the core of my art.via Why I Take Pictures by Martin Elkort.
Jeffrey Goldstein on Artwork and Vivian Maier:
artwork isn’t artwork until it’s shownvia The beautiful desecration of Vivian Maier by Thomas Barnett.
A couple of good calls I make as an outrigger steerer to refocus the crew on technique and timing is:
Top Hand Over Bottom And Top Hands Down TogetherVisualise this photo when one or both of these calls are made and you will know what is being asked for - A part of the quality in the stroke and crew blending.
Timing should come mostly from feel and a good visual cue is to synchronise your top hand driving down at the same time as those in front of you. Also helps keep the head up to maximise the breathing efficiency.
Top hand over bottom can help get your paddle side shoulder out and extended along the side of the canoe, soemthing we have been focusing on lately.
Nathan Haas on Competing:
I was feeling terrible so I thought sometimes when you feel terrible, everyone must, so I thought I’d give it a crack and see where they were,via Haas shows class but can't hold on by Cycling Central.I was away for a little bit, but then they started working so it was unfortunate. They were on good days too.
You have to keep these kind of thoughts in your head when competing. So if you are feeling tired (or terrible as Nathan puts it), you have to remember those you are competing against, will most likely be feeling the same. This then is your big chance to give it a crack and test yourself and the others out. One day it will work for you. He added that while he was disappointed, he confidently felt his first win at the TdF will be even an sweeter experience. Love the attitude and confidence. Go Nathan.
Spencer Lum on being a Beginner and Fear:
When you’re a beginner, the fear isn’t there, because the judgement isn’t there. You can play to your heart’s contentvia email by Spencer Lum.
Ever the Beginner. And maybe that is what you hide behind to justify your own Self Doubts and lack of apparent confidence in yourself.
[An aside] Another time to Let Go of Fear is when All is Lost (or Won). And it can be rewarding and exhilarating when you do.
Now we know what Pluto looks like after knowingly not knowing for quite a while now (a great read about the significance of this here at ribbonfarm ). So on a slight less significant level, here is what I know now, that I did not knowingly know back 13 months ago...
Just on 13 months ago I found a passion for cooking. A new kitchen and a little help from Michelle and I was on my way. One of the dishes Michelle suggested was a spaghetti bolognese.
I thought that would be an easy start, so went to Google to find a recipe, as you do. This is the one I liked the most from all the ones I read back then:
I liked the authenticity of ingredients, the correctness and approval from Bologna - a place we were heading to on the way to the World Club Crews in Ravenna a few months later.I have cooked this recipe almost every second week for a year now. And all modesty aside (you know me), the one I cooked this last Monday was perfecto, with a hand and fingers rising from my mouth.
Indeed the recipe looked simple and my first efforts did not excit me that much and I thought to myself where was I going wrong? I have learnt that a recipe is just a starting point and that to make it work and indeed, great, like anything in life, you have to experiment, listen and learn from others, take risks, knowingly or unknowingly.
These are just some of the things I have learnt:
It has taken 13 months to work all this out and I am so pleased with what I have learnt. Feel like I could enter World Bolognese Champs mentioned in the article and give it pretty good shake.
So as New Horizons speeds past Pluto into the outer Solar System and beyond, to make more of the unknown known, I will continue my quest to know more, master and perfect what I don't already know about Tagliatelle Bolognese 101.
Jorg Colberg on Photographs, and Thinking and Feelings:
Good photographs are those that raise questions, that open up new ways of thinking or feeling – not those that confirm something.via Photography and Criticism by Jorg Colberg.
Susan Lipper on Photography, and Appearance and Feelings:
I photograph to learn both the appearance of things and also my feelings about themvia davidsimonton.tumblr.com by David Simonton.
Andre D. Wagner on:
love what [you] do and it’ll figure itself out.via The Great Discontent: Andre Wagner by Tina Essmaker.
Andre D. Wagner on Photography and Life:
Photography has definitely saved me. Because of it, I enjoy life, so I don’t spend time thinking about the suffering of life.via Andre D. Wagner Interview: New York Portraits That Give Face to Connection by Freddy Martinez.
John Gollings on the Archive:
I’ve got a pretty big archive of the last 30 or 40 years which will be historically valuable to future people. That’s something I’m proud of.
Tony Martin on a Moment:
It was just the right moment for me to try my chance.
Adding:
I don’t know what happened in the back but I was so nervous, I was just pulling. I don’t know how many watts I pulled but it was more than I ever did. Now I am so happy, and a thousand thanks to my team for supporting me the whole week.via GC stalemate on the cobbles as Martin strikes it fourth time lucky by Cycling Central and Tour de France quotes: Martin digs deep for yellow jersey by Cycling News.
Watched this live – it was 1:15am this morning on the coldest night we have had this winter. Warmed my heart to see him make that break with 3.2km to go and just take it home like he did. You just knew he was going to do “it” and it was not even his own bike, at 20km to go he punctured and swapped bikes with his team mate (as my 3 year old nephew told me 15 years ago - a team is a powerful thing). As Tony Martin said - I actually was [on my limit] when I launched in that moment .. It was just the right moment for me to try my chance. And he found something in himself that he did not know he had - I was so nervous, I was just pulling. I don’t know how many watts I pulled but it was more than I ever did. Often your best is not good enough and the first 3 days of the Tour showed this to Tony Martin and those watching. You have to go Beyond Yourself to find the Happiness he displayed on a life-time Dream come true last night. Just brilliant to watch his performance and his post-race interview. Congrats to Tony Martin.
[Fond memories of Sandy Casar doing the same kind of break in Stage 18 of the 2007 TdF, after crashing with a dog at 27km.]
Steven B. Smith on Photography and Control:
Embracing the factually descriptive and contextually confounding nature of a photograph is a way of being in control and out of control.via Q & A with Steven B. Smith by Blake Andrews.
I think I know what he means. And maybe that what life is also?
Spencer Lum on Possibility and the Unknown:
Possibility is fueled by the unknown.The question is not whether it’s too much to give up your history. It’s whether you give up too much by holding on to it. How much of your future are you willing to sacrifice at the alter of the past?
via Don’t Trust Yourselves by Spencer Lum.
Rohan Dennis on Beyond Yourself:
I went off harder than what I thought I should have and I came back harder than what I thought I could.via Dennis smashes a Tour record to claim the yellow jersey by Cycling Central.
I was reminded this week about a race from my past (eljeiffel: Once Upon A Time). And I have been fortunate enough to have experienced this more than once. To achieve a dream, you have to go out and get it. You have to prepare for the known, More importantly you have to be prepared to face the unknown, but you can't prepare for that really - all you can hope for is that you are doing the right thing. When you have reached that Moment where it is within your grasp, you don't think about the dream, you just go out and do it. It?. What is it? I don't really know what "it" is. You can't define it before or after that Moment. It is defined within those unquantifiable moments that makes a dream come true. Rohan Dennis went out and did it last night and it just might be captured in his words above. Congrats Rohan.
Of course all of this makes no sense. That's what moments like this are meant to be .. that's what happens when you go Beyond Yourself
The Story of Telling on Influence and choice:
we each have more power to connect with and impact people [..], how we use it is a choice.
via The Purpose Of A Billboard by The Story of Telling.
Use your influence and energy wisely. I am constantly reminded of this and this note will remind yet again that you can't be everything to everyone. Start with yourself first and see what is left ...
The Story of Telling on Presence:
When our [presence] changes how people feel and holds a mirror up to [them - showing] their story, not ours, [we know for ourselves and them] we’re on the right track.
success requires struggle, failure, and a bit of stupidity...or if you want to be nice about it, a beginner's mind
via Letters to your younger self by kottke.
Ever the Beginner in Paddling and Life. Always Learning to Fly. And you would not want it any other way.
Cheryl Strayed on Suffering, Sorrow and a Way Forward:
we all suffer and we all need to find light in that darkness, strength in that weakness. [..]you can have a happier life if you think positively in the face of profound sorrow. [..]
I trust that there’s some intuitive place within me that’s driving me forward.
via The Subterranean River of Emotion: Cheryl Strayed on Writing, the Art of Living with Opposing Truths, and the Three Ancient Motifs in All Great Storytelling by Marie Popova.
I know what these words mean - I have lived and felt them and they are how I have chosen to live my Life. And, it is a choice.
When we feel humiliated the best reaction is humility.
via Archive: Notes to Inspire by Notes to Inspire.
Good advice for someone who has spent his whole life feeling guilty about being alive, about his good fortune in life, to have felt the things he has felt, to have been to the places he has been, to have seen what he has seen - to have experienced life the way he has and hopes to have. Maybe these thoughts of guilt show a humility that I had not recognised in myself and that I should not feel guilty about that (guilt - it's an endless loop, you see :-)). It just might show a humbleness and a clarity of purpose on a life being well lived.
Not sure where these words came from and again they might appear a little self-indulgent for a so-called humble person. I love it when a few well crafted words, like those above by Notes to Inspire, take you on a small journey to a place you didn't even know a few minutes earlier. Thanks Notes to Inspire, I appreciate your daily emails and Words of Wisdom.
Cecelia Beirne on Inspiration:
I can inspire confidence in others, I can be inspired..
via PURPOSE: “SHE’D TAKEN THE TIME TO KNOW ME” by Cecelia Beirne
The last time I remember sitting on this seat was the afternoon of the day before Jenny died. I came out of the ICU to give Joanne some time with Jenny and to shed a quiet tear in silence and solitude under the late afternoon blue sky. The tears rolled down my cheeks and I could taste their saltiness (a recent familiar taste from the heightened emotions anniversaries seem to bring). Some tears had time to dry and become dry crusty white trails down my cheeks. And I tried to wipe them away quickly as one of the ICU Nurses approached and sat down next to me to chat before the start of her shift. I can't remember much about our conversation but I do remember being shown compassion and empathy.
Yesterday, on the 6th Anniversary of Jenny's passing, I sat here and asked Joanne to make this photo using my phone camera. The passage of 6 years in time between those two moments is hard to comprehend but I see it in my Minds Eye and I can definitely feel it all as I look at this photo. I don't really know what to write..Maybe it has already been written?
When I sat here six years ago I did not know Jenny would die the next day, though I knew it would be soon - I had already realistically resigned myself to that fact. I also did not know how my life would unfold in that six year time gap. It has been a roller-coaster and I have bumped and knocked my way around life. Apologies to anyone I have bruised along the way. I question some times if I'm getting any better at it all, or whether I just keep making the same old mistakes, though I would like to think I have grown a little and made a small difference to those around me, in my own small ways, just as the ICU nurse did as she sat next to me six years ago. I think of these small moments often and I draw inspiration and guidance from it and wherever I can. Enough now for another year.
I Wrote this for You on Failure:
You fail with your heart on your sleeve.via The Millions Ways To Fail by I Wrote this for You.You fail like you mean it with every part of you.
You fail attempting the impossible and the ridiculous.
You fail in front of others and you fail and they laugh at you and you fail and you feel nothing and regret less.
You fail sincerely and earnestly and you risk everything at every opportunity.
This is how you fail: You fail beautifully. You fail with grace.
An amazing piece of writing. Passionate, powerful and, oddly enough, incredibly Inspiring. To be a must, and often read post.
