Stance - Streetshooter (Wed 11 May 2016)

trees / rocks / shadows - Wilpena (Tue 12 Apr 2016)

Streetshooter on Stance:

I felt an energy come into me, not over me but into me. [..] What was born back then was not just me as a photographer but a photographer with a stance. I mean it gave birth to a realization of my own self worth. [..]

I don’t practice photography, I live it. I don’t just make photos, my photos define me as well. [..]

It requires a firm appreciation of the whole that we are and a total committed love of what we do and why we do it and how we do it.

via Streets of Phila … A Visual Diary … Page 76 … Unheard Voices … The Stance | Streetshooter by Streetshooter.

Perception - Colin Pantall (Tue 10 May 2016)

trees / water / reflection - Wilpena (Tue 12 Apr 2016)

Colin Pantall on Perception:

To open the doors of perception we need to go beyond this world. Which is not easy because it is familiar to us and provides a foundation for us. But if you really want to step beyond this world, all you have to do is step – and you are out.

via Photography Always Shows What We Already Think We Know by Colin Pantall.

On Tension - The Key to Extraordinary - Marie Laigneau / Dreams of aCity (Sat 18 Jul 2015)

Tree - Chippendale (Fri 31 Jul 2015)

Marie Laigneau on Photography and Tension:

Tension [..] is your storytelling ingredient: it opens the door to the imagination, the possible, the dream. It defies the predictable and the expected. It is your key to the extraordinary.

via Storytelling in street photography: Disrupting the harmony by Marie Laigneau.

On The Archive - John Gollings / Sian Johnson (Wed 09 Jul 2015)

Tree - Chippendale (Thu 09 Jun 2015)

John Gollings on the Archive:

I’ve got a pretty big archive of the last 30 or 40 years which will be historically valuable to future people. That’s something I’m proud of.

via Gollings on architecture and the image by Sian Johnson.

On Possibility and the Unknown - Spencer Lum / Forward and Open (Sat 04Jul 2015)

Tree - Chippendale (Mon 06 Jul 2015)

Spencer Lum on Possibility and the Unknown:

Possibility is fueled by the unknown.

The question is not whether it’s too much to give up your history. It’s whether you give up too much by holding on to it. How much of your future are you willing to sacrifice at the alter of the past?

via Don’t Trust Yourselves by Spencer Lum.

On Success - kottke (Thu 02 Jul 2015)

tree - Canberra (Sun 05 Aug 2002)

kottke on Success:

success requires struggle, failure, and a bit of stupidity...or if you want to be nice about it, a beginner's mind

via Letters to your younger self by kottke.

Ever the Beginner in Paddling and Life. Always Learning to Fly. And you would not want it any other way.

On Humility - Notes to Inspire (Thu 02 Jul 2015)

Trees splashed across a Water Canvas - Canberra (Sun 05 Aug 2002)

Notes to Inspire on Humility:

When we feel humiliated the best reaction is humility.

via Archive: Notes to Inspire by Notes to Inspire.

Good advice for someone who has spent his whole life feeling guilty about being alive, about his good fortune in life, to have felt the things he has felt, to have been to the places he has been, to have seen what he has seen - to have experienced life the way he has and hopes to have. Maybe these thoughts of guilt show a humility that I had not recognised in myself and that I should not feel guilty about that (guilt - it's an endless loop, you see :-)). It just might show a humbleness and a clarity of purpose on a life being well lived.

Not sure where these words came from and again they might appear a little self-indulgent for a so-called humble person. I love it when a few well crafted words, like those above by Notes to Inspire, take you on a small journey to a place you didn't even know a few minutes earlier. Thanks Notes to Inspire, I appreciate your daily emails and Words of Wisdom.

Trent Parke and The Black Rose - John McDonald / Spectrum / SMH (Sat 25Apr 2015)

Tunnel Creek - Tunnel Creek / WA (Sat 13 May 2001)

Tree - Tunnel Creek / WA (Sat 13 May 2001)

John McDonald on Trent Parke:

Parke is a storyteller, and the story is that of his own life captured as if in the fragments of a broken mirror

via Review: photographer Trent Parke's double shot of darkness by John McDonald.

Photo - The Black Rose / AGSA (Mon 23 Mar 2015)

On Editing - Stephen Gill (Wed 20 Aug 2014)

Tree - London Fields / Hackney / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Stephen Gill (*) writes Editing (*) and Overexposure (*):

I’m aware that you can look at things too much and you can kill them, like listening to your favourite record too much or eating your favourite food. We can absolutely kill the things we love by too much exposure to them.

via Studio Visit: Stephen Gill (*) by James Brown (*) via photographs on the brain (*).

On Photos and Process - Jörg Colberg (Tue 19 Aug 2014)

Water (*) (more (*)) and Trees (*) (more (*)) - Copenhagen (Fri 23 Aug 2013)
Jörg Colberg (*) writes on Photos (*) and Process (*):

At the end of the day, it should be about the pictures. [..]

So I look at the pictures first – are they any good? – and then at the process.

via On Process (Further Down the Rabbit Hole) (*) by Jörg Colberg (*).

My Genisis Photo - Bloody Gum - Royal National Park (Sun 28 Jan 2001)

Bloody Gum - Royal National Park (Sun 28 Jan 2001)
Chris Rainier (*) writes (*):

In every [photographer's] genesis (*) there is a point - an image - that we can look back on with the realisation that the photograph taken was a defining moment of internal creative clarity. My first image ...

... was the one above which I wrote about (*) just over three years ago (time does fly). It came from nowhere and was totally unexpected when I looked at it later on my monitor. It was at this point that I realised that photography was not only about capturing memories (*), which I have focused on a bit here lately. I learnt it could be about creating art, or at least creating something to look at and admire from out the ordinary and mundane. I love it and what photography can do a persons self worth and purpose. It has got me though some great times and more importantly some really hard times.

Untitled - Lisbon / Portugal (Wed 14 Aug 2013)

Untitled - Lisbon / Portugal (Wed 14 Aug 2013)

Flame Tree - Hyde Park / Sydney (Mon 10 Dec 2002)

Flame Tree - Hyde Park / Sydney (Mon 10 Dec 2002)
The Hyde Park Flame Trees are already in full blossom now. I can see them from my desk at work and I was reminded of this photo, which I have just dug out of the archives.

I remember that I had polarizing filter for my little IXUS. It was for a much larger lens and all I would do is place it over the IXUS lens and rotate it to get the maximum effect - usually that of turning up the contrast, which this photo effectively shows.

Tree - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park / Japan (Sun 16 Sep 2012)

Tree - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (*) / Japan (Sun 16 Sep 2012)
Maria Popova (*) writes (*):

I woke up this morning to discover a tiny birch tree rising amidst my city quasi-garden, having overcome unthinkable odds to float its seed over heaps of concrete and glass, and begin a life in a meager oasis of soil. And I thought, "my god", what a miracle. What magic. What a reminder that life does not await permission to be lived.

A beautiful tree grows just near the A-Bomb Dome (*), the Hypocenter (*) of the Nuclear Bomb (*). It was so peaceful in the canopy of this beautiful tree, which has grown out of the destruction of this incomprehendable event.

Tree - Yeouinaro / Seoul (Tue 11 Sep 2012)

Tree - Yeouinaro / Seoul (Tue 11 Sep 2012)

Trees - Between Fifth Station and 6th Step / Mt Fuji (Wed 19 Sep 2012)

Trees - Between Fifth Station and 6th Step / Mt Fuji (Wed 19 Sep 2012)
Trees (Detail) - Between Fifth Station and 6th Step / Mt Fuji (Wed 19 Sep 2012)

Hong Kong Colours #5 - Green - Kowloon / Hong Kong (Wed 12 Jul 2012)

Hong Kong Colours #5 - Green - Kowloon / Hong Kong (Wed 12 Jul 2012)

Trees and Water - Charles River Esplanade / Back Bay / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)

Charles River Esplanade - Back Bay / Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
One year today since I sat by the Charles River (*).

For some reason today, I am drawn to an inspired piece of recent writing (*) by Spencer Lum (*):

[..] if you’re willing to take a gamble, I’ll bet on you. If you’re willing to put it out there, if you’re willing to fail, if you’re willing to let go of it all, thumb your nose at the world, and do it your way, I’ll believe in you. You may not find what you want, but you’ll find what you need. Want is easily known, but need is a thing that only reveals itself in retrospect.

I have thought a lot about belief (*) and self-confidence recently, particularly after my little speech (*). Often it takes some time to have the confidence to believe in one self. Initially, more than not, the belief comes from others, those who support and love you for who you are.

It is only with time, experience and the support of those others who believe in you, that you can find your own self belief and you start say things to yourself like - yes, I can do that, you start finding reasons why you can, rather than you can't, and when you question yourself with why?, you are able to say well why not(*) - and it is then that things start to happen.

As time goes by, you become stronger, more independent and not afraid to give things a go, even if it means making mistakes or even failing. You know that the risk is worth the reward of at least trying, whatever the outcome. I think I even knew (*) this, one year ago today, when I sat beside the Charles River (*) - as I said back then, a week later (*):

I would still like to think that I am still a believer. After all three steps forward and two steps back is still a step in the right direction.

Thanks for believing Spencer.

Tree - Kowloon Cricket Club Park / Hong Kong (Thu 12 Jul 2012)

Tree - Kowloon Cricket Club Park / Kowloon (Thu 12 Jul 2012)
What's a trip without a photo of a tree.

Just stumbled across this park on the edge of the cricket field. Sat here under the cooling canopy of the trees for quite while. A beautiful quiet place to relax for a moment, yet only a block off the ever busy Nathan Road.

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.