On Individuality - Venkat / ribbonfarm (Wed 02 Dec 2015)

Skate Cones - Hyde Park / London (Sun 18 Aug 2013)

ribbonfarm on Individuality:

you are unique, just like everybody else

via Can You Hear Me Now? by ribbonfarm.

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 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 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 Patience - Tim Winton / David Larsen (Sat 09 May 2015)

Untitled - London (Sat 17 Aug 2013)

Tim Winton on Patience:

If you don't have the chance to wait, you still have to wait. You wait until it's right.

via Books: Wait until it's right by David Larsen.

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 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 Subtlety and Meaning - Colin / Exile Lifestyle (Wed 19 Nov 2014)

Untitled - Tour of Great Britain / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Colin (*) writes with brilliant clarity and subtlety on Meaning (*):

the most meaningful bits have also been the most subtle.

via Subtlety (*) by Exile Lifestyle (*).

On Leadership - A Thoughtful Leader / Ken Oehler (Fri 14 Nov 2014)

Untitled - Westminster Bridge / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Ken Oehler (*) writes on Leadership (*) [quoting a thoughtful leader of an engineering department]:

People won’t remember what I did, but they will remember how I made them feel.

via What Makes Someone an Engaging Leader (*) by Ken Oehler (*).

Never a more true observation.

Getting Better - Michael Johnston (Wed 12 Nov 2014)

Untitled - The Photographers Gallery (*) / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Michael Johnston (*) writes:

Getting better is never bad.

via The Digital Variant: One Camera, One Lens, One Year (*) by Michael Johnston (*).

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 (*).

On Photography - jtinseoul (Sat 08 Nov 2014)

Street Portrait - Obey - Westminster Bridge / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
jtinseoul (*) writes on Photography (*):

When I take “street” photos (*) now, they are a little different. I don’t feel I’m of the HCB (*) school of finding moments. I don’t care much about moments. I probably won’t be famous, so the photos I take are for me. Things that are unique to where I am and things that will remind me of what it felt like to be here.

via November 8th, 2014. (*) by jtinseoul (*).

On Making A Photgraph - Rachel Kara / The Design Files (Mon 03 Nov 2014)

An Afternoon at Eileen's (*) - Ealing (*) / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Rachel Kara (*) writes on making Photograph (*):

I always walk into a shoot and try let the space or person have a chance to show themselves to me, rather than the other way around

via Rachel Kara (*) by The Design Files (*).

You see (*) it. And you know that feeling. That feeling that you just want to take a photograph. It comes from seeing and observing something - a curiosity. As Rachel says, it shows itself. I just wish I had the courage to make the photo from that feeling. Most times I just let it go even when I have my camera in my pocket.

But sometimes you push yourself and don't let it go .. an example (*) from just on 10 years ago. Maybe one day I will change and make these moments happen more often.

When you travel you feel you have permission to be a photographer and that's why in part I've pushed myself and come to love travel for 10 years now and I thank Jenny (*) and Joanne (*) for that.

On Familiarity - Blake Andrews (Fri 31 Oct 2014)

Tracks (*) - South Kensington (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Blake Andrews (*) writes Familiarity (*) through an Andreas Gursky (*) (who has had an implicit influence (*) on my own photography):

[..songs] I've heard a thousand times. I know the song so well that when it comes on my brain shifts it to the background. I don't listen carefully because I think I know it. But do I?

via 99 Cent (*) by Blake Andrews (*).

A Photograph and its Context - Christoph Schifferli / Jeffrey Ladd (Wed 29 Oct 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Ealing / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Christoph Schifferli (*) writes on a Photograph (*) and it's Context (*):

one of the most efficient ways to 'neutralize' the intrinsic meaning of an image is to change its context.

via Zeitungsfotos by Thomas Ruff (*) by Jeffrey Ladd (*).

On Gary Winogrand - Sean O'Hagan (Thu 16 Oct 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Westminster Bridge (*) / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Sean O'Hagan (*) writes on Gary Winogrand (*) and Street Photography (*) :

His subjects tend to stare back at his camera sadly or in a slightly bewildered fashion. Around them, the world tilts – the horizon line is seldom level – but there is always what might be called a Winograndian logic to his compositions, an instinctive grasp of the geometry of a good photograph. His interest was the rhythm of the streets and the people who created it.

via Garry Winogrand: the restless genius who gave street photography attitude (*) by Sean O'Hagan (*).

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 Enthusiasms - Mike Johnson (Wed 08 Sep 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Music Addict (*) - Tour of Great Britain / Westminster Bridge (*) / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Mike Johnston (*) writes on Enthusiasms (*):

Your enthusiasms are the things you really take to and learn about because you love them and that bring you consistent pleasure.

via On the Road Again (*) by Mike Johnston (*).

Maybe this blog is it for me. Sometimes I scroll through the entries here and it lifts my spirits - the words (which are mostly others - how I would like to communicate like that) but also the photographs I have taken. They remind me I am doing something with my life.

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)