On Passion, Committment, Control and Ability - The Gerro Factor - The Advertiser / Reece Homfray (Wed 03 Jul 2013)

Joanne and Jenny – 2004 IDBF Worlds 500m Premier Mixed Podium - Qingpu / Shanghai (Fri 22 Oct 2004)
Dave Sanders (*) talks about Simon Gerrans (*) and the The Gerro Factor where words like passion (*), committment (*), control (*) and ability (*) are used:

If you’ve got that passion and commitment – we now call it the Gerro Factor – if a kid’s got the Gerro Factor he’ll get somewhere.

Dave expands:

Simon doesn’t have to be gifted to do what he does, he just does everything he can control to the best of his ability. Which is train right, eat right, sleep right, recover right - they’re the things he can control.

via Simon Gerrans' coach tells of how Tour de France leader's amazing work ethic led to yellow jersey (*) by Reece Homfray (*).

Remembering Jenny - IDBF World Championships / Qingpu / China (Oct 2004)

Jenny and Joanne - IDBF World Championships / Qingpu / China (Oct 2004)
Four years ago just now. We remember you, Jenny (*). You are always there for us as you guide and inspire us from above.

Joanne and Geoff - 2013 AusDBF National Championships / Penrith (Thu 18 Apr 2013)
Joanne, she would be so proud of you and what you have achieved these last four years. It's been tough, tougher than most people could imagine. Just like Jenny, you are an inspiration and I look forward to seeing you carry the Australian Flag in Szeged (*) on Tue 23 Jul 2013. Go Joanne!!!

On Beauty and Photography - Davey Maclean aka Shot by Shooter / Glass Magazine (Tue 14 Nov 2012)

Mother, Son and Frog - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)
Davey Mclean (*) aka Shot by Shooter (*) in Glass Magazine (*)

[On Beauty] I often photograph people who have a kind of fragile beauty [..]

[On Photography] I don't think that my photographs mean anything, they are just what someone sees in them – I think photography only has meaning when someone looks at it. They’re just snapshots.

I was able to give her a copy of an A4 print on my return to Shanghai a few weeks later. She was very excited.

Detail #1 - Mother and Son - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)
Detail #2 (Hands) - The Frog - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)

Jinni - Fuzhou Road / Shanghai (Thu 18 Nov 2004)

Jinni #1 - 44 - Fuzhou Road / Shanghai (Thu 18 Nov 2004)
Jinni #2 - Fuzhou Road / Shanghai (Thu 18 Nov 2004)

Looking Up - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

Looking Up #1 - Red Tint - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Looking Up #2 - B&W (Yellow Filter) - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Looking Up #3 - The Original - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

More than a Portrait Photo - Jinni Art Supply Shop / Shanghai (Thu 18 Nov 2004)

Portrait - Jinni Art Supply Shop / Shanghai (Thu 18 Nov 2004)
Selina Ou (*) on photography ..

Photography was something I just always wanted to do. The camera enables me to express how I see the world because sometimes words, for me, don't explain enough.

So here is an attempt to describe what this photo means to me in words. Here goes ..

I was sitting outside this shop, while Jenny and Joanne were inside deciding what to buy. We would return numerous times afterwards to buy a few more things - rice paper, paints, horse hair brushes of various widths, and much much more. I was sitting there with half a dozen Chinese men, waiting patiently like all good husbands do, and I was fiddling with my new camera. He came up to me to look at the camera.

As he seemed interested I worked up the courage to gesture to him to take his photo. I made the photo above and then showed him the results. He was very excited to see himself In the review screen of my Canon 300D and he was all smiles, which he certainly was not for his photo.

I then gave him the camera and showed him how to take a photo. I reciprocated his gesture to allow me to photograph him and he then photographed me - I will put it here soon.

Even though we did not talk the same langusge, there was lots of hand gesturing and smiles. I should do this more often when travelling, or just photographing for that matter. I must admit that I had been inspired to engage with people more while i travelled, by a young up and coming photographer by the name of Selina Ou (*) - more on her and this later.

This was the day of my 44th Birthday.

Water - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

Water - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Dark and abstract. These kind of photos always interest me. Such a long time since I looked at these photos, it took me a little while to remember what it was.

Trees / Intersection - Fuzhou Road / Shanghai (Thu 06 May 2010)

Intersection / Trees - Fuzhou Road / Shanghai (Thu 06 May 2010)
Mid Spring in Shanghai. It was warm and very pleasant. It was nice to walk the lightly shaded back streets and to capture this scene. The newly leafed / leaved trees seem to provide depth and an almost 3D quality, which is rare in my photos.

Tree - Dianshanhu / Qingpu / Shanghai (Sat 23 Oct 2004)

Tree - Dianshanhu / Qingpu / Shanghai (Sat 23 Oct 2004)
Remember shooting this with my new Canon 300D DSLR on a tripod. I like the apparent isolation of the tree and some of the leaves on the tree that are blurred from the movement caused by a strong wind. A closer inspection of the sky reveals a number of stars. Looks great printed about A3 size. Lots of intricate detail which I like to have in a photo.

Jenny and Joanne - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)

Jenny and Joanne - Yu Garden / Shanghai (Wed 17 Nov 2004)
Just found this evening. A very nice surprise.

Jo and I would return here in May 2010.

The 300D did a remarkable job to capture this photo in very low light.

Bikes - Shanghai (Wed 05 May 2010)

Bikes - Shanghai (Wed 05 May 2010)

On Carpark Spaces - Genoa (Sun 14 Aug 2005) / Shanghai (Thu 06 May 2010)

Parking Space - Genoa / Italy (Sun 14 Aug 2005)

Parking Space - Shanghai / China (Thu 06 May 2010)
Always question myself why I take these kind of photos and at times I say to myself:

What are you thinking? What are you seeing? What will others think?

When I look at it now, I can see and appreciate, just like Jeffrey Smart (specifically here):

the geometery, colour and lines

I am always surprised to see photos that are so far apart in time and space to be so similiar in intent and result. Makes me realise that my visual filter is consistent, strong and resilent in time. Afterall, they are just photos of a carpark spaces.

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).

Wind in the Willows - Qingpu / China (20 Oct 2004)

Trees are exceptional people - Wind in the Willows - Qingpu / China - 20 Oct 2004 (picasa)
"Trees are exceptional, people [..]
Belonging fully to earth but living also in sky
They have no death but only transformations."

From Future Now by Tessa Ransford

Jenny always loved this photo which I took while Jenny and Joanne participated in the 2004 World Dragon Boat Championships at Qingpu, a lakeside race course, about 50 km to the west of Shanghai. I had it professionally printed in A4 and A3 sizes with a selection of my favourite photos. Jenny always wanted me to frame it and put it up somewhere in the living area so we could remember our trip to Qingpu and Shanghai as well as enjoy the intricate and subtle details of the sunset silhouetted wind blown willow.

Whenever Jenny went into Hospital we always put photos up around her room and it was always a great way to generate a bit of conversation with the many Hospital Satff that were in and out of her room.

When Jenny went into ICU for the final week of her life, I pulled the A4 print of this photo out of the pile of prints I had had made and placed it on a column in front of her bed in the vague hope that she might see and recognise it.

On the day before Jenny died Joanne picked up the photo and moved it across Jenny's face and we were excited to see her eyes follow it - the first sign to us of some improvement in her condition. I went off to an outrigging canoe training session that Monday night happier than I had been in a long time and I arranged to see her on the way home, well after the normal visiting hours.

When I arrived into the ICU about 9.30pm, it was a different place to the busy and noisy place it was during the day. It was very quiet and the lights were dimmed apart from a soft spot light above Jenny's bed. She was asleep and looked very relaxed, the most relaxed I had seen her in the two weeks she had been in hospital. I decided not to wake her and sat quietly at her bed side and watched her steady breathing. I spoke quietly and proudly to Jenny's dedicated nurse about Jenny's life. I left Jenny that night not knowing that it would be the last time I would see her alive.

At 9.16am on Tue 30 Jun 2009 (the next morning), Jenny left us without Joanne or I by her bedside. Yet I know, Jenny was not alone, as the above photo, the one she loved so much, looked over her as she broke free from this world.

Just as the above poem extracts indicates, it might be nice to think that Jenny transformed herself into our memories:

They have no death but only transformations

It is through our memories of Jenny that she lives on.

I will frame both A4 and A3 prints once I find a place for them and myself. For the moment I am happy to have written this post (which i had planned to do for a long time) which was inspired by the above poem extract. Thanks Charlotte.

Thanks to LottieP for allowing me to find the above extract from a poem by Tessa Ransford via her post of a beautiful poem titled The White Stone of Lewis.

(My first post from an iPad while on a weeks holiday at Coolangatta.)

Photos: Intersection - Shanghai - May 2010

Intersection - Shanghai - May 2010
Just another intersection photo. Could say there are some Jeffrey Smart influences in seeing this photo. Was firstly, drawn in by the Red Car and Front Red Sign. Then was pleased to see the receding Red Signs as well as the Blue Signs. All came together nicely. The most complicated version of the colour theme photos I have posted so far.

Another and closer view ..

Intersection/Another view - Shanghai - May 2010

Shanghai 2010 - Picasa Collage

Shanghai 2010 - Picasa Collage
(click on image to zoom in - selected available in picasa folder)

Favourite Photos: Shanghai/China 2010 - Expo 2010 Volunteer

Expo 2010 Volunteer - Green - Shanghai/China - Tue 05 May 2010 (picasa)
Like another Favourite Photo - The Bookends of Fowey (see below or click through here for more detail on these types of photos), I could not get my camera out quick enough to get this one. Just another really simple colour photo.

Just back from Australian Dragon Boat Nationals in Adelaide (4 days around Anzac Weekend) and Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Wujin (near Wuxi and Shanghai, a bit further east) from 30 April to 2 May 2010. We were fortunate enough to have a day at Expo 2010 (being held in Shanghai) during the opening week.

Bookends of Fowey - Blue - Fowey / Cornwall (UK) - 09 Sep 2009 (picasa)