Showing posts with label Remembering Jenny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remembering Jenny. Show all posts
Thursday, December 24, 2015
In the Pink - Australian Story (Mon 14 Jun 2004)
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
On Love and Loss - Joel Meyerowitz (Fri 20 Jun 2015)
Joel Meyerowitz on Love and Loss:
All is being lost and yet there is nothing to do but love and care for them while watching the decline.via All is being lost (Fri 26 Jun 2015) by Joel Meyerowitz.
Some might say I am stuck in past. But I don't really care about those thoughts. It's too hard to be anything other than who I was. These are my memories and they all I have now.
The power of photography to remember. They are all about the past from the very moment they are taken. So maybe all I am now is just a photography of love, loss and a life that was well lived.
Friday, November 20, 2015
In the Beginning - Remembering Jenny (Nov 1989)
I've written about the End, so here is the Beginning ..
The inaugural 1989 Fairfax Corporate Games was how I met Jenny. We both worked at the same company and responded to a call in the company's newsletter, to help organise a team.
I'm not sure I had seen Jenny prior to that, even though we had worked in the same building on and off over a number of years. I was just back from three years working out of Tamworth, my main childhood home town. It was a big company in those days and the Head Office filled a 40 storey building on the corner of Park and Elizabeth Streets.
I remember the first meeting to help organise the team on Level 23. We both got out of separate lifts at the same time and walked in opposite directions to find the meeting room. We couldn't find the meeting room during our opposite navigations of the inner core of the building. When we bumped into each other, I asked her if she was looking for the meeting room for the Corporate Games. She said yes. And, in those first moments I noticed her beautiful blue eyes and friendly manner.
I did not know she had a sister, Joanne, who also worked at the same company, and it was only on the day of the event, that I realised Jenny was an identical twin. We all had a great time and at the end of the day I had to rush off quickly to attend a 5 day residential work course at Dover Heights.
I thought of her often and did not see her again until a few months later, when Jenny rang me out of the blue to meet so she could give me the photo above. We met at my desk on Level 26 and at same time she gave me this photo, she had the courage to ask me to partner her to a friend's Wedding. I was in shock and did not know what to say. What was a beautiful women like Jenny asking someone like me to partner her to a Wedding. How brave was she, and how shy and uncertain was I.
So, I made her endure a night of uncertainty, telling her I had to check that the Wedding did not clash with a hockey game I was scheduled to play on the same day. What was I thinking? I was always going and said yes the next day. At the same time I asked her out to dinner and to see a movie on Fri 30 Mar 1990, so we could get to know each other a little better before the Wedding.
The Wedding was duly attended and I even managed to play my game of hockey before the wedding, scoring a rare winning goal. It was my day!!
A month later we were out in the city with a group of Jenny and Joanne's work friends (I was hanging out with them by then - they were all accountants and I was the engineer), and as we passed a rowdy group of men, I instinctively held Jenny's hand. Whoops - but she held my hand back and did not let go.
That was our beginning, our destiny for a life together, until the day she transformed herself into our memories.
And, it is through our memories of Jenny that she lives on, this photo and post being just one.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
On Caring - Adele Horin (Sun 11 Oct 2015)
Adele Horin on Caring:
In sickness and in health, we have our different ways of caring; it’s an extension of who we are, how we love, and our culturevia In sickness and in health: what sort of carer will be you be? by Adele Horin.
Monday, November 2, 2015
On Change - The Story of Telling (Mon 02 Nov 2015)
The Story of Telling on Change:
the most important driver of change is the willingness to make it happenvia The Opportunity Equation (02 Nov 2015) by The Story of Telling (Berndatte Jiwa).
Most times change is optional - you do or don't do something about it and it is a theme that has appeared here many times over the last 6.5 years. Sometimes change is foisted upon you without choice and often without notice. Again it is up to to you decide whether to do something about it - to become a victim or a survivor. Or you can just try to ignore it somehow, but it will always catch up with you, so this is not a great option. Often it is best to take a little timeout to acknowledge the change, if you can. Ultimately, it is up to you to make the difficult steps to keep moving forward from the place you landed.
Monday, October 19, 2015
On Hope and Faith - Tanya Villanueva Tepper (Fri 23 May 2014)
Tanya Villanueva Tepper on Hope and Faith:
while life will go against our expectations and sometimes devastate us, time, change, hope and faith can carry us through to a life that is beautiful again. [..]via Rebirth at Ground Zero: Lessons in Life, Reverence and Resilience for a New Generation by Tanya Villanueva Tepper.True contentment is felt when we recognize all of the many moments of grace and providence which lead us to come full circle and fulfill our intention. We are at peace because we're given meaning to our experience, no matter how painful the journey was in getting there.
Tanya is right. It can be like this if you chose it to be. It all comes down to your outlook on Life. Your Intention.
Inspired by Rachel's visit to the 9/11 Memorial. Thanks Rachel.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
On Ambiguity - Joel Meyerowitz (Sat 29 Aug 2015)
Joel Meyerowitz writes on Ambiguity:
ambiguity is part of what makes seeing and then photographing so interestingvia Ambiguity by Joel Meyerowitz.
Friday, July 3, 2015
On Suffering, Sorrow and a Way Forward - Cheryl Strayed / Marie Popova (Tue 15 Jun 2015)
Cheryl Strayed on Suffering, Sorrow and a Way Forward:
we all suffer and we all need to find light in that darkness, strength in that weakness. [..]you can have a happier life if you think positively in the face of profound sorrow. [..]
I trust that there’s some intuitive place within me that’s driving me forward.
via The Subterranean River of Emotion: Cheryl Strayed on Writing, the Art of Living with Opposing Truths, and the Three Ancient Motifs in All Great Storytelling by Marie Popova.
I know what these words mean - I have lived and felt them and they are how I have chosen to live my Life. And, it is a choice.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
On Inspiration - Carmen Beirne / The Road to Character (Tue 30 Jun 2015)
Cecelia Beirne on Inspiration:
I can inspire confidence in others, I can be inspired..
via PURPOSE: “SHE’D TAKEN THE TIME TO KNOW ME” by Cecelia Beirne
The last time I remember sitting on this seat was the afternoon of the day before Jenny died. I came out of the ICU to give Joanne some time with Jenny and to shed a quiet tear in silence and solitude under the late afternoon blue sky. The tears rolled down my cheeks and I could taste their saltiness (a recent familiar taste from the heightened emotions anniversaries seem to bring). Some tears had time to dry and become dry crusty white trails down my cheeks. And I tried to wipe them away quickly as one of the ICU Nurses approached and sat down next to me to chat before the start of her shift. I can't remember much about our conversation but I do remember being shown compassion and empathy.
Yesterday, on the 6th Anniversary of Jenny's passing, I sat here and asked Joanne to make this photo using my phone camera. The passage of 6 years in time between those two moments is hard to comprehend but I see it in my Minds Eye and I can definitely feel it all as I look at this photo. I don't really know what to write..Maybe it has already been written?
When I sat here six years ago I did not know Jenny would die the next day, though I knew it would be soon - I had already realistically resigned myself to that fact. I also did not know how my life would unfold in that six year time gap. It has been a roller-coaster and I have bumped and knocked my way around life. Apologies to anyone I have bruised along the way. I question some times if I'm getting any better at it all, or whether I just keep making the same old mistakes, though I would like to think I have grown a little and made a small difference to those around me, in my own small ways, just as the ICU nurse did as she sat next to me six years ago. I think of these small moments often and I draw inspiration and guidance from it and wherever I can. Enough now for another year.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Remembering Jenny #6 - Sydney (Sat 16 Feb 2008)
Monday, June 22, 2015
On Photography, Memory and Feelings - jtinseoul (Sat 20 Jun 2015)
jtinseoul on Photography and Memory:
Photography is about Memory. Not the making of memories, but about the capturing of them.
Addding that photos can be a reminder of:
how it felt to be here when I wasn’t.via Cameras do matter (sort of) by jtinseoul.
So succintly and nicely put - these words touch my heart.
Just found these photos on an old disk. Certainly do bring back some memories and how I felt just over 10 years ago. So much has happened and it feels like another life, the life of someone else told to me so intimately with an open heart and no secrets because I seem to know it so well, I can feel it - but can it be me, really!!
Funny how and what a photo makes you think and feel.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
On Time and The Past - Tim Winton / The Turning
Tim Winton on Time and the Past:
When a wave breaks, the water is not moving. The swell has travelled great distances but only the energy is moving, not the water. Perhaps time moves through us and not us through it ... the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over.
via The Turning by Tim Winton.
These words are so touching. Not really sure how to say what they make me feel - this photograph of me the day after Jenny died, might say it all? Maybe time did move through me and I am still there - I don't know really, but this photo makes it feel like it - one of those reference points in life. It also reminds me of who I was, who I have become and want to be, which when I think about is the same thing. Not sure what I'm trying to say or how (nothing unusual there). Gladly, it is never over. I have a past, it is who I am. And thankfully, I've stopped trying to be anything else.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
On the Beginning of the End - I Wrote this for You / Iain S. Thomas (Wed 12 Mar 2014)
Iain S. Thomas on Light:
I hope that in the future they invent a small golden light that follows you everywhere and when something is about to end, it shines brightly so you know it's about to end.
The Light That Shines When Things End by Iain S. Thomas.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
On Portrait Photography - Richard Johnstone (Fri 29 May 2015)
Richard Johnstone on Portrait Photography:
One of the great mysteries of portrait photography hinges on whether we can successfully read character and biography into a single image.
via Face time - Photography | Richard Johnstone reviews the finalists in this year’s Head On Portrait Prize by Richard Johnstone.
I think the portrait of Jenny captures her character perfectly. I had an A4 print made of it shortly after I took it on Christmas Day in 2006. Joanne bought a nice frame for it and we placed on her Coffin at her Funeral. What better photo to celebrate and reflect on her life.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
The things that make us the most human and the most powerful - SpencerLum / Ground Glass
Spencer Lum on Vision, Dreams, Hopes and Purpose::
the moment we give up our vision in favor of the common and the accepted is the moment we lose touch with our dreams, hopes, and even our purpose. The things that make us the most human and the most powerful.
via What I learned from living my desperate life by Spencer Lum.
Monday, May 18, 2015
On Trust, Respect and Photography - Kate Geraghty / Joel Meares (Fri 15May 2015)
Kate Geraghty on Trust, Respect and Photography:
It's a privilege to meet people and for them to trust us enough to tell us their story, [..] each one of them has to be given the respect to tell their story.
Via Photographer Kate Geraghty on the privilege of witnessing history by Joel Meares.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
On Photography and Memory - Trent Parke / Suzie Keen (Fri 13 Mar 2015)
Trent Parke on Memory and Photography:
I’m really interested in the subconscious and memory and how those things can suddenly re-surface, especially through photographs.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Photos and how we feel when we Remember - Colin Pantell (Tue 18 Mar2014)
Colin Pantall on Photography and Remembering:
It's strange how one remembers things without being aware on any conscious level of why one remembers or how one remembers. [..]Perhaps it might be good to reach elsewhere for our ideas on photography, outside the small, incestuous world of photo-theory so that we can add to and enrich our understanding of how images work with added engagement and added interest. Today, cognitive and social psychology might be good places to start. [..]
I can't help but feel that there is also an element of the false memory (more of which in a different post) and wish fulfilment in there as well.
The idea that when we see those happy pictures, we remember them and feel that those happy times will come again.
Monday, May 11, 2015
On Belief - Elia Viviani / Shane Stokes (Sun 10 May 2015)
Elia Viviani on Belief:
It has taken time to achieve, but I’ve always believed in myself, I’ve never given up, and I think I’ve done it in the best way today.
via Matthews moves into Giro d’Italia lead as Viviani takes stage 2 by Shane Stokes.
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