On Street Photography - Ken Johnson / NYT (Fri 15 Mar 2013)

Hand - George Street / Sydney (Thu 14 Mar 2013)
Ken Johnson (*) writes on Street Photography (*):

The camera gazes at all with the same equanimity and finds each person, in his or her own way, dignified, lovable and even beautiful. Walking, the most democratic form of transportation, lends itself to metaphor: we walk into the future, we walk the line, we walk the walk.

via Walking the Walk, in a Rhapsodic New York Ballet / ‘Street,’ at the Metropolitan Museum (*) by Ken Johnson (*).

On Risk and Failure - Quentin Tarantino (Wed 19 Dec 2012)

It's a Little Bit Scary - Glebe (Sat 24 Nov 2012)
Quentin Tarantino (*) talks On Risk (*) and Failure (*):

I’ve always been pushing that envelope.

I want to risk hitting my head on the ceiling of my talent.

I want to really test it out and say: O.K., you’re not that good. You just reached the level here.

I don’t ever want to fail, but I want to risk failure every time out of the gate.

via Quentin’s World (*) by Charles McGrath (*).

A thought to start the year.

Follow Your Own Path - David Brooks / NYT (Wed 27 Jun 2012)

"Black Abstraction" Abstraction - Georgia O'Keefe - The Met / New York (Mon 15 Aug 2012)
David Brooks makes some interesting observations (*) about growing up, locality and following your own path:

Don't try to be everyman. Don't pretend you're a member of every community you visit. Don't try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come.

On Black Abstraction (*) - I had known of Georgia O'Keefe through her relationship with Alfred_Stieglitz (*) (I have a book on his life, but can't remember it's title or where it is now). When I walked into the Gallery Hall with her paintings, I knew I would spend some time there. There were many colourful paintings of abstract views of flowers, desert scenes and buffalo skulls. Black Abstraction caught my gaze and I just stood in front of it and thought of many things. Maybe I thought the dark painting reflected how I felt after recent experiences.

Becoming a little abstract and self absorbed (as i do this time of the year). The path through the painting represented my journey since Jenny left us and I had become stuck (*) in this place (I had known this for some time). The little bright white dot gave me hope that there was something still inside me and all it would take was a small sign to get me on my way again. Funnily enough, it would come two days later on a Subway Train. It was such a tiny gesture (*) by a complete stranger.

Maybe the importance to me of such a tiny and simple gesture, indicated how low I had sunk in my journey in life without Jenny there beside me. I don't know really, like most things. Anyway I did like the painting and I am glad this post gave me the opportunity to put the photo here and to research it's background a little more.

To finish, I love this quote by Georgia O'Keefe on Abstraction:

Abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint.

Maybe I could say the same thing except apply it to photography, as my words seem totally inadequate to describe where I have been, what I have felt and where I think I am heading.