eljeiffel: Wilson Street

Showing posts with label Wilson Street. Show all posts

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Portraits - Del Kathryn Barton / Nick Galvin (Sat 09 Jul 2016)

Skippy Girls - Wilson Street / Redfern (Tue 05 Jul 2016)

There has to be a really tangible, palpable connection between you and the sitter. The best portraits are about sincerity and connection.

via Archibald Prize: six winners on what it has meant for them and how to paint a contender by Nick Galvin.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Communication - Joel Spolsky / Nick Heath (Tue 10 May 2016)

markings - "it means something to someone" - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Joel Spolsky on Communication:

the most successful people are the ones who can explain their ideas the best

via Stack Overflow founder Spolsky: The three skills every software developer should learn by Nick Heath.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Vision and Happiness - Giovanni Sollima / Nick Galvin (Sat 02 Jul 2016)

abstract - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Giovanni Sollima on Vision:

Everyone should do this. When you play you need a vision of something. It can be human, it can be a tree, it can be abstract, it can be happiness ...

via Giovanni Sollima breaks rules with the ACO by Nick Galvin.

Passion, Energy and Eccentricity- Kevin McCleod (Fri .01 Jul 2016)

syke / pasteup - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 01 Jul 2016)

Kevin McCleod on Passion:

Don’t confuse passion and energy for eccentricity

via Grand Designs: Kevin McCloud on the renovation job sites since 1999 by Graeme Blundell.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

On Quality - Brooks Jensen / Lenswork Daily (Thu 16 Jan 2014)

Skippy Girls (*) - Wilson Street / Redfern (Thu 16 Jan 2014)
Brooks Jensen (*) writes On Quality (*) and On Understanding Others (*):

I've learned (*) the dangers of my narrowly restricted definitions of image quality. Knowing them can/should become the foundation of my personal work, but they can also be a terrible and unjust barrier to my appreciation of the work of other photographers — especially those whose criteria are different than mine. It is a good idea, I believe, to develop the complimentary skills of knowing our own definitions while simultaneously suspending our personal prejudices when we look at the work of others. Without that, we might miss a lot.

via Defining quality (*) by Brooks Jensen (*).

Monday, November 19, 2012

Andrew - Cafe ism / Wilson Street / Newtown (Mon 19 Nov 2012)

Andrew - Cafe ism (*) / Wilson Street / Newtown (Mon 19 Nov 2012)
Met up with Andrew today, a long time friend and work colleague. Could not work out the last time we met since January 2010. It was nice to catch up and I could not help but make a few photos.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

The Scream ? - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 10 Feb 2012

The Scream ? (*) - Wilson Street / Newtown (Fri 10 Feb 2012)
Could not work out to title this one. Almost reminds me of The Scream (*), but not quite. Any help appreciated.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Sign Sign everywhere a sign - Wilson Street / Newtown (Thu 24 Feb 2011)

Sign Sign Everywhere a Sign - Wilson Street / Newtown (Thu 24 Feb 2011)
Just playing around with my new camera.

Reminded of the song Signs by Five Man Electrical Band.

Here are the lyrics:

V1
And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said you look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do
So I took off my hat I said imagine that, huh, me working for you
woah!

Chorus:

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

V2
And the sign said anybody caught trespassing would be shot on sight
So I jumped on the fence and yelled at the house, Hey! what gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in
If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man you're some kinda sinner

Repeat Chorus:

Bridge:

Now, hey you Mister! can't you read, you got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no you can't eat, you ain't suppose to be here
Sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside Uh!

V3
And the sign said everybody welcome, come in, kneel down and pray
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all,
I didn't have a penny to pay, so I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign
I said thank you Lord for thinking about me, I'm alive and doing fine

Repeat Chorus
Repeat Chorus

© 1970, 2002 Five Man Electrical Band

Will embed the youtube video in a future post.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Skip - Erskineville Road / Newtown (Fri 28 Oct 2004)

Skip and Bob - Erskineville Road / Newtown (Fri 28 Oct 2004)

Mona Lisa - Erskineville Road / Newtown (Fri 28 Oct 2004)
The background to these photos ..

I had just flown in that morning from Shanghai (via Singapore) where I had bid farewell to Jenny and Joanne. I was excited about the trip there for the World Dragon Boat Championships at Qingpu just to the west of Shanghai (I was just an excited spectator and photographer in those days - definitely inspired me to get into dragon boating on our return). During the return flight I had already decided that I would go back to meet Jenny and Jo in Shanghai on their return from a group road trip and some traveling by themselves (which included 5 days on the Yangtze River). It would be a surprise for them and we would spend the last 4 days in Suzhou and Shanghai where I would celebrate my 44th Birthday.

Thought I would walk up to Newtown to keep myself awake as I had not slept much on the over night flight from Singapore. Had my tiny IXUS and I was photographing the Mona Lisa and I remember Skip asking me about what I thought of the painting and her smile. I said I liked it and I remember doing some googling later and found a couple of really interesting pages (should have them somewhere - will try to find them).

Following this initial conversation it was easy for me to ask Skip whether I could take some photos of him in front of the painting. He was a more than willing performer. Bob was just there sitting on the step smoking a cigarette and they seemed to know each other.

For the closeup photo at the top of the page I remember being quite taken by his jacket (it was a hot mid-Spring day) and the large ring he had on is finger. So I just asked him to raise his hand to his sunglasses. I was happy with the result. I remember printing some of these photos and leaving an envelope with them (and some Mona Lisa related web pages) at the Church just around the corner in King Street.

This is the closest I have ever come to doing something like what LottieP does everyday at Sydney Spy (definitely one of my favourite blogs).

Should try to do more of this kind of photography. Skip was the one who engaged with me first - not sure that I could initiate the first contact to do this kind of portrait photography on the street. Though I should try to get out of my comfort zone a little.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Icarus - Paste Up - Newtown/Redfern (Dec 2010)

Icarus - Paste Up - Wilson Street / Newtown (Dec 2010)
This Paste-Up has been there for quite a while - it has virtually fallen apart. I have photographed it quite a few times over the last few months and there is another one in a small park off Little Eveleigh Street (see below). You can see the Green Bone Head I featured here recently (02 Dec 2010).

Each time I pass it, something has gone missing (i.e. various parts of her body) or there have been various additions via the caring use of coloured textas. She is now careful adorned with earrings and some more than necessary shoes.

I have had a lot fun watching and photographing this poster.

It has made me think about what may have inspired its creator to design this piece. For me, when I first saw it (it was the one in Little Eveleigh Street, which I pass it on the way to the gym), I instantly thought of Icarus of Greek Mythology fame. Icarus attempted to escape Crete using wings, made of feathers and wax, his craftsman father had made for him. Icarus did not heed his father's warnings to not fly too close to the sun or sea, and as a result of the wax melting from flying too close to the Sun, he plummetted to his death into the Icarian Sea.

The Myth has inspired many derivative works in all fields of the Arts, including a Poem by W. H. Auden, titled Musée des Beaux Arts (poem), which is named after the museum in Brussels that houses the painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

For some reason the Poem and Painting have made me think a lot about what has happened over the last year and a half. Hard to explain but there is something there, particularly the painting where one can barely make out the legs of Icarus just after his impact with the water.

Life goes on ...

[Thank you to LottieP for technical advice on Icarus, the Poem and Painting. The shoes are for you LottieP.]

Icarus - Paste Up - Wilson Street / Newtown (Dec 2010)

Icarus - Shoes - Paste Up - Wilson Street / Newtown (Dec 2010)

Icarus - Paste Up - Little Eveleigh Street / Redfern (Dec 2010)

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Musée des Beaux Arts (poem)
by W. H. Auden (1938).

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone by ThePoetryPost (06 Apr 2010)