looking - Janet Sternburg / Eva Recinos (Fri 23 Dec 2016)

Window - Double Bay (Fri 16 Dec 2016)

Janet Sternburg on Looking:

take a second and look more closely at what you might take for granted every day.

via L.A.-Based Photographer Janet Sternburg Works Wonders With a Disposable Camera by Eva Recinos.

On Reflection - Joel Meyerowitz (Fri 16 Oct 2015)

Reflection - Mitchell Road / Alexandria (Thu 03 Sep 2015)

Joel Meyerowitz on Reflection:

Reflection; the act of, not the image of, is a way of reconsidering where we are in relation to reality. Reflecting pools have for a long time been places where one could contemplate the difference between the illusion and the real.

via On Reflection by Joel Meyerowitz.

On the Untalented - Oliver Burkeman (Tue 07 Oct 2014)

Gozo Ferry Window - Cirkewwa / Malta (Tue 23 Sep 2014)
Oliver Burkeman (*) writes on the Untalented (*):

The genuinely untalented [..] probably have no idea that they’re no good—because they’re too untalented to realize it. (This is the “Dunning-Kruger effect [..] ) In short: if you’re worried you don’t measure up, that could well be a sign that you do.

Maybe there is some hope:

The real trick to producing great work isn’t to find ways to eliminate the edgy, nervous feeling that you might be swimming out of your depth. Instead, it’s to remember that everyone else is feeling it, too. We’re all in deep water. Which is fine: it’s by far the most exciting place to be.

via Nobody Knows What The Hell They Are Doing (*) by Oliver Burkeman (*) [swissmiss (*)].

On Understanding and Expectation - Elvis Costello / Spectrum (Sat 31 Aug 2013)

A Door (*), A Window (*) - Red and Blue - Paddington / London (Sat 17 Aug 2013)
Elvis Costello (*) talks about musical creation (*):

We were somewhat free from expectations (*) because we didn't tell anybody we were doing it, because we didn't know (*) we were doing it ourselves at first.''

via Pump it up: How hip-hop seduced Elvis Costello (*) by Nick Miller (*).

Back home now. A fantastic trip (*) with many great moments and experiences. Not a natural traveller, but this trip I seemed to handle it all better than I ever have and was fully engaged in the moment, not feeling homesick and not wanting myself to be somewhere else.

Hardly gave my work, paddling or situation in life (my usual preoccupations) a thought. A usual thought was to try and understand a place, event or thing, not to judge or to wish it to be something I am familiar with. It is there for a reason, and if I could just understand it a little, then I might learn something about it, life, or even myself.

I also thought how lucky I was to able to do this, to have these experiences and this outlook on life.

Took over 10,000 photos and have much to look at and ponder over the next few months, in particular, and no doubt, for the rest of my life.

Some photos have been taken so I can remember a place, a moment, or a transientary thing - to give it a life beyond its time.

Some have been taken because something caught my eye - a colour, a combination of colours, lines, shadows or maybe just the quality of the light.

Others I think have been captured for reasons beyond my comprehension, just as Elvis explains above. Most of these photos will never be seen by another person and in some ways this relieves me of any expectation or what others might think, as the above quote so nicely demonstrates.

So if you think some of the photos that appear here are a little beyond comprehension, maybe you should be thankful that you don't see some of the others that will never seen by anyone other than me.

Thanks Elvis and Nick, a great interview which allowed me to learn something about myself, which is what great writing and its sharing is about.