Intention - Seth Godin (Fri 30 Dec 2016)

shadow / bike - Glebe (Wed 10 Aug 2016)

Seth Godin on Intention:

Intention opens the door to forward motion.

via Moving a conversation forward by Seth Godin.

Hope - Story of Telling (Wed 28 Dec 2016)

Mickey and Donald - Glebe (Thu 22 Dec 2016)

Story of Telling on Hope:

Hope impacts our internal narrative acting like the aperture of a camera’s lens controlling the amount of light reaching the film. It makes us more resourceful, fuels our resilience and strengthens our resolve. We might not have the ability to alter the scene but we can change our perspective.

We have more power to shape our stories than we realise

via The Power Of Perspective by Story of Telling.

On Outlook - Hamlet / jeninbhutan (Thu 15 Dec 2016)

Mona Lisa and Friend - Newtown (Mon 26 Dec 2016)

William Shakespeare on Outlook:

there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

via Embracing Impermanence by JenInBhutan.

Getting There - Story of Telling (Mon 26 Dec 2016)

"You are enough" - Alexandria (Fri 16 Dec 2016)

Story of Telling on Getting There:

You’re already there if you choose to be.

via Getting There by Story of Telling.

looking - Janet Sternburg / Eva Recinos (Fri 23 Dec 2016)

Window - Double Bay (Fri 16 Dec 2016)

Janet Sternburg on Looking:

take a second and look more closely at what you might take for granted every day.

via L.A.-Based Photographer Janet Sternburg Works Wonders With a Disposable Camera by Eva Recinos.

how you look at it - Chris Martin / Andrew Stafford (Sat 10 Dec 2016)

Abstract - Double Bay (Tue 29 Nov 2016)

Chris Martin on how you look at it:

Everything in life is how you look at it, isn't it? It's about trying to see the value and beauty of everybody, and the joy of togetherness, but at the same time the accepting of differences of opinion

via Coldplay's Chris Martin: why things have never been better by Andrew Stafford.

Story Making and Telling - Mind Painting - TIm Ross (Fri 07 Oct 2016)

Australian Life - Hyde Park / Sydney (Mon 18 Sep 2016)

Tim Ross on Story Telling:

I deal with stories – hearing them and making them up – it’s essentially mind painting

via Extraordinary Routines · Tim Ross by Madeleine Dore.

Searching - Jennifer Percy (Sat 01 Oct 2016)

Jo and Tokyo Students - Gold Palace / Kyoto (Sat 15 Sep 2012)

Jennifer Percy on Searching:

We often think of searching as a kind of movement, a forward motion through time, but maybe it can also be the opposite, a suspension of time and memory

via The Searchers by Jennifer Percy.

Temple - Kyoto (Fri 14 Sep 2012)

Ground Zero Bible - 9/11 Artifact - Joel Meyerowitz (Wed 11 May 2016)

[Lucky enough to have stumbled across this today ..]

Joel Meyerowitz was given a "found" bible by a fireman while he photographed Ground Zero in the months following the 9/11. He marveled that the Bible was preserved intact to a lump of steel, and even more, that it was turned to a particular passage from Matthew 5 (KJV) which says:

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (vs. 38-39).

Joel notes ..

"Of all the pages in the Bible that it would be open to, that was remarkable,"

A remarkable communicator, spoken, written and photographed. Thanks Joel, a timely message.

Words - The Story of Telling (Mon 12 Sep 2016)

words - I Won't Make Art - Chippendale (Mon 12 Sep 2016)

The Story of Telling on Words:

Our words communicate much more than the messages we want people to hear. How we use them shapes our thoughts and character—it shows people what we value and conveys the truth about who we are. Our every word has the power to provoke or reassure, draw people in or push them away. We get to choose how well and how wisely we use them.

via The Weight Of Our Words by The Story of Telling.

Photos - Pamela Bradley (2016)

books - Glebe (Sun 21 Aug 2016)

Pamela Bradley on Photos:

with photos you can never really tell: one captured moment could mean many different things.

via Maybe I'll Be Cleverer Tomorrow A Reflection on a Complex and Often Prickly Father/Daughter Relationship by Pamela Bradley.

Memory - Pamela Bradley (2016)

flower - Glebe (Tue 30 Aug 2016)

Pamela Bradley on Memory:

I've been doing a lot of that lately: testing my memory. But I wonder if what I am remembering is really as it was; memories are so elusive, unstable, and fragmentary things; shifting and changing over time.

via Maybe I'll Be Cleverer Tomorrow A Reflection on a Complex and Often Prickly Father/Daughter Relationship by Pamela Bradley.

Seeing - Pamela Bradley (2016)

black scratched - Glebe (Fri 26 Aug 2016)

Pamela Bradley on Seeing:

is it that as we get older and spend more time alone we see the beauty in things around us that we once overlooked?

via Maybe I'll Be Cleverer Tomorrow A Reflection on a Complex and Often Prickly Father/Daughter Relationship by Pamela Bradley.

Algorithms - Radhika Subramanian (Tue 15 Dec 2015)

The Footbridge - Glebe (Fri 06 Aug 2016)

Radhika Subramanian on Algorithms:

Data is inherently dumb. It doesn’t do anything unless you know how to use it, how to act on it, because algorithms is where the real value lies. Algorithms define action

via Query Vs. No Query! Do You Care? by Radhika Subramanian.

you've just got to keep going for it - Catherine Skinner / Daniel Cherny (Tue 09 Aug 2016)

colourful - University of Sydney (Tue 09 Aug 2016)

Catherine Skinner on Keep Going:

you've just got to keep going for it because it's not uncommon for people to fall to pieces at the end

via Australian Catherine Skinner wins shooting gold by Daniel Cherny.

Trying - every little counts - Kurt Wallander / Sam Wollaston (Mon 23 May 2016)

Abstraction - Glebe (Fri 29 Jul 2016)

Kurt Wallander on Trying:

"Do we make a difference? Maybe. Sometimes. Not much. What I do know is that we should never stop trying. We need to remember that every little counts …”

via Wallander review: he’s back – and he’s still got it by Sam Wollaston.

Humble Obsessiveness - it's never summer (Fri 05 Aug 2016)

Notice - Glebe (Fri 05 Aug 2016)

it's never summer on Obsessiveness:

Humble subject matter does not exclude obsessiveness

via Mapplethorpe’s “Kitchen Sink” by it's never summer.

Ordinary Extraordinary - Martin Gayford (Thu 04 Aug 2016)

Green Fern - Redfern (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Martin Gayford on Ordinary and Extraordinary:

great pictures are often images of very commonplace sights.

via What makes William Eggleston's ordinary photographs so extraordinary? by Martin Gayford.

The Picture - Bruce Davidson / Jame Maher (Tue 02 Aug 2016)

Barry Humphries - Archibald Prize / Art Gallery of NSW (Fri 22 Jul 2016)

Bruce Davidson on The Picture:

I am in the picture, believe me. I am in the picture but I am not the picture.

via The History and Photography of Bruce Davidson, Subway Photographer Extraordinaire by James Maher.

Remembering - Jörg Colberg (Mon 01 Aug 2016)

Fern - A Little Bit of Red - Redfern (Sun 17 Jul 2016)

Jörg Colberg on Remembering:

We don’t remember some things because we can’t, or because we don’t want to, and we might even remember things that never happened.

via Harvey Benge – The Traveller by Jörg Colberg.

Portraits - You can't ask more of any portrait - Reciprocity Failure (Mon 09 Jul 2013)

portrait - Deng Adut - Archibald Prize / Art Gallery of NSW (Fri 22 Jul 2016)

Reciprocity Failure on Portraits:

[portraits] gives us reason to pause, focus and reflect at the wonder and challenges of their lives... as well as our own. You can't ask more of any portrait. [previously here]

via Russell Frederick by Reciprocity Failure.

Entered this photo in the Art and About 2016, Australian Life Competition. A great quote about portraits and it is what inspired me to enter a portrait this year.

If You Want To - Seth Godin (Tue 19 Jul 2016)

I want to .. I am .. - Library / Glebe (Wed 20 Jul 2016)

Seth Godin on If You Want To:

anyone with a $300 laptop can use the very same tools as the people at the top of just about any industry. [..]

If you want to learn, do research, make a ruckus... your local library has access to the same tools as you'll find in a skyscraper in a big company.

via The very same software by Seth Godin.

I've realised this for a long time and now I have the opportunity to make something of it here at the Glebe Library. Really making some great progress with everything that Seth mentions in his post - The very same software - and I am excited about what I am creating.

Walker Evans - beauty in the mundane - Richard B. Woodward / William Meyers (Mon 19 Jul 2016)

portrait - Newtown (Fri 15 Jul 2016)

Richard B. Woodward on Walker Evans:

Walker Evans’s subjects were never sensational or celebrities—his genius was in his ability to exploit the medium’s natural bias, to find beauty in the mundane.

via ‘Walker Evans: Depth of Field’ Review: Unwinding the DNA of American Photography by William Meyers.

Street Photography - Xyza Cruz Bacani / James Gabrillo (Sun 17 Jul 2016)

self portrait - Surry Hills (Sun 17 Jul 2016)

Xyza Cruz Bacani on Street Photography:

The thing I like the most about street photography? It’s free, [..] I shoot daily to relieve my stress. It’s my way of having fun.

via Filipino photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani’s story of perseverance is inspiring by James Gabrillo.

Passion and Stupidity - Richie Porte / Cycling Tips (Thu 14 Jul 2016)

motorcycle - broken - Alexandria (Fri 15 Jul 2016)

Richie Porte on Passion and Stupidity:

There’s passion and there’s stupidity and it’s not such a fine line between them.

via Porte, on chaotic Ventoux mishap: ‘If you can’t control the crowds, then what can you control?’ by Cycling Tips.

Discipline - Fawzan Husain / Anahita Panicker (Thu 14 Jul 2016)

waterfall - black and white - Wentworth Falls / Blue Mountains (Tue 12 Jul 2016(

Fawzan Husain on Discipline:

I want to bring in the discipline of the art and essentially want them to include the five Ws (what, why, where, when, who) in their pictures. So many narratives are often overlooked in this frenzy of shooting unnecessary, mundane things. And many times we don’t concentrate on the things we should actually be looking at.

via Street-savvy photography by Anahita Panicker.

On the Surface - David Freedlander on Diane Arbus (Tue 12 Jul 2016)

"orange on the surface" - Wentworth Falls / Blue Mountains (Tue 12 Jul 2016)

David Freedlander on Surface:

the world is one of self-presentation and surfaces. You can try to go deeper if you want to, but the surface is where you have to start. If you are smart, it is where you will stay.

via Diane Arbus’s Strange and Surreal Visions of New York by David Freedlander.

Portraits - Del Kathryn Barton / Nick Galvin (Sat 09 Jul 2016)

Skippy Girls - Wilson Street / Redfern (Tue 05 Jul 2016)

Del Kathryn Barton on Portraits:

There has to be a really tangible, palpable connection between you and the sitter. The best portraits are about sincerity and connection.

via Archibald Prize: six winners on what it has meant for them and how to paint a contender by Nick Galvin.

Street Photography - Jesse Marlow / Ray Edgar (Sat 09 Jul 2016)

street portrait - "A Little Bit of Red" - Broadway / Sydney (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

Jesse Marlow on Street Photography:

The essence of street photography is that it won't be the same in an hour's time .. It's about developing a style

via Has Instagram changed photography forever? CCP's birthday brings the present into focus by Ray Edgar.

Maybe I have developed my own style on the street? Something I will explore more with time.

A Few Quotes - Beate Chelette / various (Tue 06 Jul 2016)

self portrait - Broadway / Sydney (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

Various on Quotes:

Is where you are now your end game, or are you simply not stepping up?

If not us, who? If not now, when? (via / more)

Someday is today.

via When you hit the wall by Beate Chelette.

Just a few random quotes to keep myself motivated.

Relationships - Darren Campion (Mon 04 Jul 2016)

portrait - Cafe Sofia / Erskineville (Tue 05 Jul 2016)

Darren Campion on Relationships:

We are the sum of our relationships, whatever form they might take.

via Paolo Morales by Darren Campion.

Communication - Joel Spolsky / Nick Heath (Tue 10 May 2016)

markings - "it means something to someone" - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Joel Spolsky on Communication:

the most successful people are the ones who can explain their ideas the best

via Stack Overflow founder Spolsky: The three skills every software developer should learn by Nick Heath.

Hope, Optimism and Disappointment - Geoff Dyer / Michelle Griffin (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

red lips - a kiss - Broadway / Sydney (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

Geoff Dyer on Hope, Optimism and Disappointment:

I'm still full of hope and optimism, which is a precondition for being disappointed

via Geoff Dyer interview: The crucial question of trust in his writing by Michelle Griffin.

red lips - a kiss - Broadway / Sydney (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

Vision and Happiness - Giovanni Sollima / Nick Galvin (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

abstract - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Giovanni Sollima on Vision:

Everyone should do this. When you play you need a vision of something. It can be human, it can be a tree, it can be abstract, it can be happiness ...

via Giovanni Sollima breaks rules with the ACO by Nick Galvin.

How do we ..? - Liz Jobey on Diane Arbus (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

silhouette - Sydney Life - Hyde Park / Sydney (Fri 18 Sep 2015)

Liz Jobey on Diane Arbus:

How do we become the people we want to be? How do we overcome our genetics and our gender, how do we transform ourselves? How do children become adolescents and adolescents become adults? How do adults become parents, how do children distinguish themselves? These are essential questions throughout her work.

via Diane Arbus: the magic mirror by Liz Jobey.

Passion, Energy and Eccentricity- Kevin McCleod (Fri .01 Jul 2016)

syke / pasteup - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Kevin McCleod on Passion:

Don’t confuse passion and energy for eccentricity

via Grand Designs: Kevin McCloud on the renovation job sites since 1999 by Graeme Blundell.

Street Photography - Joel Meyerowitz / Tintin Törncrantz (Thu 09 Jun 2016)

arms and hands - White Rabbit Gallery / Chippendale (Sun 29 Jun 2016)

Joel Meyerowitz on Street Photography:

[street photography is] an arms-length contact with somebody

via Spain : Miss Maier by Tintin Törncrantz by Tintin Törncrantz.

The Time of Your Life ..

Memories of Jenny - The Time of Your Life (youtube)

As many of you will know, I have another obsession in my life beyond paddling - Photography.

I started out buying a small digital camera for our Dec 2000 trip to the Cook Islands to visit Jenny and Jo's Meditation teacher, Barbara, who had moved there to help setup a refuge for women . We didn’t know a thing about paddling back then.

I had bought the camera hoping I would be able to capture our memories. It was a tiny digital camera by today’s standards, 1 Mega Pixel and it cost $1600 duty free and a 64 MB compact flash memory cost more than $300.

I did not flinch and I thought it was all worth it, as my credit card was swiped at Ted’s Pitt Street Camera Store the day before we flew out. 15 years later I can tell you here that it was one of the best things I ever did.

My motivation for the camera came from that fact that Jenny had 11 tumours in her lungs and I did not really know how long we would have together. In the end we had just over 9 years of married life. Given Jenny’s condition, a miracle really ..

We were married on 30th April of that Sydney Olympic year and we honeymooned on Lord Howe Island for 10 glorious days in May 2000. Jenny had a film camera and she took many photos.

On our return flight to Sydney, I remember a conversation we had at the Departure Terminal with an older couple from Whyalla who congratulated us on our marriage. We had briefly met them at dinner at one of the small restaurants on the Island.

They told us they had been married for many years and the trip to Lord Howe Island was a way of creating another experience in life and expanding their memories. Better than [running a busy business or] sitting at home and watching the Telly, they said.

This conversation and piece of simple worldly wisdom has stuck with me and I remind myself of it constantly. It was my main motivation to buy that small expensive digital camera for our December 2000 trip to the Cook Islands.

I took many photos that trip to Cook Islands, even of the Outrigger Canoes on the shore of Muri Lagoon - we had no idea what they were – who would guess our future.

Shortly after our return, Jenny and Jo found Dragon Boating. And over the ensuing years many experiences and memories were created, dutifully captured by our cameras.

I documented the many dragon boat campaigns here and abroad, and ensuing holidays that followed each event.

In the process of this documenting I came to realise the power of photography, not only its visual power, but its ability to record our experiences and remind us of things we have done and who we were. We were doing selfies before the term was even invented. We called them “Holdouts” and I think this might be the main cause of Jo’s shoulder injury.

In those last few weeks at St George Hospital in Jun 2009, I captured the last moments of our lives together. They are the best I ever made.

After Jenny’s passing, It took me a while to pick up a camera again. I had lost my purpose and will. I was hurting and numb all at once but paddled through for a year or two – it helped a lot to be busy and in the company of friends. New experiences were created and I even smiled [for] a little [while].

Lost in the enormity of what had happened so quickly, though it was not a surprise, I found my first moments of comfort and hope, when I decided to start looking at some of the photos from our lives together. It made me cry, but it also made me smile. I was so happy that I had this archive of bits and bytes to remind me of Jenny, Joanne, myself and who we were.

It was only after Jo told me to organise my photos and my Mum said I should start making photos again, that I started to move forward. I was completely broken but I took up their advice and kept myself busy again, organising and photographing again. I am still broken but I live with it better now, it is part of me and who I will always be, but I am happy, optimistic, naïve and creating more experiences.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that we have to go out there and make our memories through the experiences we create for ourselves.

In our lives we have loss, grief and bereavement. It is a part of living. You make a choice when it knocks on your door. And we have chosen to live in the Afterglow of our loss of Jenny – to remember and honour and be guided and inspired. Accept it and live with it and make the most of it, even let it inspire and motivate you. And that is what Jo and I have done, I would like to think.

“Believe in Hope” as the graffiti’ed wall in Cleveland Street said for a few weeks in July 2015.

Believe in Hope - Cleveland Street / Chippendale (Wed 29 Jul 2015)

Seven year ago today.

We remember Jenny. She (as they all do) lives on through our memories.

Dreams - Andy Webster / Mike Johnstone (Wed 29 Jun 2016)

kaleidoscope - Vivid - Circular Quay (Tue 14 Jun 2016)

Andy Webster on Dreams:

Feelings which are repressed when awake seem to surface in dreams!

via Always Know Where Your Camera Is! by Mike Johnstone.

Being Open To .. - Streetshooter (Wed 29 Jun 2016)

blue / ball - memories of.. - Macdonaldtown (Wed 29 Jun 2016)

Streetshooter on Being Open:

we need to be observant of our vision and our feelings. The photos are out there if you are open to them. People are out there too and we need to be open to them more then anything else.

via Rest Easy Post by Streetshooter.

Not sure why I made a photo of this, but for some reason I could not pass it without taking a few moments to see the beauty in this banal scene.

Who willl? - Bill Cunningham

tree / shadow / red - an old favourite location - Erskineville (Wed 29 Jun 2016)

Bill Cunningham on Who will?:

if I didn't take them [photographs], who would?

via Bill Cunningham Made Me Feel Like a Real New Yorker by Antwaun Sargent.

Decisions - Paulo Coelho

tree - Alexandria (Mon 27 Jun 2016)

Paul Coelho on Decisions:

The warrior of the light is terrified when faced with important decisions.

"That is too great for you," says one friend. "Go on, be brave," says another. And his doubts only increase.

After some days of anxiety, he withdraws into a corner of his tent, where he usually sits to mediate and pray. He sees himself in the future. He sees the people who will benefit and lose out because of his actions. He does not wish to cause unnecessary suffering, but nor will he abandon the path.

So the warrior allows the decision to appear. If he must say yes, then he shall bravely say it. If he must say no, then he shall say so without fear.

[Another first day of the rest of my life]

via The moment to decide by Paul Coelho.

Freedom, Light and Photography - Catherine Opie (Mon 20 Jun 2016)

red, white and black - Vivid 2016 - Sydney Opera House (Sat 18 Jun 2016)

Catherine Opie on Freedom:

I can pretty much do whatever I want, because I’ve always understood what light and photography do together

via An inconvenient vision by Anne Marie Burke.

The Wheel of Life - Vivian Maier / Tintin Törncrantz (Thu 09 Jun 2016)

Statues - White Rabbit Gallery / Chippendale (Sat 11 Jun 2016)

Vivian Maier on The Wheel of Life:

We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel – you get on, you go to the end, and someone else has the same opportunity to go to the end, and so on, and somebody else takes their place. There’s nothing new under the sun.

via Spain : Miss Maier by Tintin Törncrantz - The Eye of Photography by Tintin Törncrantz.

Helping Each Other - Paul Ford (Sat 18 Jun 2016)

Opera House / Harbour Bridge - Vivid - Sydney (Sat 11 Jun 2016)

Paul Ford on Helping Each Other:

people do help other people. It’s pretty normal.

via Pattern — Ford’s Sensorium — Medium by Paul Ford.

"in the end" - William Robinson (Sat 18 Jun 2016)

flower / bloom - Vivid - Chippendale (Sat 28 May 2016)

William Robinson on in the end:

I just keep painting. In the end, my paintings are a trail of a life that's left behind – whether it's satisfactory or not.

via Natural Selectuon - William Robinson's paintings bamboozled art elite, and are now worth a fortune by Candida Baker.

Searching - Brooke Holm (Thu 16 Jun 2016)

tree / shadow - Vivid - Circular Quay (Tue 14 Jun 2016)

Brooke Holm on Searching:

I’m still searching for the answers, observing and documenting

via Brooke Holm · Salt and Sky by Lisa Marie Corso.