Walker Evans - beauty in the mundane - Richard B. Woodward / William Meyers (Mon 19 Jul 2016)

portrait - Newtown (Fri 15 Jul 2016)

Richard B. Woodward on Walker Evans:

Walker Evans’s subjects were never sensational or celebrities—his genius was in his ability to exploit the medium’s natural bias, to find beauty in the mundane.

via ‘Walker Evans: Depth of Field’ Review: Unwinding the DNA of American Photography by William Meyers.

On Gary Winogrand - Sean O'Hagan (Thu 16 Oct 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Westminster Bridge (*) / London (Sun 14 Sep 2014)
Sean O'Hagan (*) writes on Gary Winogrand (*) and Street Photography (*) :

His subjects tend to stare back at his camera sadly or in a slightly bewildered fashion. Around them, the world tilts – the horizon line is seldom level – but there is always what might be called a Winograndian logic to his compositions, an instinctive grasp of the geometry of a good photograph. His interest was the rhythm of the streets and the people who created it.

via Garry Winogrand: the restless genius who gave street photography attitude (*) by Sean O'Hagan (*).

On Inspiration - Ellen Fisch (Tue 01 Jul 2014)

Architectural Detail - Sagrada Familia (*) / Barcelona (Thu 08 Aug 2013)

Ellen Fisch (*) writes Inspiration (*):

Inspiration (*) comes in many forms and from many sources. What I have learned (*) in doing architectural photography (*) is to be open to new ideas and to see the possibilities that present everywhere. [..] The ideas keep coming because inspiration (*) on its own may arrive in erratic bursts, but going after it consciously (*) day by day makes for a rewarding journey (*) and consistently better photography (*).

via In Photography, Inspiration is All Around You (*) by Ellen Fisch (*).

Gaudi (*) found inspiration in nature for much of his architectural detail. From his wikipedia page (*):

Gaudí's position in the history of architecture is that of a creative genius who, inspired by nature, developed a style of his own that attained technical perfection as well as aesthetic value, and bore the mark of his character.

Thanks Ellen for making this so clear.

On Persistence and Vincent van Gogh - Timothy Standring / NY Times (Sun 28 Oct 2012)

Vincent van Gogh - The Met / New York City (Mon 15 Aug 2011)
Timothy Standring on Vincent van Gogh and Persistence:

We all think he’s a genius, but he placed a lot of value on craftsmanship. When he started, he had no talent for drawing. If you look at his early drawings, they’re horrible. So how did he develop?”

The answer, Mr. Van Tilborgh said, was persistence. “If he couldn’t do it, he tried it 50 more times. He was one of those rare artists who had the energy to work through the fear of failure.

Via The Genius in us All (*) from New York Times (*).

Favourite Photos - Fowey Cornwall UK 2009 - Bookends of Fowey

Bookends of Fowey - Blue - Fowey / Cornwall (UK) - 09 Sep 2009 (picasa)
One my favourite photos from the trip to Europe in Aug/Sep 2009. Just a really simple photo that uses colour. I could not get my camera out fast enough when I saw the dog and it's blue vest with the blue walls of the Bookends of Fowey Bookshop.

Colour photographs have often been derided by the artists of the photographic community. A real photographer sees and shoots in black and white and the greyscales between (with a quick search I found this excellent blog post - Color Vs. Black and White by Do do doo Art Critique - yes there is more to it all than you think).

To me this photo shows the beauty and simplicity of colour photography. I also like the green fern pots in the top right and the image conforms to an old saying of my Grandmother - 'blue and green can't been without some white in between'

I love using my camera when traveling. After a few days you start to see as your camera would. You are the one who pushes the shutter. Scenes come and go - decisions are made in an instant or sometimes over a longer period - some situations and scenes you miss and some will be captured. Your eye is trained from all your past experiences using a camera as well as the knowledge you have gained from viewing other people's photos and paintings, as well as your readings on all things about photography. After a while you develop your own style and your eye is trained for the present moment to capture a photo using your photographic vision. The photo then becomes part of your future - this post being just one part of it for this particular photograph.

The theme of the past, present and future has come up a few times in the last 4 days. One from a quote from a photographer Nan Goldin from a TV Series titled The Genius Of Photography (better details here). A quote from Nan Goldin's experiences follows:

'As the memory of her sister started to become hazy, Goldin began to take pictures to preserve the present, and thus her fading memories of the past. She photographed her friends so she would never lose the memory of them, as had happened with her sister. Her photographs were her way of documenting their lives, and, in turn, her own.'

The other is from a blog post by Paul Coelho announcing the completion of his new book to be titled The Aleph (the title being inspired by a short story of the same name by Jorge Borges - English translation here). Paul Coelho writes about the book:

'Why did I take so long to write about this pilgrimage? Because it took me three full years to understand it. It is not a travel guide. Of course I describe what does it mean such a long trip in a train, but the main goal is the long trip to my soul, past, present and future.'

Definitely look forward to reading it when it is published here next year.

[Today - Saint Patrick's Day is my 30th Anniversary of employment. Like most anniversaries, I guess it is a day of reflecting on the past, present and future. I have been with the same company all that time - though it's name has changed 4 or 5 time and has become significantly smaller (gone from 13,000 to around 800 employee's). Obviously seen a lot of changes. I have learnt a lot and look forward to getting back to work in a week and a half, after a 3 month break.]