Sunrise - never wanted to go back, but there I was waiting to build for a Moment way off into the future - and when it was done, it was exhilarating.. - Kurnell (Sun 05 Jul 2015)
I was reminded this week about a race from my past (eljeiffel: Once Upon A Time). And I have been fortunate enough to have experienced this more than
once. To achieve a dream, you have to go out and get it. You have to prepare for the known, More importantly you have to be prepared to face the unknown, but you can't prepare for that really - all you can hope for is that you are doing the right thing. When you have reached that Moment where it is within your grasp, you don't think about the dream, you just go out and do it. It?. What is it? I don't really know what "it" is. You can't define it before or after that Moment. It is defined within those unquantifiable moments that makes a dream come true. Rohan Dennis went out and did it last night and it just might be captured in his words above. Congrats Rohan.
Of course all of this makes no sense. That's what moments like this are meant to be .. that's what happens when you go Beyond Yourself
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.
I write a lot about photobooks on this blog. The photobook world is small, a few thousand people, but it is dynamic. Sometimes it's too small and it gets too self-congratulatory. When it becomes most interesting is when it looks out of itself, That's when you get great photobooks that are great books - that touch on the world at large, that tie in with a bigger picture, and touch hearts and souls beyond those of the 10,000 people in the world who regularly buy photobooks.
via Luton Airport, x-rays and Blue Peter (*) by Colin Pantall (*).
I have felt a presence greater than myself, over my right ahoulder, twice in my life. Both times were since Jenny's passing. Will write about it and another moment one day. Have tried not to understand it beyond acknowledging that there is soemthing beyond me that I will probably never quite comprehend or understand. Just happy that I had someone looking over my shoulder when It counted. As the song goes Riding on the Wings of an Angel. Nice photo Rachel.
A warrior of light knows that he has much to be grateful for.
He was helped in his struggle by the angels; celestial forces placed each thing in its place, thus allowing him to give of his best.
His companions [and himself] say [and think]: 'He's so lucky!' And the warrior does sometimes achieve things far beyond his capabilities.
That is why, at sunset, he kneels and gives thanks for the Protective Cloak surrounding him.
His gratitude, however, is not limited to the spiritual world; he never forgets his friends, for their blood mingled with his on the battlefield.
A warrior does not need to be reminded of the help given him by others; he is the first to remember and makes sure to share with them any rewards he receives.
'And the warrior does sometimes achieve things far beyond his capabilities.' - Senior Mixed 500m Final - World Champs - Racice / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Joanne, Gav and Geoff - 'Thank You Gav' - Racice/Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Geoff, George (with one of Joanne's Dangles pinned on the right of his shirt - all the Girls were given one before Prague - first time I have noticed this!') and Joanne - 'Thank You George' - Hotel Duo / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Geoff, Amanda and Joanne - 'Thank You Amanda' - Racice / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Geoff, Rob and Joanne - 'Thank You Rob' - Hotel Duo / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Geoff, George, Amanda, Rob and Joanne - 'Thank You All' - Hotel Duo / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Senior Mixed 500m Final - 'Thank You Guys - Geoff and Jo' - 'As I came across the line I glanced upward and I pointed to the heavens (more here)' Lance A - (F-B, R-L) Deb Cooper, Jo Petterson, George Dimech, Rick Lambe, Helen Hudson, Amanda Wyllie, Geoff Eldridge, Rachel Mosen, Steve McKeogh, Matt Spies, Rob Turnbull, Willy Paku, Gio Cercone, Richard Thomson, Leon Paap, Graeme Bacon, Kristin McKechie, Sharyn Whitton, Karen Hall, Lynne Donohoe, Di Dent and George Louie - 'final seating was a little different to that which was planned as we moved the weight more from the front to the back' - Racice / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Geoff, Joanne, Rachel, Gav, Graeme, Helen, Amanda and Matt - 'Thanks Pacific Dragons Team Mates' - Racice / Prague - Sat 29 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Australian Senior Dragon Boat Open, Womens and Mixed Teams 'Thank You Everyone .. - George Dimech, Deb Hirst, Eileen McKechie, Sharyn Whitton, Donna Hughes, Joanne O'Brien, Jo Petterson, Ewen McDonald, Anne Weber, Geoff Eldridge, Ian George, Deb Cooper, Lisa Mills, David Barber, Leon Paap, Rick Lambe, Diana Dent, Lynne Donohoe, Peter McAlister, Gio Cercone, Frank Calcara, Lisa Fairfull, Kristin McKechie, Ashur Barutha, Rob Turnbull, Pam Jeffery, Kaizer Austin, Matt Spies, Ray Debono, Graeme Bacon, Richard Thomson, Murray Pellicciaro, Becky Bose, Willy Paku, Vince Giannetto, Amanda Wyllie, Mark Pendergast, Danny Monga, Charlotte Richards, Helen Hudson, George Louie, Rachel Mosen, Jane Perkins, Rosemary Riley, Fiona Gray, Linda Collins, Rachel Giang, Steve McKeogh, Doreen MacGillivray, Karen Hall (missing) - Racice / Prague - Tue 25 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Thank you - Geoff, Marty, Norm, Christian, Todd and Billy - Had just done a successful Individual Time Trial for Prague that morning at Penrith - just made it to the start and we had a great race all things considered. - State Titles OC6 Long Course - Ettalong - Sat 09 May 2009 (picasa)
'That is why, at sunset, he kneels and gives thanks for the Protective Cloak surrounding him.' - Joanne and Geoff scattering some of Jenny's Ashes at Sunset - Racice / Prague - Sun 30 Aug 2009 (picasa)
Drew Ginn shares some thoughts (*) about where he and his team are at after just being beaten last Sunday by the Great Britian Four in Switzerland ..
The pathway forward is going to take us into the unknown. Being comfortable with the greyness and the isolation will be key.
Grey because often our reserves will be low and our capacities will be stretched.
The isolation comes as it can get lonely when we strive, uncompromisingly towards a moment. A moment that many won't understand and we will find hard to translate or explain.
To engage in making four athletes one, in taking things further, faster, and beyond our wildest imaginings will have us questioning, doubting and fearful at times.
2013 Auroras Senior B Selection Squad - Lotus Bay / Canberra (Sun 23 Dec 2012)
2013 Auroras Senior B Selection Squad (Left Crop) - Lotus Bay / Canberra (Sun 23 Dec 2012)
2013 Auroras Senior B Selection Squad (Right Crop) - Lotus Bay / Canberra (Sun 23 Dec 2012)
Note to self. A personal guide for the Campaign and beyond ..
A few photos and words from my heart following the 2013 Auroras Senior B Selection Camp in Canberra from 21-23 Dec 2012.
Congratulations to all that put themselves forward for selection for the 2013 Auroras Senior B Dragon Boat Squad which will participate at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Szeged, Hungary in late July 2013.
Putting yourself up for selection and having dreams, hopes and goals is always a risky business as they can all be dashed in a moment.
For those whose journey for this campaign ended at the selection camp, you have my admiration and respect. My heart goes out to you, but I also know that there are future opportunities and with a plan, determination and perseverance you can achieve everything you want out of paddling and life. We have a number of role models in this regard and I encourage you to follow their lead. The camp will have given you perspective and a path forward to realising all your dreams and goals. It's a decision you make and it is all in your hands.
For those successful in selection, I congratulate you and I feel your elation in the trust the coaches have given us to represent Australia as the 2013 Auroras Senior B World Championship Dragon Boat Squad.
I thank those from the 2011 Auroras Squad (*) who have come back to give it another go. Your experience will be invaluable as we all learnt so much about ourselves, the importance of teamwork and what it is to compete on the world stage against the best the world has to offer.
The competition is intense and goals are achieved through your commitment to the training programme; trust in yourself, your team mates, managers and coaches.
Having done a few campaigns now, my advice is to savior every moment of the campaign. There can be feelings of elation, disappointment and every emotion in between. That is the nature of paddling at this level and I have learnt it is how we handle and respond to these emotions, that will mould who we are and who we will become. You have to an awareness of yourself and those around you - to be emotionally strong not only for yourself, but more importantly for the team, since our sport is the true essence of team work.
There are few words that stick in my mind from all my experiences in paddling and life. They are Trust, Belief and Risk.
Trust - Trust yourselves, your team mates, your managers and coaches. Remember the first time you stood in dragon boat in the standup paddle drill at the selection camp. Serge and Blair would not have asked us to do this if they
thought we could not do it. They trusted us, as we trusted them. I saw no hesitation from either side. This is the kind of trust we need to find, particularly when we are uncertain. We just need to go with it and it will happen.
Belief (*) - You have to believe in yourself, and your supporters in paddling and in life. Most importantly you have to believe in the campaign, the process, your team mates, managers and coaches. I find this quote (*) gives me perspective, understanding and strength:
If you believe, you are stronger and the light will shine on you.
Risk - by getting to this point, we have all proved we are not averse to taking a risk or two. At this level, the stakes and emotions are heightened. There are risks all round as we step into the unknown to compete against the best in the world. We have control of many things and this is our focus, but there are others things which we don't, for as you see, I have learnt there is an underlying randomness to it all. This is where adaptability comes in, as we respond in a measured and considered way to the random events that are tossed our way and that which we may confront. Take nothing for granted, success is not attained easily. Often, time and persistence is required.
Finally, be prepared to let go of everything you know and to start from zero (*). It would take me a long time to learn this one and it only came to me in Busan (*) at the 2012 Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Sep 2012. Ask Paul Langley as we learnt this together in the Mixed 10's (*). I became the paddler and person I always wanted to be on that hot sunny day in Busan.
We have an amazing blend of enthusiasm, hardened experience and raw newness at this level. Focus on what you can control, trust and believe and the rest will look after itself. I feel privileged to share this experience with you and look forward to what lays ahead.
2013 Auroras Grand Masters Selection Squad Camp - Lotus Bay / Canberra (Fri 21 Dec - Sat 23 Dec 2012)
Home (*) - Blackwattle Bay / Sydney (Sun 24 Aug 2014)
Creature of habit, but I like this routine. Always go to Blackwattle Bay on the last Sunday before we leave to compete. I walk, take a few photos (*), read, think and reflect. And this time I wrote something, so here it is ..
I’ve been thinking lately about how every year seems to be different. It's natural. With time, things do change and I thought that this was the only reason things appeared to change. But you know what, even if everything did stay the same, it is still different, because you are different. You see things differently because you are a year older and all that goes with that, if you are doing something with your life.
With that rather random introduction (but I think there might be something in it), I thank everyone at Pacific Dragons for making Ravenna 2014 (*) happen.
How does such a small club get itself half way across the world to compete against the best clubs in the world?
It takes a thought, a dream, a goal, some intention, commitment and dedication. That's part of what it takes and the Club has lots of this and all the other things needed to be competing at our 4th consecutive World Club Crew Championships. I thank you all.
So with another candle on the cake, and with two sessions to go, I've come to love and appreciate this part of the campaign. I’ve been thinking lately:
You know you are being coached by the best in the world - I told the boys this at the AB when we met in Feb this year, that alone is a good enough reason to buy in on the campaign.
You feel fit and you know the effort is paying off – a conversion and gelling process is happening. After 70 or so water sessions, we are doing some really intense sets now. Things you just could not do, even a few months ago – and you thought were pretty good back then
It’s scary but you love it.
More so now, it’s not just what you are doing, it’s what you are thinking, what you believe.
It’s not just to do your best, but to go beyond that and to give it everything.
It’s not just for you, but for everyone who has loved, supported and helped you to get to this point.
Finally, going back to where it all began for most of us this campaign, I was asked in front of the Group, at the AB, that night back in Feb:
What is it like to be a World Champion?
I did not know what to say (and it was the reason I sent out that Five One Hundreths of Second (*) Post on FB after the meeting). And, I'm not sure that it is even the right question, but I did say something like this:
It's one step at a time. It is great to feel like you are in the game. You can’t expect to win, it’s not your fate or destiny to win and you definitely can’t just hope to win. You have to try. And you have to have confidence and belief in yourself, your support network and your team. [1]
and with that I concluded:
Be Audacious!!! [1]
And, so I am and so I think we all should be ..
Regards .. Geoff
[1] the essence of these thoughts came from a great blog post (*) I had just read at that time by a Canadian Olympic Kayaker, Adam Van Koeverden (*). For me, he is Canada’s Drew Ginn (*), both who are inspirations to me.
Leibovitz's disdain for celebrity is reflected in "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990-2005", which opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday.
Just a third of the exhibition features the high-profile names that have turned Leibovitz into a celebrity. There are more images of family and friends and 40 photos include documentary shots of lives ruined by war in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
MCA's director Liz Ann Macgregor said these were her favourite works: "Two of these unforgettable images achieve their strength by showing what is not there – in the absence of victims, we see only the aftermath of war and the bloodshed left behind."
In contrast, Leibovitz said the intimate shots of her parents on the beach and brother and father posing bare-chested, arms crossed, were her "most important work".
"It tells the best story, and I care about it. You don't get the opportunity to do this kind of work except with people who you love: people who will put up with you."
I have enjoyed seeing the personal side of Leibovitz's work and will definitely go to the exhibition.
Have a copy of Susan Sontag's (Leibovitz's Lover) Monograph On Photography which I bought in Canberra in 2002. It seemed an odd relationship because of Sontag's views on photography. I could empathise with their situation with Sontag's journey with Breast Cancer and I remember following the news of Sontag's final weeks and then reading Sontag's New York Times Obituary.
Like all professional photographers, there is definitely a private side to Leibovitz's Photography and I am sure most photographers like myself want to see the private side.
I look forward to viewing the exhibition. I saw the exhibition's book a few years ago. What I really look forward to, though, is the Landscape Photograph work which will feature in future book titled Pilgrimage.
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.
Bernadette (*) writes on Experience (*) and Choice (*):
Making things people want goes beyond the making of the thing. How we create experiences, tell stories and give our customer’s stories to tell matters. [..]
Bloody Gum - Royal National Park (Sun 28 Jan 2001)
I took this photo 10 years to the minute (Blogger's time is 19 hours behind Sydney time). It was the first photo that I took with my little IXUS that I thought was more than just a record of an event or a place (and BTW there is nothing the matter with that).
It was a Sunday, the last day of a long weekend (Australia Day was Friday). Jenny and I decided to do a Sunday afternoon drive down into the Royal National Park and end up at Stanwell Top to watch the hang gliders and to have an ice cream.
Along the way we stopped to look at various features and land marks, mainly the coast line.
For some reason I randomly pulled up into a small dirt parking area along the road in a forested area of the Park. I was drawn to the large Gum Trees at the edge of the parking area and noticed the sap oozing from the bark.
Looking at the photos I took that day, most were of the trees from a distance. The above photo was the only one I took up close to the trees. I set the camera to macro mode and I am pretty sure I would have held the camera about 15 to 20 cm from the side of the tree. I remember getting back to Sylvania and looking through the photos from that day and this was the one that caught my eye. It was beyond anything I had captured up til then.
Around the same time I found photo.net and this was one of the first photo's I submitted to my portfolio. Amazingly, I received a number of critiques which were very helpful and they helped guide me along my photographic journey, particularly this one:
this is a great piece. My only complaint is it's on digital. It would make a wonderful Ilfochrome if it were on film -- gallery quality. Matthew Kees (22 Sep 2001).
In many ways the photo and the positive feedback I received help me explore photography in a way I had never expected when I first bought the little camera a few months earlier.
I have tagged many of the photos I have taken with the little IXUS, here. Many have become my Favourite Photo's, which I have randomly rambled about on this blog over the last year or so.
Makes me wonder where the last 10 years have gone.
Finally, if I have added up correctly this should be my 300th post.
It was just the right moment for me to try my chance.
Adding:
I don’t know what happened in the back but I was so nervous, I was just pulling. I don’t know how many watts I pulled but it was more than I ever did. Now I am so happy, and a thousand thanks to my team for supporting me the whole week.
Watched this live – it was 1:15am this morning on the coldest night we have had this winter. Warmed my heart to see him make that break with 3.2km to go and just take it home like he did. You just knew he was going to do “it” and it was not even his own bike, at 20km to go he punctured and swapped bikes with his team mate (as my 3 year old nephew told me 15 years ago - a team is a powerful thing). As Tony Martin said - I actually was [on my limit] when I launched in that moment .. It was just the right moment for me to try my chance. And he found something in himself that he did not know he had - I was so nervous, I was just pulling. I don’t know how many watts I pulled but it was more than I ever did. Often your best is not good enough and the first 3 days of the Tour showed this to Tony Martin and those watching. You have to go Beyond Yourself to find the Happiness he displayed on a life-time Dream come true last night. Just brilliant to watch his performance and his post-race interview. Congrats to Tony Martin.
[Fond memories of Sandy Casar doing the same kind of break in Stage 18 of the 2007 TdF, after crashing with a dog at 27km.]
A favourite quote, from the many I've collected here over the years. I like it because it is so true in Art and Photography, but also Paddling and Life.
I am reminded of it every now and then in my own life, through my photography and paddling experiences. And today was one of those days ...
The Sun rose over the City skyline as we did our Thursday morning high intensity session in two, six person outrigger canoes. We do short interval efforts (level 4, level 4+) over repeat efforts of 8, 4, 2 and 1 minute. It's at a pace and intensity that can be maintained for these short time periods which is a bit higher than our race pace intensity (level 3) which we maintain for much longer periods.
We are pushing ourselves at Level 4 and the rhythm in the canoe is often not quite as nice as it would be at level 3 or 2. Our effort and technique is on the edge, on "the verge of failure or breaking down".
As I reflect over a 10 year paddling career, I have found that the best Training Sessions and Races have been the ones where everything is just a little out of control and uncomfortable. It's like a being on a knife edge or the edge of a precipices. It's that boundary between the known and unknown, good and bad, success and failure, and courage and fear (thanks Kayleene).
And ultimately, the fault line between our past and future (thanks for that one
Chantel).
It can be stressful and can feel like a feisty prickly relationship. A disonnance. And often questions and self-doubts rise to the surface.
When you are on the edge, you are pushing yourself to the limit of your abilities and beyond. And, with that comes the risk that you push too far and fail, or you just find that easy comfort zone and also fail through a lost effort and opportunity.
Disappointment may come with the failure, but if you reflect and abstract a learning, then you are more experienced and capable for the next effort. And often, as Trent Parke succinctly notes:
mistakes and accidents usually lead to the best discoveries.
You are learning, broadening your experiences and creating the future opportunity for "successful art", if you keep caring and trying.
I love that feeling of "being on the edge of failure". Instead of fighting it, try to find it and some comfort in the uncomfort, and in the knowledge that this is, as Spencer Lum astutely notes:
where all the good stuff happens
As Jenny said, Give it a try, step outside of your comfort zone. You might be surprised where it can take you ...
23 Sep - 23 Oct 2011 Central Walkway Hyde Park North
Ten years ago (*), the first Sydney Life exhibition captured our city in a series of striking large-scale photographic images, on show in the beautiful central walkway of Hyde Park North. A decade later, Sydney Life is a much-loved annual event bringing friends and families to delight in images that look beyond the iconic. This year, 22 finalists bring their own unique vision to Sydney to this stunning exhibition.
Sydney Life Judging Panel
Andrew Quilty (*) - Andrew has won a World Press Photo Award and a Walkley Young Photojournalist of the Year Award. His work has been commissioned by The New York Times, The Guardian, Time Magazine and others, and has been exhibited extensively.
Anna Davis (*) - Anna is an artist and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art. She has worked with numerous Australian and international artists on a range of projects and exhibitions, and contributes regularly to to MCA publications and public programmes.
Moshe Rosenzveg (*) - Moshe is the founder and curator of the Head On Prize, one of Australia's major photographic exhibitions. He is a photojournalist, commercial photographer, educator and an award winning producer/director.
Sand Edwards (*) - Sandy is the founder of ARTHERE, an organisation providing services to photographers to have exhibitions in Australia. She is also a Curator at the Stills Gallery, Sydney's most established photogallery.
Sydney Life Tours
Take a tour of this year's entries with Sydney Life judge Sandy Edwards. Meet at Archibald Fountain.
Fri 23 Sep 2011, 7pm Sat 15 Oct 2011, 2pm Hyde Park North Cost: Free
The Sydney Life Prize
Awarded to the most outstanding work in the exhibition, the $10,000 Sydney Life Prize comprises $5,000 cast from the City of Sydney and $5,000 from Major Sponsor Olympus.
Most of us limit ourselves because we believe in boundaries (*), limitations (*) and barriers (*). There are no boundaries and barriers! Get out now and do it better than you did yesterday. Action not words!
To do what you like in your work, separate from the buzz. [..]
slow down [..] If you slow down and concentrate on the kinds of images that bring you real joy you'll find a tighter bond with your own work.
Stop looking at all the sharing sites - When you turn off the outside influences and sit quietly with your own thoughts about art and photography you begin to understand the way you like to see and share art. That's valuable. Everything else is unconscious imitation.
Do a project - Consistency of vision and subject are worthwhile goals for all artists. Set yourself to the task of creating a body of consistent work. Choose a subject that you love and explore it in depth. Ignore everything else.
When you choose to do a project have a a goal - Wouldn't it be great if it changed some lives? But no matter where it ends up I will have met interesting people who've taken charge of their own lives and excelled. What fun role models. And the art will be my souvenir of my time spent with them. The prints will be part of the sharing.
Start thinking beyond the screen - [..] When you slow down and do your art try to go through the whole process of bringing an image to life before you rush out the door to fill up more memory cards and hard drives.
Really explore the images in front of you. Edit them down. Make them perfect and then print them large [..] Print them till you love them. And learn from the process of presentation. Learn what you like to see, big. The art becomes both portable and present when you pull it off the screen and onto paper. Be sure to go through the whole process so you understand in your gut what you've really created. It will slow you down [..] and focus it on doing work that makes you smile. You are the first audience.
Finally, forget the online critiques - Find people in your own town, city, region whose work you admire and approach them about forming a sharing circle. Just like a writer's group.
Having a project will move you to take chances. [..] You'll need to discipline yourself to do the [..] And you'll need to learn how to finish.
Having a goal for your work gives it extra meaning.
Sharing the work with live people standing in front of you builds real confidence in the work. Having real critiques is painful but helps engender real growth. Helping real, human, non-virtual friends succeed with their own art is part of a rewarding virtuous circle. Embrace it.
From A few ways to increase your connection to your photography (*) by Kirk Tuck (*) - Thu 23 Feb 2012.
