On Black and White - Daido Moriyama

Hazelhurst Passageway - Monochrome - Gymea (Sat 08 Dec 2012)
Daido Moriyama (*) on Black and White:

Monochrome has stronger elements of abstraction or symbolism.

There is perhaps an element of taking you to another place.

Thats just the way I respond to things.

Black and white has that physical effect on me.

On Colour, he explains:

Colour is something more vulgar because the colour is making the decisions, it feels vulgar, and that seems to me to be the difference.

via Is Colour Vulgar? (Wed 05 Dec 2012) (*).

Hazelhurst Passageway - Colour - Gymea (Sat 08 Dec 2012)
Not exactly sure what he means by vulgar, but I think the above photos might help understand what he is trying to say, particularly about Black and White / Monochrome. I think colour creates different relationships in the photos where it is used effectively.

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.]

Favourite Photos: Sydney Life 2002 - Trent Parke - Photo in a Photo

Sydney Life: Trent Parke Photo - Hyde Park/Sydney - Mon 22 Sep 2002 (picasa)
Sydney Life (in 2002 and 2003 it was known as Sydney Looking Forward) is one of the Events of the Art and About Festival held now in October each year. Sydney Life is an outdoor exhibition of large scale images featuring the work of established photographers alongside work from some newer photographers (occasionally a no name like myself is selected, but this is very rare).

As the blurb says The real Sydney is revealed in the everyday and everynight, captured by the photograhic artsts who live here. - This truly diverse selection of photographs will intrigue, delight and inspire you as you wander along the leafy central walkway of Hyde Park North, and see Sydney as you haven’t seen it before.

The above photo is a photo of Trent Parke photo from the 2002 Sydney Life Exhibition (might have been the first Sydney Life, definitely the first one I viewed anyway). The large 3x2m canvas printed photos are hung along either side of the northern walkway of Hyde Park, just across from where I work. Took my little IXUS digital camera with me one overcast Monday lunch time. Was aware of the work of Trent Parke - he was recently selected as the first Australian photographer to become a member of the famous Magnum Photographic Cooperative.

In taking this photo I decided to hover a little and wait for someone to be in the photo with their back to me like the backpack guy in Trent's photo. Thought it would raise it above a mere record of this photo. This guy with cap was already looking at the photo and I waited and hoped that a few other onlookers would move on. There was a nice symmetery when the others left and I took my photo. The guy with cap looked around and spoke to me. He said he felt that he was in the photo - the white shirt guy in shorts next to the street sign. He said he often walks past that location (Corner Market and George Streets). I've looked at this photo quite a few times since and I often convince myself that he is actually the guy in the photo.

Funny how things work out with photos. Always liked the little story that goes with this photo. I would see him again a few months later one Saturday morning in King Street Newtown at a bus stop barely 5 metres out of image and to the right of this previously discussed Favourite Photo. I actually had a copy of the above photo in my backpack, but was too shy to give it to him. Have not seen him since.

The following year I considered entering this photo in the 2003 Sydney Life exhibition and Leigh Perry (Leigh: thanks for the comment below) photoshopped a great Black and White version for me as well as printing a couple of beautiful prints. Thought it would be funny to look at a photo of photo from the previous years exhibition like some kind of infinite loop. I have played around with the photo and converted it to black and white. Also did a collage of some of the photos from the exhibition.

Sydney Life: Trent Parke Photo (BW) - Hyde Park/Sydney - Mon 22 Sep 2002 (picasa)
Sydney Life: Picasa Collage - Hyde Park/Sydney - Mon 22 Sep 2002 (picasa)

On Black and White Photography - Mike Johnston (Sun 14 Mar 2014)

Rainbows everywhere - Alexandria (Sat 29 Mr 2014)
Mike Johnston (*) writes Black and White (*) and Colour (*):

doesn't everyone take it for granted that black and white is far richer, more communicative, and more nuanced as a medium for expressive photography than color is?

via What a Great Comment! (*) by Mike Johnston (*).

Favourite Photos - How much beauty in decay! - Hyde Park/Sydney - Dec 2001

Leaf - How much beauty in decay! - Hyde Park/Sydney - Wed 27 Dec 2001 (picasa)
A photo I took after work during the Christmas New Year period of 2001. Fires were burning all round Sydney and the sky was covered in smoke which resulted in a strange orange colour which can be seen in this photo. At the time I was reading much about photography and various photographers. This particular photo was inspired by Eliot Porter.

Eliot Porter was a photographer I found early on in my photography journey and self-education. It was easy to appreciate his work (google). He was a pioneer of colour photography (more here) and his life work was bequested to the Amon Carter Museum in 1990 shortly before he died (NYT Orbituary).

Not sure how I found him, but his name seems to appear whenever landscape photographers start talking about Colour Landscape Photography when compared to Black and White Landscape Photography, particularly that of Ansel Adams (looking at the size of the wikipedia entries, it is easy to see who was more popular both as a photographer and selection of photographic technique).

Found some interesting information about him searching the web (google). Also, found some of his books (along with those of Australia's own Peter Dombrovskis) in the National Library of Australia and would often take a look at them in NLA's reading rooms when in Canberra. Many of his photos resonated with my own vision and definitely influenced me when taking landscape (even streetscape and travel) photos, particularly in the Snow Mountains.

At the UNSW I found the book Eliot Porter: photographs and text (a great article) by Eliot Porter. Learnt a lot from the text and photos selected for the book. The following is a quote (see my photo.net page) from the book, which helped form my photographic vision ..

"It is the beauty of nature that I try to represent by photography. What this expression means to most people, I am quite sure, is such features as flowers of spring, autumn foliage, mountain landscapes, and many other similar aspects about aesthetic qualities of which no one would care to offer contradiction. That they are beautiful is indisputable, but they are not all that is beautiful about nature; in fact they are only the obvious and superficial aspects of nature - which anyone may observe with half and eye. They are the peaks and summits of nature's greatest displays. There is no doubt about their importance; they could not be dispensed with. Underlying and supporting these brillant displays are slow, quiet processes that pass almost unnoticed from season to season, unnoticed by those that think that beauty in natures is all its gaudy displays.

Much is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. Nature should be viewed without distinction. All her processes and evolutions are beautiful or ugly to the unbiased and indiscriminating observer. She makes no choice herself; everything that happens has equal significance. Nothing can dispensed with. This is a common mistake that many people make; they think that half of nature can be destroyed - the uncomfortable half - while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side; their idea is a paradise where nature stands still. Withering flowers blooming, death follows growth, decay follows death, and life follows decay - in a wonderful, complicated, endless web the beauties of which are manifest to a point of view attached to vulgar restricting concepts of what constitutes beauty in nature. Thoreau, who observerd all aspects of nature throughout his life, repeatedly remarked on the beauty of the unaccepted. 'How much beauty in decay!' he exclaimed on examining a worm-eaten leaf. To him the sere, brown leaves of winter were as beautiful as the fresh green of spring. This was a principle that has remained important for me throughout my career."

A fairly long quote, but for me was definitely something worth remembering.

This link provides a great summary of the life and works of Eliot Porter. I like the ending quote ..

The final paragraphs on the art of photography touch on his views to color, composition and emotional content of his images:

"Sensitivity cannot be faked by trickor devise; it has no substitute, and any attempt to replace it with mechancial contrivances is certain to be apparent to the more discerning critics. Not all photographs have to be inspired to be worth making, but the best, rare photographs are the result of a a force at least very close to inspiration. Formulized work becomes impersonal, an all the individuality of authorship tends to disappear. It unquestionably has its uses, but it is not art."

The book itself echoes Porter's ability to redact nature's chaos into a single harmonious image, and is a well-deserved tribute to this pioneer of color nature photography.

The following was one of my favourite Eliot Porter photos:

Pool in a Brook, Brook Pond/New Hampshire by Eliot Porter - 04 Oct 1953 (Carter Museum)
I recently thought of Eliot Porter and the above photo, when I took the following photo during the 2010 Ord River Marathon:

Ord River Reflections - 2010 Ord River Marathon - Sun 14 Jun 2010

It's not about the Paddle

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE – LANCE ARMSTRONG

I read the following extract to Jenny twice while she was in Hospital in June 2009. The first time was two days after the surgery to remove a 4cm brain tumor. She listened intently - like a small child being read a fairy tale - while I struggled to remain composed, as I read it to her.

Jenny - St George Private Hospital - Sun 22 Jun 2009 (picasa)
The second time was in the Intensive Care Unit at St George following her "heart failure" episode 6 days earlier (Tue 23 Jun 2009) – a day before she left us on the 30 Jun 2009 at 9:16am. I think and hope she heard me. This little story for me is the essence of the Book, a book she treasured, and ultimately it reads as a "prophecy" for what would unfold in Prague in late August 2009 for Joanne and myself - hope this makes sense .. Geoff

Jenny, Joanne and Geoff - St George ICU - Sun 28 Jun 2009 (picasa)

IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE – LANCE ARMSTRONG

If there is a defining characteristic of a man as opposed to a boy, maybe it's patience. In 1995, I finally gained an understanding of the demanding nature of the Tour [de France] and all of its extraordinary tests and dangers. I finished it, and I finished strong, winning a stage in the closing days. But the knowledge came at too high a price, and I would just as soon not have learned it the way I did.

Late in the race, our Motorola teammate, Fabio Casartelli, the 1992 Olympic champion, was killed on a high-speed descent. On a descent, you ride single file, and if one rider goes down, it can cause a terrible chain reaction. Fabio didn't crash alone; 20 riders went down with him. But he hit a curb with the back of his head and fractured his neck and skull.

I went by too fast to see much. A lot of riders were down, and everybody was crouched around someone lying on the ground, but you see that sort of thing a lot in the Tour. It was only a while later that I learned via the team radio what had happened: Fabio was dead. When they tell you something like that, you almost don't believe it.

It was one of the longest days of my life. Fabio was not only the young hope of Italian cycling, he was a new husband and a new father. His baby was just a month old.

Jenny and Geoff - Cape Leveque - 9 May 2001 (picasa)
We had to keep riding, to finish the stage even though we were distraught and sick with shock. I had known Fabio since I first started racing internationally in '91. He lived right outside of Como where I kept my apartment, and we had competed against each other at the Barcelona Olympics in '92, when he won the gold medal. He was a very relaxed, fun-loving man, a little goofy, a joker. Some of the top Italians were more serious, or macho, but Fabio wasn't like that. He was all sweetness.

That night we had a Motorola team meeting to discuss whether we should keep riding or not. We were split. Half of us wanted to quit and go home and cry with our families and friends, and half of us wanted to keep riding in honor of Fabio. Personally, I wanted to stop; I simply didn't think I had the heart to ride a bike. It was the first time I had encountered death, and genuine grief, and I didn't know how to handle it. But then Fabio's wife came to see us, and she said she wanted us to keep riding, because she felt that was what Fabio would have wanted. So we sat in the grass behind the hotel, said a few prayers, and decided to stay in.

Me and my Shadow - "an early start for the first day of the rest of my life" - 7am Wed 01 Jul 2009 (picasa)
The next day the peloton rode in honor of Fabio, and gave our team a ceremonial stage victory. It was another long, terrible day— eight hours on the bike, with everybody grieving. The peloton did not race. Instead we rode in quiet formation. It was virtually a funeral procession, and at last our team rode across the finish line, while, behind us, Fabio's bike was mounted atop the support car with a black ribbon.

The following morning we began the race again in earnest, and rode into Bordeaux. Next was a stage into Limoges, and that night, Och came around to our rooms and told the team that Fabio had had two goals in the Tour: he wanted to finish the race, and he especially wanted to try to win the stage into Limoges. As soon as Och stopped speaking I knew that if Limoges was the stage Fabio had wanted to win for himself, now I wanted to win it for him, and that I was going to finish the race.

About halfway through the next day's stage, I found myself grouped with 25 guys at the front - Indurain was in the yellow leader's jersey, riding at the back. I did what came most naturally to me: I attacked.

The problem was, I attacked too early, as usual. I went with 25 miles still to go, and on a downhill portion. Two things you never do: attack early, and on a downhill. But I went so fast on that downhill that I had a 30-second lead in a finger-snap. The other riders were completely taken aback. I could feel them wondering, What's he thinking?

What was I thinking? I had looked back, and saw guys were riding along, with no particular ambition. It was a hot day, and there was no incentive to pull hard, everyone was just trying to get closer to the finish line where the tactics would play out. I glanced back, and one guy was taking a sip of water. I glanced back again. Another guy was fixing his hat. So I took off. Peoooo. I was gone.

When you have 15 other guys back there from 15 different teams, they'll never get organized. They'll look at each other and say: You pull. No, you pull! So I went, and I went faster than I'd ever ridden. It was a tactical punch in the face, and it had nothing to do with strength or ability; everything depended on the initial shock and separation. It was insane, but it worked.

IDBF Senior Mixed 500m Final - 200m to go - "The Break" - "It was insane, but it worked" – Prague/Racice - Day 4 - 29 Aug 2009
Nobody got within 55 seconds of me again. The team support car kept coming up and giving me reports. Henny Kuiper, our team director, would say, "You're thirty seconds up." Then a few minutes later he'd come alongside again and say, "You're forty-five seconds up."

When he came up the third or fourth time, I said, "Henny, don't come up here anymore. I'm not getting caught."

"Okay, okay, okay," he said, and faded behind my wheel.

I didn't get caught.

I won by a minute, and I didn't feel a moment's pain. Instead I felt something spiritual; I know that I rode with a higher purpose that day. Even though I had charged too early, I never suffered after I broke away. I would like to think that was Fabio's experience too; he simply broke away and separated from the world. There is no doubt in my mind that there were two riders on that bike. Fabio was with me.

Senior Mixed 500m Final - "Instead I felt something spiritual; I know that I rode with a higher purpose that day." Lance A - "Don't Wonder 'What If?'" Jenny P – Prague/Racice - Day 4 - 29 Aug 2009
I felt an emotion at the finish line that I've never experienced again. I felt I was winning for Fabio and his family and his baby, and for the mourning country of Italy. As I came across the line I glanced upward and I pointed to the heavens, to Fabio.

World Champs - Australian Senior Mixed 500m Team - "As I came across the line I glanced upward and I pointed to the heavens" Lance A – Prague/Racice - Day 4 - 29 Aug 2009

After the Tour, Och had a memorial built for Fabio. He commissioned a sculptor from Como to execute a work in white Carrara marble. The team flew in from all over the world, and we gathered at the top of the mountain for the placement of the memorial and the dedication ceremony. The memorial had a sundial on it that shone on three dates and times: his birthday, the day he won the Olympic Games, and the day he died.

Geoff and Joanne at Fabio’s Memorial - we stumbled upon it by complete accident – Col de Portet d'Aspet - Thu 24 Sep 2009 [1] (picasa)
I had learned what it means to ride the Tour de France. It's not about the bike. It's a metaphor for life, not only the longest race in the world but also the most exalting and heartbreaking and potentially tragic. It poses every conceivable element to the rider, and more: cold, heat, mountains, plains, ruts, flat tires, high winds, unspeakably bad luck, unthinkable beauty, yawning senselessness, and above all a great, deep self-questioning. During our lives we're faced with so many different elements as well, we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope. The Tour is not just a bike race, not at all. It is a test. It tests you physically, it tests you mentally, and it even tests you morally.

I understood that now. There were no shortcuts, I realized. It took years of racing to build up the mind and body and character, until a rider had logged hundreds of races and thousands of miles of road. I wouldn't be able to win a Tour de France until I had enough iron in my legs, and lungs, and brain, and heart. Until I was a man. Fabio had been a man. I was still trying to get there.

[1] I would like to think the two shadows on the “Wings” of the Memorial represent the spirit of Jenny and her life as a twin with Joanne.. There we are, Joanne and I, counterpoised by the twin shadows of the Joanne and Jenny. Jenny overlooks us and is there with us, Always.

Jenny - "looking out over us - she inspires and guides us from above" - Geoff E - Wolfe Creek Crater, WA - 22 May 2001"

Jenny, Geoff, Joanne - St George - 22 Aug 2006

On Photography and Ambiguity - Streetshooter (Thu 29 Oct 2015)

Shroud of Erskine Creek - Water - Erskine Creek / Mount Gower / Lord Howe Island (Mon 22 Oct 2001)

Streetshooter on Photography and Ambiguity:

The thing is, to have all three elements of the self - find and realize your intent. The Eye, Heart and Mind work together to find the subject and realize the intent. The entire process from start to finish is ambiguous and should be allowed to remain that way.

via Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 28 … Street … Deciphering and Realizing Intent by Streetshooter.

Our group stopped here about half way up Mount Gower to rest and to refuel for the second and more difficult half of our ascent of Mount Gower. For some reason I made a photo of the water with the reflection of the over head canopy and shafts of light breaking through. It was just a photo of the water, I thought. When I saw this photo on my computer screen a few weeks later, I decided it would look better in Black and White and made the transformation. In doing so a beautiful women revealed herself out of the relections in the water. I hope you can see her. Not everyone can. For me I see photos and I see people in photos.

The words Ambiguity and Uncertainity are interesting words. Closely related but very different. I think I can understand and feel the difference. Hence I would like to substitute the word ambiguous above with uncertain. I'm not exactly sure as I feel the word ambiguity has quite a few shades of meaning in that it can be difficult thing or a good thing depending on the context of its application. Post inspired by a engaging discussion with Carla. Thanks Carla.

Photos: Sydney Life 2010 (24 Sep 2010)

It's that time of the year where the northern walkway of Sydney's Hyde Park becomes an outdoor gallery for 22 large scale 3x2m canvas printed photographs. The exhibition is now called Sydney Life and is part of the month long Art and About Festival. The exhibition has been held annually since at least 2002 (that is my first recollection at least). Unfortunately, the web site for each years exhibition is overwritten by the coming years exhibition. Would be nice if there was a permanent archive, though I do have the programmes for each years selection.

Collage - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010
On the afternoon of the second day of the exhibition (Fri 24 Sep 2010) I took a wander along the walkway to see what had been selected for this years exhibition. It was not a surprise to see Tamara Dean and Dean Sewell featuring again with another couple of stunning photos.

I always photograph all the photos in position in the Park, and this year I used my iPhone and sent the photos to a folder in my picasa account.

I often think some photos have been selected because they fit so well into the location and the framing each position along the walkway provides. In the morning the photos along the eastern walkway are backlit and in the afternoon the west side photos are backlit.

Lynn Smith's photo of an abandoned Industrial Warehouse seems to be beautifully framed by the branches of the trees in the backgound. They interact with the rafters on the warehouse's roof.

The Judges choice for this year exhibition was Nick May's black and white photo of a Bondi beach scene. They said:

"It was a difficult choice for the judges with many fine photographs to choose from but we were drawn to Nicholas May's timeless and unforgettable image showing Sydney as an almost mythic place of relaxation on Australia Day. It's a sculptural, deeply unsentimental observation of Australians at play and the cultural ambiguities found on Sydney's most famous beach."

Apart from Lynn Smith's photo, I also enjoy James Hill's elevated view of the Five Ways in Paddington using a large format camera. There is a lot going on in the photo and I will go back to look at it in more detail.

Finally, I think Tamara Dean's photo, The Pack, from her Series This Too Shall Pass is a beautifully delicate photo, which is a signature element in many of her photos. Must admit I don't really understand it, but it is beautiful to look at in the afternoon before the sun disappears early behind the city sky line. It really did stand out.

Will take a walk to see what the light does to the photos in the morning.

[Post note: A great article on last year's Sydney Life - Sydney Life, 1 October 2009 - not obvious which photographer it was who put this together. Would like to see the documentary. ]

Proof Sheet - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Nick May - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Geoff Harvey - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

James Hill - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Lynn Smith (flickr) - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Paris Spellson - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Tamara Dean (more) - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Gregory McBean - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Tom Williams - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Steve Christo - Sydney Life 2010 - Hyde Park/Sydney - Fri 24 Sep 2010

Follow Your Own Path - David Brooks / NYT (Wed 27 Jun 2012)

"Black Abstraction" Abstraction - Georgia O'Keefe - The Met / New York (Mon 15 Aug 2012)
David Brooks makes some interesting observations (*) about growing up, locality and following your own path:

Don't try to be everyman. Don't pretend you're a member of every community you visit. Don't try to be citizens of some artificial globalized community. Go deeper into your own tradition. Call more upon the geography of your own past. Be distinct and credible. People will come.

On Black Abstraction (*) - I had known of Georgia O'Keefe through her relationship with Alfred_Stieglitz (*) (I have a book on his life, but can't remember it's title or where it is now). When I walked into the Gallery Hall with her paintings, I knew I would spend some time there. There were many colourful paintings of abstract views of flowers, desert scenes and buffalo skulls. Black Abstraction caught my gaze and I just stood in front of it and thought of many things. Maybe I thought the dark painting reflected how I felt after recent experiences.

Becoming a little abstract and self absorbed (as i do this time of the year). The path through the painting represented my journey since Jenny left us and I had become stuck (*) in this place (I had known this for some time). The little bright white dot gave me hope that there was something still inside me and all it would take was a small sign to get me on my way again. Funnily enough, it would come two days later on a Subway Train. It was such a tiny gesture (*) by a complete stranger.

Maybe the importance to me of such a tiny and simple gesture, indicated how low I had sunk in my journey in life without Jenny there beside me. I don't know really, like most things. Anyway I did like the painting and I am glad this post gave me the opportunity to put the photo here and to research it's background a little more.

To finish, I love this quote by Georgia O'Keefe on Abstraction:

Abstraction is often the most definite form for the intangible thing in myself that I can only clarify in paint.

Maybe I could say the same thing except apply it to photography, as my words seem totally inadequate to describe where I have been, what I have felt and where I think I am heading.

On Photography - I love to make portraits - Kirk Tuck (Fri 07 Dec 2012)

Grandpa (Eric) [1] - John Sharman (*) Gallery / Mogo (Sun 07 Dec 2003)
Kirk Tuck (*) writes about the beauty the wonderful relationship he has with photography in (*):

I love to make portraits.

I love that not all of my subjects are required to smile.

I love that we can spend time talking about life while we're making portraits.

I love to work in black and white but I don't fear color.

I love light that can be both dramatic and flattering.

I love the contrast of dark shirts against light skin.

I love longish lenses and continuous lights.

I love going back and looking at old contact sheets to look at the "paths" not taken and then re-scanning and reprinting to see if my tastes have grown or changed since we last peeked into the contact sheets and made our choices.

Another amazing piece of writing about photography by a professional photographer. Got to love that. Thanks Kirk.

[1] Random Recollection - This is a photo of my Grandfather (my Father's Father). My brother, along with my Aunt took him on a drive and at my Aunt's suggestion we ended up at John Sharman's Art Gallery. My Aunt knows him well and she has a few of his paintings. John had also made some paintings from the cliff on the edge of my Grandfathers property at Malua Bay. One of the paintings is the unframed painting behind my Grandfather. This is a nice reminder of my childhood days spend at Malua Bay with my Grandparents.

I have a few more portraits from that day which I will publish here at some stage.

Walking the Dog - Stuyvesant Square / Lower East Side / New York (Thu 18 Aug 2011)

Walking the Dog - Stuyvesant Square (*) / Lower East Side / New York (Thu 18 Aug 2011)
Walking the Dog - Stuyvesant Square (*) / Lower East Side / New York (Thu 18 Aug 2011)
A little exposure trick to make the dog glow - was reminded of a Trent Park photo (*), particularly when it is converted to black and white.

A beautiful small park just to the east of it's bigger and more well known neighbours - Washington Square and Union Square. Not many people here and the lady walking her dog was one of the few I saw. Definitley a park for the locals. I sat here for an hour or so in the shade of some trees. It was hot and I was sweating, and it was not long before I nodded off into a dreamy sleep. It hardly seems a year ago.

Pavement Stencil - Houston St / SoHo / New York (Thu 18 Aug 2011)

Pavement Stencil - Houston St / SoHo / New York (Thu 18 Aug 2011)
The decayed black bubble gum markings above his head (and elsewhere) become part of the black spray paint, while the cigarette butt makes us realise the photo is colour and not black and white (which we would otherwise think).

With Erica - Breakfast - Glebe Deli (Thu 17 May 2012)

With Erica (1 of 2) - Breakfast - Glebe Deli (Thu 17 May 2012)
With Erica (2 of 2) - Breakfast - Glebe Deli (Thu 17 May 2012)
Erica is my Aunty and was my Father's younger sister. She lives just outside of Batemans Bay and owns and operates a 2nd Hand Book Store called the Batehaven Book Exchange (*). She is in Sydney for some medical scans and arrived in from Perth yesterday after spending a week with her 3 week old Grandson, Alex.

Not exactly High Tea at the Ritz (where I am constantly reminded that my late younger brother Tim took her) but the Glebe Cafe is my favourite cafe at the moment. Due to the scans, vegemite on white toast and black tea for Erica today. She loves animals and books, and tells a great story and never forgets a fact or detail. She is the Family Historian on my Father's side of the Family.

Good Luck with the scans Aunty Erica.

New series, titled and labelled With (*), of portrait photos of family and friends as I sit across from them at local cafes and restaurants. Will try to use my Canon S95 with available light.

Geographe Bay - Water - Busselton Jetty / WA (Tue 13 Apr 2004)

Geographe Bay - Water - Busselton Jetty / WA (Tue 13 Apr 2004)
Love the colour (though I have pushed it pretty hard) and the layers on this one. The wind swept water is very subtle on the original photo and is more noticeable in a coming black and white version.

Discipline - Fawzan Husain / Anahita Panicker (Thu 14 Jul 2016)

waterfall - black and white - Wentworth Falls / Blue Mountains (Tue 12 Jul 2016(

Fawzan Husain on Discipline:

I want to bring in the discipline of the art and essentially want them to include the five Ws (what, why, where, when, who) in their pictures. So many narratives are often overlooked in this frenzy of shooting unnecessary, mundane things. And many times we don’t concentrate on the things we should actually be looking at.

via Street-savvy photography by Anahita Panicker.

Monochrome - Eric Kim (Wed 18 May 2016)

grass tree - Wilpena (Tue 12 Apr 2016)

Eric Kim on Monochrome:

I find myself shooting more black and white recently is because I feel that there is some sort of aesthetic beauty and bliss that comes from the simplicity of a monochromatic image

via In Praise of Shadows in Photography by Eric Kim.

Blooming (Colour) - Alexandria (Fri 30 Nov 2012)

Blooming (Colour) - Alexandria (Fri 30 Nov 2012)
A colour version of previous black and white conversion (*).

Red and Blue on White - Calle de Santa Isabel / Madrid (Sun 11 Aug 2013)

Red and Blue on White - Calle de Santa Isabel / Madrid (Sun 11 Aug 2013)
Spent the afternoon at the Museo del Prado (*) and was overloaded with masterpieces from through the centuries.

Francisco Goya (*) was my highlight. His The Dog (*) from the Black Paintings (*) being my favourite. As Robert Hughes said We do not know what it means, but its pathos moves us on a level below narrative.

After the Museum closed, I strolled through the nearby Park, I then wandered the back streets near our Hotel and stumbled across some more recent works (as can be seen above) on the streets of Madrid, not too far from where Goya created his own works over 200 years ago.

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).

Freedom, Light and Photography - Catherine Opie (Mon 20 Jun 2016)

red, white and black - Vivid 2016 - Sydney Opera House (Sat 18 Jun 2016)

Catherine Opie on Freedom:

I can pretty much do whatever I want, because I’ve always understood what light and photography do together

via An inconvenient vision by Anne Marie Burke.