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 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 (*).

Reflecting on Life Lessons - Venkat (Thu 20 Nov 2014)

47 (*) - Kensington / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
ribbonfarm (*) reflects on Life Lessons (*):

the lessons you can easily generalize and share are typically not original, and the lessons that are original typically cannot be generalized and shared. Only modeled in slightly puzzling ways.

via Learning to Fly by Missing the Ground (*) by Venkat (*).

On Automation - Nicholas Carr / Jenny Shank (Tue 11 Nov 2014)

Police Smash £1M Tube Phones Gang (*) - London Tube (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
Nicholas Carr (*) from his book The Glass Cage (*):

Automation often frees us from that which makes us feel free.

via Nicholas Carr’s ‘Glass Cage': Automation Will Hurt Society in Long Run (*) by Jenny Shank (*).

The Balancing Act between Looking and Doing - The Story of Telling (Fri 17 Oct 2014)

Look - Street Portrait (*) - Oxford Street / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
Bernadette (*) writes:

sometimes you forget to stop looking and start doing. [..]

Great works or art, design, graffiti (*) and literature from Banksy to Brontë are all inspired (*) by lived experiences (*) or drawn from within.

Your inspiration (*) is all around you in your day to day. Your advantage probably already exists.

You’re just not looking there. Yet.

via How Everything Truly Great Is Inspired (*) by The Story of Telling (*).

On Hands - Colin Pantall (Mon 13 Oct 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Piccadilly Circus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
Colin Pantall (*) writes on Hands (*) in Photos (*) and Paintings (*):

Hands are so important. But why is that?

via Propaganda, Propaganda, Propaganda (*) by Colin Pantall (*).

On Street Photography - Steven Rosen and Brian Sholis (Wed 08 Oct 2014)

SMASH THEIR CAMERAS - Newtown (Aug 2014)
Steven Rosen (*) writes Street Photography (*):

The mid-20th century was when street photography became well known, thanks to photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and others. Armed with unobtrusive hand-held cameras, they rapidly snapped pictures of passersby, searching for unstudied compositions [..]

Brian Sholis (*) continues:

In the 21st century, for better or worse, there are fewer people at home during the day and we’ve offloaded a lot of that ‘eyes on the street’ to surveillance cameras,

Steven Rosen (*) summarises:

At the same time, those cameras fill many with unease.

So 21st century street photographers are dealing with techniques and issues far different from their forebears

Brian Sholis (*) concludes:

What unites them is they’re incredibly attentive and able to reveal things that we might not otherwise see because the street is such a kinetic and dynamic place

via Street Photography in the 21st Century (*) by Steven Rosen (*).

Street Portrait (*) - Piccadilly Ciricus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)

Street Portraiture - David McLean / Shot by Shooter (Jul 2014)

Untitled - Piccadilly / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)
David Mclean (*) on Street Portraits (*) [quoting David Mclean (*)]:

They are always different. They are always the same

via David Mclean Street Portraiture - 1883 Magazine (*) by Jay Mitchell (*).

My favourite from the trip so far. Love the hands, the tshirts, the chains and most of all her smile and eyes. Sometimes you just get lucky but you have to in the game - you've got to be trying, but not too hard.