On Gestures - Joel Meyerowitz (Sat 22 Aug 2015)

cheers - Kayleene - Venice (Mon 08 Sep 2014)

Joel Meyerowitz on Photography and Gestures:

Physical gestures are the matrix of photographs

via Gesture by Joel Meyerowitz.

On the Verge of Success and Failure - Garry Winogrand / Mason Resnick / Trent Parke / Spencer Lum

Eros - Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain / Piccadilly Circus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)

Garry Winogrand on Art, Success and Failure:

the most successful art is almost on the verge of failure

via Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand by Mason Resnick.

A favourite quote, from the many I've collected here over the years. I like it because it is so true in Art and Photography, but also Paddling and Life.

I am reminded of it every now and then in my own life, through my photography and paddling experiences. And today was one of those days ...

The Sun rose over the City skyline as we did our Thursday morning high intensity session in two, six person outrigger canoes. We do short interval efforts (level 4, level 4+) over repeat efforts of 8, 4, 2 and 1 minute. It's at a pace and intensity that can be maintained for these short time periods which is a bit higher than our race pace intensity (level 3) which we maintain for much longer periods.

We are pushing ourselves at Level 4 and the rhythm in the canoe is often not quite as nice as it would be at level 3 or 2. Our effort and technique is on the edge, on "the verge of failure or breaking down".

As I reflect over a 10 year paddling career, I have found that the best Training Sessions and Races have been the ones where everything is just a little out of control and uncomfortable. It's like a being on a knife edge or the edge of a precipices. It's that boundary between the known and unknown, good and bad, success and failure, and courage and fear (thanks Kayleene). And ultimately, the fault line between our past and future (thanks for that one Chantel).

It can be stressful and can feel like a feisty prickly relationship. A disonnance. And often questions and self-doubts rise to the surface.

When you are on the edge, you are pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities and beyond. And, with that comes the risk that you push too far and fail, or you just find that easy comfort zone and also fail through a lost effort and opportunity.

Disappointment may come with the failure, but if you reflect and abstract a learning, then you are more experienced and capable for the next effort. And often, as Trent Parke succinctly notes:

mistakes and accidents usually lead to the best discoveries.

You are learning, broadening your experiences and creating the future opportunity for "successful art", if you keep caring and trying.

I love that feeling of "being on the edge of failure". Instead of fighting it, try to find it and some comfort in the uncomfort, and in the knowledge that this is, as Spencer Lum astutely notes:

where all the good stuff happens

As Jenny said, Give it a try, step outside of your comfort zone. You might be surprised where it can take you ...

Don't wonder 'What if?' - Jenny P

On Art - Street Art - Ransom Riggs (Sun 30 May 2010)

Street Art - Chippen Lane #1 / Chippendale (Tue 02 Jun 2015)

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.

Hanging in there - Bologna / Italy (Fri 29 Aug 2014)

Democracy - We Deliver - Newtown (Tue 27 Jan 2004)

On Vivian Maier - Laura Hutson (Thu 16 Jul 2015)

Staircase (Blue) - Courtauld Gallery / Somerset House / London (Mon 15 Sep 2014)

Laura Hutson on Vivian Maier:

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 there

via Self-portraits and street photographs by Vivian Maier are brilliant and haunting by Laura Hutson.

On Introspection - William Deresiewicz (Oct 2009)

Untitlted - Zurich (Thu 25 Sep 2014)

William Deresiewicz on Introspection:

Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself — that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.

This is what we call thinking out loud, discovering what you believe in the course of articulating it.

via Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz.

On Pain - Taylor Phinney / Shane Stokes (Fri 12 Jun 2015)

Untitled - Tour of Great Britain / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)

Taylor Phinney on Pain:

You can’t focus on anything except this pain that you are feeling. That is kind of a beautiful thing. You are always thinking about so many things at the same time, but a lot of athletes I guess use pain to really live in the moment, which is what we are all trying to do anyway.

via Taylor Phinney on enduring pain and a changed outlook on cycling and life by Shane Stokes.

On Writing - I Wrote this for You / Iain S. Thomas (Sat 06 Sep 2014)

Untitled - Paris (Fri 19 Sep 2015)

Iain S. Thomas on Writing:

Keep writing. Give everything away for free. That's what worked for me.

Remember: Every word you write makes you one word better than you were before you wrote it.

I might have survivor bias but I believe if you keep doing the thing you love, eventually you get good at it and people notice it.

via reddit by Iain S. Thomas.

God Still Loves You!!! - Valletta / Malta (Sat 20 Sep 2014)

God Still Loves You!!! I Love You, Also - Valletta / Malta (Sat 20 Sep 2014)

On How to Get There - Yesterday's Suffering, Today's Inspiration, Tomorrow's Strength

God Still Loves You!!! I Love You, Also - Valletta / Malta (Sat 20 Sep 2014)

How to Get There
By Michael Leunig

Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
Go through the gate and head straight out
Towards the horizon
Keep going towards the horizon
Sit down and have a rest every now and again
But keep on going.
Just keep with it.
Keep on going as far as you can
That's how you get there.

.. And that is pretty much what I have done these last 5 years ..

These words have implicitly (I knew of them and their meaning before I even read them for the first time) and explicitly guided me when I was completely lost, and without Purpose and Hope .. "Just keep with it" I would say. And it's a pretty good approach to Life, I would think, given the Situation I found myself ..

At some point along the way you do get "There" - it's not overly obvious that you have arrived, but somehow you know .. just like when you were made aware of how far you had fallen without even noticing.

Now ..

You are strong enough to stand on your own two feet and embrace the world again. You are brave enough to start "letting go", to know there is more to "let go", and more importantly to know that is what Jenny would want of me. To know you have another chance. That what forced you to go "through the gate and head straight out" and where you have been to get "There", has made you a better person - and to know that I should not feel guilty about that. That you have been all over and its been all over you. That you are not a Hopeless case. That you are Awesome. That you are still here for a reason. That you know you still have so much to give. That it was not the End, like you thought, but just the chance for another Beginning.

A chance to show you are resilent. A chance to show you can change, adapt and reinvent yourself. A chance to demonstrate you can think of yourself as a survivor and not a victim of circumstance and Life. A chance to consider that you have been lucky to have shared loved. And through that love, empowered to live life to the full along the path you were destined to walk.

Thank you to everyone that have helped me to get "There" these last 5 years. It has been a remarkable Journey and a few Lessons in Life have been learnt!!! I can’t really believe where I have been. I could write a book about it but at least there is a blog - eljeiffel.blogspot.com.au

This is Life (my Life actually) and I have learnt we need to Live and appreciate it while we can. Jenny showed and gave me this. It was her gift to me ..

Why do I write this now? I write this for me and my timeline. And while it might appear a little self-indulgent, I have no regrets - it is who I have become along the way to "There".

More importantly I write it for others who are or will walk "out through the gate" and search for their "There". It's a choice you make and I know you can do it if you set your heart to it.

I know there is further to go but my outlook is different now.

“There” is always Hope - I am another shining example of this!!

Thanks again.

Yesterday's Suffering, Today's Inspiration, Tomorrow's Strength
Geoff (Wed 25 Feb 2015)

A Journey, A Home - My Legacy to the World - Alexandria (Sun 22 Feb 2015)

On Instagram - Stephen Shore / ASX (Tue 30 Dec 2014)

Nibbles - Ealing / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Stephen Shore (*) writes on Instagram (*):

One thing is it’s fun. I like the quality of conversation that goes on, where there’s a group of people who I know are looking at my posts every day, or whenever I do it, and I in turn am looking at theirs, eagerly, waiting to see what they post. And it’s a very different kind of communication than what goes on in a book or a gallery, where you just put the work out there and there’s no sense of dialogue.

via Stephen Shore ‘Likes’ Instagram (*) by Stephen Shore (*).

Happy with my little nook here on the Internet. No need for regular viewers or constant feedback. I had that opportunity on photo.net (*) a long time ago - well before Flickr (*) and Instagram. I learnt a lot, but mainly watched. Not really my thing. It's too hard to be engaging in critiquing and providing insightful feedback. Might be lazy or untalented (*), it's just who I am. I don't expecting to be signing up to Instagram in the near future.

On Legacy - Tim Grierson (Tue16 Dec 2014)

Sunset - Mġarr ix-Xini / Gozo / Malta (Tue 23 Sep 2014)
Tim Grierson (*) writes on Legacy (*):

What we do in this world will perhaps outlive us, but once we’re gone we’ll have no way of knowing.

via Mr Turner (*) by Tim Grierson (*).

On Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Less Decisive Moment - Gaby Wood / Sean O'Hagan (Wed 24 Dec 2014)

Street Portrait - Paris (Thu 18 Sep 2014)
Gaby Wood (*) writes on Henri Cartier-Bresson (*) and the Decisive Moment (*):

The reason his photographs often feel numbly impersonal now is not just that they are familiar. It’s that they’re so coolly composed, so infernally correct that there’s nothing raw about them, and you find yourself thinking: would it not be more interesting if his moments were a little less decisive?

via Cartier-Bresson's classic is back – but his Decisive Moment has passed (*) by Sean O'Hagan (*).

On Strength - Vernon Gambetta (Fri 19 Dec 2014)

Flower Detail - Monet's Garden / Girverny (Wed 17 Sep 2014)
Vernon Gambetta (*) asks a question on Strength (*):

How much strength is enough?

via Evolution of Strength Training – A Personal Perspective - 51 Years of Experiences (Part Three) (*) by Vernon Gambetta (*).

On Taking Photographs - Trent Parke / The Eye of Photography (Thu 18 Dec 2014)

Street Portrait - London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
Trent Parke (*) writes on taking Photographs (*):

Most of the time I’m in another world.

via Special Books : Minutes to Midnight, par Trent Parke (*) by The Eye of Photography (*).

On Error Messages - Venkat / Ribbonfarm (Fri 19 Dec 2014)

Flower Detail - Monet's Garden / Giverny (Wed 17 Sep 2014)
Venkat (*) writes on Failure (*):

Even an unhelpful error message is better than nothing.

via Learning from Crashes (*) by Venkat (*).

I have seen this error message a few times recently:

Error: Unknown Error.

Probably the most unhelpful error message I have seen in all my time coding Python to an external third party API. At least you know you have an error, even if it is as far away from the root as it just about can be.

On Failure - Venkat / Ribbonfarm (Fri 19 Dec 2014)

Flower Detail - Monet's Garden / Giverny (Wed 17 Sep 2014)
Venkat (*) writes on Failure (*):

You just have to have failed at a given level enough times to have become well-calibrated to the severity of your own responses, and effective at managing those responses. You are adapted to a domain at an advanced beginner level when you can keep trying indefinitely despite failing. You are at an intermediate level when you can look at failure data to learn, instead of being so traumatized you look away in aversion. You’re advanced when you begin failing in ways nobody has failed before.

via Learning from Crashes (*) by Venkat (*).

Getting Started - Bernadette / The Story of Telling (Mon 01 Dec 2014)

Eiffel Tower #3 - Paris (Tue 16 Sep 2014)
Bernadette (*) writes on Getting Started (*):

The best way to do anything is to begin, then to adjust your course based on what happens next.

via What’s The Best Way? (*) by The Story of Telling (*).

I did this when I started out (*) on this blog (*) almost 6 years ago. And I am still doing it 1750 posts (this post being it) later.

I Learned - Leo Babauta / The Minimalists (Sun 30 Nov 2014)

Untitled - Rue de l'Aqueduc / Paris (Thu 19 Sep 2014)
Leo Babauta (*) writes on Learning (*):

I learned to trust that we’d be OK, even starting life afresh [..]. I learned that we can adapt and survive, and cope with the fear of not being OK.

via A Simpler Family Life: Starting Life Anew with Our Six Kids (*) by The Minimalists (*).

On Imperfection - Stephen Glibert / Lucy Feagins (Fri 28 Nov 2014)

Untitled - Murano (Wed 10 Sep 2014)
Stephen Glibert (*) writes Imperfection (*):

Imperfection became my new perfection, and I commenced ‘unlearning’ many skills.

via Stephen Glibert (*) by Lucy Feagins (*).

On Venice - Mirsada Hadzic / Adam Marelli (Fri 21 Nov 2014)

Untitled - Venice (Wed 10 Sep 2014)
Adam Marelli (*) writes on the Words and Photos (*) of Mirsada Hadzic (*):

there is nothing more reassuring than reading the words of a perfect stranger who is saying exactly what you feel

via Venice, through the eyes of a Writer, Mirsada Hadzic (*) by Adam Marelli (*).