Have followed Anne's words and photos for a long time. I see shades of my own vision in her photos and her words are ever inspiring for someone who struggles with words - they are so hard to find for me. I suspect I am more visual than verbal. Thanks for putting it all so nicely Anne.
She was a servant of her talent (*), compelled to use her servitude (*) to make what she needed to make. [..]
Bells go off when you look at her pictures; you become witness to something big. Proust talked of "the apogee of the particular." That's here. This gives Maier's work psychological and philosophical force, something deeply observant. At the same time, she also has an outsider's (*) view of the world. She's one who watches, silently observes (*), is alert to the tiniest disturbance in the visual or psychic field. [..] The valor of being alive comes into focus.
via Jerry Saltz on Finding Vivian Maier: An Invisible Artist and the Man Who Found Her (*) by Jerry Saltz (*).
The beauty of art is, we are all in the same boat in the same place and yet those true to heart see things differently and attempt to make their art more of themselves then of and for anyone else.
This victory has cost him anxious moments, nights racked with doubt, endless days of waiting. Since ancient times, celebrating a triumph has been part of the ritual of life itself: celebration is a rite of passage.
His companions see the warrior of light's joy and think: 'Why is he doing that? He might be disappointed in his next battle. He might draw down on himself the wrath of his enemy.'
But the warrior knows why he is celebrating. He is savouring the best gift that victory can bring: confidence.
He celebrates yesterday's victory in order to gain more strength for tomorrow's battle.
The above passage now makes me realise why we should celebrate our little successes and achievements - it is not just about celebrating the victory!!
Jenny - she has just been presented with 2006 Aus Flag Bearer Recognition Trophy (Macau 2006 - a story for another day) - Kawana - 23 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Hard to believe that 12 months has almost gone by since the 2009 AusDBF National Dragon Boat Titles at Kawana. As we go through the final selection process and complete our final training sessions, I guess it is a good time to reflect on past experiences.
We did have a great time at the 2009 Nationals and it was fantastic that Jenny was with us. The day before we flew to the Sunshine coast, Jenny had her 5th cycle of fortnightly treatment (chemo and another drug, Avastin) and was still able to paddle for her State and Club over the Regatta. She did experience numerous visual migraines at night, which a month later would be diagnosed as being caused by a 4cm brain tumor. She also worried that the tumors in her liver would cause painful cramping in her stomach, but this did not occur while she was paddling.
Jenny, Geoff and Joanne - State - Kawana - 23 Apr 2009 (picass)
Jenny, Jo and Geoff - 200m Men's and Women's Tropy's - Breakfree Resort/Caloundra - 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
The following is a small photo essay of the "9 from 9" effort by my club, the Pacific Dragons. This result was never expected and we took it one race at a time. Each day the Women's Crew would put the race of a lifetime on the water in the final and somehow come across the line first. This then put the pressure on the Men's crew to do the same. A few strategic words, a couple of calming and distracting jokes, and the moving story of brave little Tommy , from Gav would get us on the water to do the best we could. The rest is now history.
Gav gave Eugene (my seat 1 partner) and myself, the great honour of receiving the last club trophy to be presented at the Regatta. It was an amazing moment for Eugene and I, as we held aloft the Gold Medals and 200m Open's Winning Trophy. The assembled Australian Dragon Boat Community stood and applauded the amazing and historic achievement of our club, the Pacific Dragons. I had never seen anything like it and was humbled by the genorosity of spirit the Australian Dragon Boat community displayed that day to our Coaches, Teams, and Club.
All the best to every competing at the 2010 AusDBF National Dragon Boat Championships in Adelaide over the Anzac Weekend. Look forward to some great racing and catching up with many friends, and hopefully making some new friends on and off the water.
See you in Adelaide. Jenny's Spirit and Memory will be with us. She Guides and Inspires us from Above.
PD's Premier Open 200m Final - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Premier Opens 200m Final - AusDBF 2009 National Dragon Boat Champs - Kawana/Qld - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (at youtube by warwick27au)
The smile says it all - "9 from 9" - tidying up the Cox Vox cable after the Premier Open 200m Final - Anne would ask me to come and celebrate with the Team off the water - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Eugene and Geoff - Premier Open 200m Presentation - "PD's - nine from nine !! - I did not really want this weekend to end as I kind of knew the end was beginning to start (Editors: An End has a Start)." - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
The Australian Dragon Boat Community acknowledging Pacific Dragons "9 from 9" - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
Lost in the Crowd - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2009 (picasa)
PD's Premier Open Men - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Pacific Dragons - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
The Orange Wave - Gav Crowd Surfing - Just go with it Gav - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Joanne, Helen, Jenny and Nicola - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Joanne, Jenny and Geoff - After Party Celebration - Kawana - Sun 26 Apr 2010 (picasa)
Bank of America - Red, White and Blue- 42nd Street / New York (Sat 13 Aug 2011)
I think he was trying to get a photo of her with the Chrysler Building (*) in the background. Just liked the colours and I had been trying to photograph pairs of people (*) - just visual game while traveling.
Memories of Jenny - The Time of Your Life (youtube)
As many of you will know, I have another obsession in my life beyond paddling - Photography.
I started out buying a small digital camera for our Dec 2000 trip to the Cook Islands to visit Jenny and Jo's Meditation teacher, Barbara, who had moved there to help setup a refuge for women . We didn’t know a thing about paddling back then.
I had bought the camera hoping I would be able to capture our memories. It was a tiny digital camera by today’s standards, 1 Mega Pixel and it cost $1600 duty free and a 64 MB compact flash memory cost more than $300.
I did not flinch and I thought it was all worth it, as my credit card was swiped at Ted’s Pitt Street Camera Store the day before we flew out. 15 years later I can tell you here that it was one of the best things I ever did.
My motivation for the camera came from that fact that Jenny had 11 tumours in her lungs and I did not really know how long we would have together. In the end we had just over 9 years of married life. Given Jenny’s condition, a miracle really ..
We were married on 30th April of that Sydney Olympic year and we honeymooned on Lord Howe Island for 10 glorious days in May 2000. Jenny had a film camera and she took many photos.
On our return flight to Sydney, I remember a conversation we had at the Departure Terminal with an older couple from Whyalla who congratulated us on our marriage. We had briefly met them at dinner at one of the small restaurants on the Island.
They told us they had been married for many years and the trip to Lord Howe Island was a way of creating another experience in life and expanding their memories. Better than [running a busy business or] sitting at home and watching the Telly, they said.
This conversation and piece of simple worldly wisdom has stuck with me and I remind myself of it constantly. It was my main motivation to buy that small expensive digital camera for our December 2000 trip to the Cook Islands.
I took many photos that trip to Cook Islands, even of the Outrigger Canoes on the shore of Muri Lagoon - we had no idea what they were – who would guess our future.
Shortly after our return, Jenny and Jo found Dragon Boating. And over the ensuing years many experiences and memories were created, dutifully captured by our cameras.
I documented the many dragon boat campaigns here and abroad, and ensuing holidays that followed each event.
In the process of this documenting I came to realise the power of photography, not only its visual power, but its ability to record our experiences and remind us of things we have done and who we were. We were doing selfies before the term was even invented. We called them “Holdouts” and I think this might be the main cause of Jo’s shoulder injury.
In those last few weeks at St George Hospital in Jun 2009, I captured the last moments of our lives together. They are the best I ever made.
After Jenny’s passing, It took me a while to pick up a camera again. I had lost my purpose and will. I was hurting and numb all at once but paddled through for a year or two – it helped a lot to be busy and in the company of friends. New experiences were created and I even smiled [for] a little [while].
Lost in the enormity of what had happened so quickly, though it was not a surprise, I found my first moments of comfort and hope, when I decided to start looking at some of the photos from our lives together. It made me cry, but it also made me smile. I was so happy that I had this archive of bits and bytes to remind me of Jenny, Joanne, myself and who we were.
It was only after Jo told me to organise my photos and my Mum said I should start making photos again, that I started to move forward. I was completely broken but I took up their advice and kept myself busy again, organising and photographing again. I am still broken but I live with it better now, it is part of me and who I will always be, but I am happy, optimistic, naïve and creating more experiences.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that we have to go out there and make our memories through the experiences we create for ourselves.
In our lives we have loss, grief and bereavement. It is a part of living. You make a choice when it knocks on your door. And we have chosen to live in the Afterglow of our loss of Jenny – to remember and honour and be guided and inspired. Accept it and live with it and make the most of it, even let it inspire and motivate you. And that is what Jo and I have done, I would like to think.
“Believe in Hope” as the graffiti’ed wall in Cleveland Street said for a few weeks in July 2015.
Believe in Hope - Cleveland Street / Chippendale (Wed 29 Jul 2015)
Seven year ago today.
We remember Jenny. She (as they all do) lives on through our memories.
Lifesavers Bondi Beach - Marco Bok / Sydney Life 2012 - Hyde Park / Sydney (Sat 13 Oct 2012)
Sandy Edwards talks about Marco Bok's (*) Photo - Lifesavers Bondi Beach. Candid photo of a lifesaving exercise. From a large unpublished series on Bondi Beach made whilst living there..
More details here (*) where Robert McFarlane (*) writes:
[..] Bok possesses a visual grammar with its own emotional, intimate nature. [..] his capacity to work close to his subjects, establishing an intimacy both delicate and revealing, that marks him as a significant artist.
Intersection - S Ashley St / Tampa (Mon 08 Aug 2011)
Walking back to the Hotel at the end of the last day of the Regatta, I saw this scene and captured this photo. To me it marked the end of the campaign (*) and maybe the directional arrows on the road meant something to me as I pondered the reality of my experience in Tampa.
Almost 3 months later I have had plenty of time to reflect on my - our - experience and I move forward enjoying my paddling.
I just read the following quote by Kirk Tuck (*) in a great article (*) about doing the things you love ..
Intention? That has to come from you. But I would suggest that, as a functional person, you no doubt find things in life that spark you up. Give you pleasure, satisfaction, happiness. That inflate your will to live. Distill down to those things and make them the base of your art. Then the intention will drive everything else.
From Developing muscle memory and fluid technique is almost as important as developing a sense of purpose (Kirk Tuck - Wed 28 Sep 2009) (*).
It is a great article (*) from a great blog - The Visual Science Blog / Kirk Tuck (*). Not a bad way to look at things.
Photography is one of the seductive means of making memories. So I wonder why many aren’t aware that they are making memories. [..]
What’s really going on is that you are making memories and maybe just maybe those photos will have importance to someone. [..]
[during the Vietnam War] I became acutely aware that photography is about memories. It’s about other shit too, but memories are the main source of image information transference.[..]
See, they are not just my memories. [..] All will be forgotten of the pain that still hurts 45 years later.
The very reason I bought a small digital camera in Dec 2000. And just as important as recording memories, you need to make the memories happen. You have to live while you can. And we did just that. Thanks Jenny and Jo.
Memories of Jenny - The Time of Your Life (youtube)
This is my 2000th post here at eljeiffel.
I always try to write something for the Annual Presentation of the Inspire Award. Most times it is just for me, but sometimes I share it with a few people.
So here it is, unedited from the time it was written on the evening of Fri 27 Aug 2015. I think it is a pretty good way to mark the milestone.
As many will know, I have another obsession in my life - Photography.
I started out buying a small digital camera for our Dec 2000 trip to the Cook Islands to visit Jenny and Jo's Meditation teacher, Barbara, who had moved there to help setup a refuge for women . We didn’t know a thing about paddling back then.
I had bought the camera hoping I would be able to capture our memories. It was a tiny digital camera by today’s standards, 1 Mega Pixel and it cost $1600 duty free and a 64 MB compact flash memory cost more than $300.
I did not flinch and I thought it was all worth it, as my credit card was swiped at Ted’s Camera Store the day before we flew out. 15 years later I can tell you here that it was one of the best things I ever did.
My motivation for the camera came from that fact that Jenny had 11 tumours in her lungs and I did not really know how long we would have together. In the end we had just over 9 years of married life. Given Jenny’s condition, a miracle really ..
We were married on 30th April of that Sydney Olympic year and we honeymooned on Lord Howe Island for 10 glorious days in May 2000. Jenny had a film camera and she took many photos.
On our return flight to Sydney, I remember a conversation we had at the Departure Terminal with an older couple from Whyalla who congratulated us on our marriage. We had briefly met them at dinner at one of the small restaurants on the Island.
They told us they had been married for many years and the trip to Lord Howe Island was a way of creating another experience in life and expanding their memories. Better than [running a busy business or] sitting at home and watching the Telly, they said.
This conversation and piece of simple worldly wisdom has stuck with me and I remind myself of it constantly. It was my main motivation to buy that small expensive digital camera for our December 2000 trip to the Cook Islands.
I took many photos that trip to Cook Islands, even of the Outrigger Canoes in the lagoon at Aitutaka, we had no idea what they were – who would guess our future.
Shortly after our return, Jenny and Jo found Dragon Boating. And over the ensuing years many experiences and memories were created, dutifully captured by our cameras.
I documented the many dragon boat campaigns here and abroad, and ensuing holidays that followed each event.
In the process of this documenting I came to realise the power of photography, not only its visual power, but its ability to record our experiences and remind us of things we have done and who we were. We were doing selfies before the term was even invented. We called them “Holdouts” and I think this might be the main cause of Jo’s shoulder injury.
In those last few weeks at St George Hospital in Jun 2009, I captured the last moments of our lives together. They are the best I ever made.
After Jenny’s passing, It took me a while to pick up a camera again. I had lost my purpose and will. I was hurting and numb all at once but paddled through for a year or two – it helped a lot to be busy and in the company of friends. New experiences were created and I even smiled [for] a little [while].
Lost in the enormity of what had happened so quickly, though it was not a surprise, I found my first moments of comfort and hope, when I decided to start looking at some of the photos from our lives together. It made me cry, but it also made me smile. I was so happy that I had this archive of bits and bytes to remind me of Jenny, Joanne, myself and who we were.
It was only after Jo told me to organise my photos and my Mum said I should start making photos again, that I started to move forward. I was completely broken but I took up their advice and kept myself busy again, organising and photographing again. I am still broken but I live with it better now, it is part of me and who I will always be, but I am happy, optimistic, naïve and creating more experiences.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that we have to go out there and make our memories through the experiences we create for ourselves. And this is what I love about PD’s, we are always out there doing something. This time last year we were in Bologna on our way to Ravena, this year we are heading to Hawaii in the next week and month, next year Adelaide and who knows where after that.
Finally, in our lives we have loss, grief and bereavement. It is a part of living. You make a choice when it knocks on your door. And we have chosen to live in the Afterglow of our loss of Jenny – to remember and honour and be guided and inspired. Accept it and live with it and make the most of it, even let it inspire and motivate you. And that is what Jo and I have done, I would like to think.
“Believe in Hope” as the graffiti’ed wall in Cleveland Street said for a few weeks in July 2015.
Believe in Hope - Cleveland Street / Chippendale (Wed 29 Jul 2015)
With this post it is time to let go of a lot things, including the photos of another time and life. I have shed my life here (and Facebook more recently) like a snake sheds it skin and there is nothing left but to start over again. Time to move on, but it is hard to let go .. but I will.
Trying to make a new start here (arotlt.com) with photos from this point onwards. There will be the occasional post at eljeiffel to mark the odd moment in our lives that are relevant, but for now thanks for coming along for the ride these last, almost, 7 years.
Landscape is an ideal vehicle for honing the skill of visual thinking; it is always at hand, whether in city, suburb, or countryside, and its meanings are not just metaphorical but real, practical as well as poetic.
Had reason recently to remember the above photo, which I took on the Southern Side of London Bridge back in 2005. Will post about the reason when I get time.
An easy photo for me to remember as I have always liked it. For a travel photo it has the obvious landmark signs, but I appreciated it because it is a good exampe of street photography and I was happy that I had seen it and acted to take the photograph quickly.
I was drawn to the lady sitting on the step on the right and the shadow of the "dragon" on the wall to the left. These two elements seemed to work together to tell an interesting visual story, if you let The Minds Eye wander a little. The blue of the Ladies Shirt as well as the blue in the top of the two left windows also worked together nicely (something I have tagged as Colour Photo Theme).
I would later find out from Eileen, that the Dragon represents one of the boundaries of the Square Mile, or the City of London and is there to protect the City, along with the others located around the City perimeter.
A bit of googling gives some useful information about the history of the Dragons (particularly the comment of lang rabbie dated 14-08-2005, 10:02).
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.
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.
Chris Farling (*) writes On Street Photography (*):
in general I think Street Photography (*) work should primarily convey the artistic sensibility and personality of its author.
from which Chris expands:
There’s something confessional and diaristic at the heart of Street Photography (*), hidden as it may be through a layer of visual abstraction. Also, I think that the process of navigating the ethical terrain that every street photographer must deal with is one that helps you mature as a person.
via Observe Collective Interview #2: Chris Farling (*) by Eric Kim (*).
A New Patchwork Chair - Alexandria (Sun 12 Oct 214)
Jeffrey Ladd (*) writes on Katy Grannan (*) book Katy Grannan: The Ninety Nine and The Nine (*):
What is remarkable to me is less her ability to integrate herself and large camera into that community than what she has transcended. She achieves finding the moments of grace in the unexpected – a trait that photography is rife with and frankly at this stage, not surprising – but she uses the surrounding landscape to punctuate those moments filling the frame with additional visual textures – fences, television antennas, road signs, trees, building sides, and power lines – that feel weighty yet light, beautiful yet ugly, oppressive yet fragile and on the verge of collapse.
via The Nine and The Ninety-Nine by Katy Grannan (*) by Jeffrey Ladd (*).
Jeff's words are just as remarkable as the photos he describes and that is the reason they are here. Inspiration for me. As Seth wrote today (*) on writing, it is:
the ability to work on our words until they succeed in transmitting our ideas and causing action. [..]
you do have precisely the same keyboard as everyone else. It's the most level playing field we've got.
The first step is to say it poorly. And then say it again and again and again until you're able to edit your words into something that works.
But mostly, you need to decide that it matters. [HT: Shawn (*)]
Cover - Sydney Looking Forward 2003 - Art and About 2003 (picasa)
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Sydney Looking Forward (2003)
This large format photographic exhibition, displayed along the central walkway of Hyde Park North, creates an open air gallery against the leafy backdrop of the park.
Twenty six photographic images have been selected from the over six hundred entries, to create an impressive visual experience reflecting on Sydney - its mood, vitality and environment.
After the outstanding response to last year's Sydney Looking Forward exhibition, I am delighted to curate this second exhibition in Hyde Park, which is like a natural gallery amongst the trees.
Once again, the work of both emerging and established photographers sit comfortably alongside each other, creating a vibrant portrait of Sydney as a unique and dynamic place.
Photographers were asked to portray both the physical and cultural makeup of the city in a positive way by selecting images using unusual colour and light. Images were also chosen for their uniqueness and for the way they reflected a contemporary historical moment.
Sandy Edwards, Curator Sydney Looking Forward
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Page 12 and 13 - Sydney Looking Forward 2003 - Art and About 2003 (picasa)
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