The Healing Process - Doug Miller (Fri 04 Sep 2009)

Janice and Jenny - St George Private Hospital (Mon 22 Jun 2009)

Doug Miller on Healing:

None of these paths that these fellow travelers walk are easy, but I have seen such a lightness of being in them all. Each trying to see the hope in the midst of the raging storm, providing to others a glimpse of light that they themselves are searching for.

There is this strange principle I am discovering not just in myself but in those countless others that are members of this difficult brotherhood and sisterhood of suffering.

I am noticing that a significant part of the healing process is to reach out and give to others, both those that are sick and those that are well.

It seems to some possibly a bit ludicrous, but to me it seems as if it gives this journey a complete purpose, a usefulness of sorts.

I am coming to call it "A ministry of Brokenness" I am seeing it as a powerful balm to all in need. [..]

In our weakness we are made strong.

There is a deep truth in all of this.

via The Ministry of Brokenness by Doug Miller.

Saint Mary MacKillop Relic and Flowers - Greenwich Hospital (Sat 11 Apr 2015)

All the world's roads lead to the heart of the warrior

All the world's roads lead to the heart of the warrior; he plunges unhesitatingly into the river of passions always flowing through his life.

The warrior knows that he is free to choose his desires, and he makes these decisions with courage, detachment and - sometimes - with just a touch of madness.

He embraces his passions and enjoys them intensely. He knows that there is no need to renounce the pleasures of conquest; they are part of life and bring joy to all those who participate in them.

But he never loses sight of those things that last or of the strong bonds that are forged over time.

A warrior can distinguish between the transient and the enduring.

From the Manual of the Warrior of Light (*) by Paulo Coelho (*)

Intersection (*) - Jamaica Road / Bermondsey / London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)

Intersection - London (May 2009) / Shanghai (Sep 2010)

Intersection - Nanjing Road - Shanghai (Mon 03 May 2010)
Intersection - Southwark Bridge - London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)
These two Intersection photos seem to go together nicely with the red, white, blue and black of the Bollard's, and the white and yellow lines on the bitumen. Ultimately though, it is all about the bikes or lack thereof (there are two in the London photo if you look close enough or three if you count the sign).

The London Light - Southwark Bridge / London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)

The London Light - Southwark Bridge / London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)
I have been to London twice now - Aug 2005 and Sep 2009. Both times, I have seen an amazing quality of light that seems much softer than the harsh (maybe strong is a better word) Australian sunlight that I have grown up with and love. It's just a photo of some construction barriers (I have a whole series of these which might appear here one day) but for me this photo reminds of the light that I talk about here - LottieP writes beautifully here about a certain slant of light (maybe the expression could be used for summer light also?). The Red barriers also reminded of a recent photo of two red sofa's.

You must be somewhere in London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)

A Seat - Grosvenor Square / Mayfair / London (Fri 04 Sep 2009)
The seat has the following inscription:

"To Blton M. Hyder Jr., my father, who first brought me to London,
and for Lewis P. Grimman Jr., a dear friend, who allowed me to appreciate London."

It all seems to fit together [see Grosvenor Square reference in the recent Ceremony post and a future post (coming soon)].

Photographer: Murray Fredericks

Murray Fredericks is an Australian Photographer. I was aware of him and his works from my foray into large format photography. I had bought a 4x5 inch large format camera in Shanghai in November 2004 (that's another story) and I needed to learn how to use it. Murray was offering a weekend workshop at a rural location in western NSW, near Oberon, and I had considered attending. With assistance of my friend Leigh Perry, I was able to work it all out and did not need to take Murray's workshop in the end. Some scans of my initial transparencies, by an Epson 4990 scanner, are here

I follow news regarding photography and photography exhibitions in Sydney - typically article written by Robert McFarlane who writes occasionally for the Sydney Morning Herald (just found he has a blog at ozphotoreview.blogspot.com). I have known of Murray since the time his work was exhibited at the Point Light Gallery in 2003. His initial SALT work was also reviewed by Robert McFarlane

When flying to Prague, on the flight to Prague from Helsinki on FinnAir, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to read an English Newspaper (The Financial Times) that had a review of Murray's exhibition in London at the Hamiltons Gallery in Mayfair. I pulled out the page inflight and put it away with a mental note to make sure I would find the Gallery and view the Salt Exhibition when in London a few weeks later. Was very impressed to read that his photos were being compared to Turner paintings and that the largest and most expensive photo was being sold for 30,000 Pounds - pretty impressive for a humble landscape photographer who started his career as an Economist from Sydney University.

Blue Sky Thinking - Murray Fredericks - SALT II - A Newspaper Article found inflight between Helsinki and Prague - Sat 22 Aug 2009 - (picasa)
The day before the Great River Race, I had organised our seats on boats and I had time to do some sight seeing in London. I found the Gallery using Google Maps and made my way there on the Tube. I found the Gallery easily and chatted with the Gallery guy, who gave my a DVD of the SALT Documentary of his trip to Lake Eyre. Managed to sneak in a few photos before I left for the Photographers Gallery (yet another story), which was walking distance away (well maybe at least a couple hours rambling through the back streets of London).

Murray Fredericks: Salt Exhibition - Hamiltons Gallery / London - Fri 04 Sep 2009 (picasa)

Murray Fredericks: Salt Exhibition - Hamiltons Gallery / London - Fri 04 Sep 2009 (picasa)

Murray Fredericks: Salt Exhibition - Hamiltons Gallery / London - Fri 04 Sep 2009 (picasa)

SALT37 by Murray Fredericks - Sep 2009 (www.gosee.de)

Self Portrait in Lake Eyre - Hamiltons Gallery / London - Fri 04 Sep 2009 (picasa)
The ABC are showing his SALT Documentary tonight. There was a review in yesterdays Sydney Morning Herald titled - Searching for infinite space in extreme locations. An extract follows:

Murray Fredericks - Sydney Morning Herald 22 Mar 2010 - Searching for infinite space in extreme locations - Tue 23 Mar 2010 (picasa)
Having been "the guy with a camera" at high school who took pictures of sports teams, Fredericks was a serious photographer with commercial and artistic ambitions in his mid-twenties. He shot what he calls traditional coffee table-style photos until he realised he wanted more from his work.

"I reached the point where I went through everything and went 'there's nothing new here'. All I'm doing is finding new angles and new locations but the message itself - and the way the message is delivered - isn't changing'," he says.

"So I went through everything again and I thought 'which images affect me differently?' and they were the images that conveyed a sense of space."

That discovery has taken Fredericks 14 times to Lake Eyre in outback South Australia in the past six years. His aim was to photograph the flat salt plain with its low horizon and lack of distinctive features.

Hauling his gear to the location by bicycle, he spent up to five weeks by himself trying to capture the nothingness. And when things changed, he wanted to capture that too.

"Everything happens on the cusp, on the change,'' he says. ''It's the transition periods that are interesting because that's when the stuff you can't imagine or you can't expect happens."

Fredericks's shots of land and sky have proven so popular there are three galleries - in Sydney, Melbourne and London - waiting for his new work.

SALT 8 by Murray Fredericks

Found a nice review by Rebecca Wolkenstein who writes:

.. it wasn’t until I viewed his film SALT, that I decided my roster couldn’t live without him. The film and the work had a spiritual element I had never really understood before then. It sounds rather dramatic to be speaking this way, doesn’t it? When the film comes out [..], I highly recommend that you immerse yourself in the landscape. It’s full of surprises.

SALT 5 by Murray Fredericks

My friend Leigh Perry shoots very similar photos, but typically from the shore of Sydney's coastline - see his portfolios: Invariance and Peripheral Vision. Beautiful photos ..

Invariance #116011 - Reef by Leigh Perry

Invariance #332 - Lake. by Leigh Perry