On the Surface - David Freedlander on Diane Arbus (Tue 12 Jul 2016)

"orange on the surface" - Wentworth Falls / Blue Mountains (Tue 12 Jul 2016)

David Freedlander on Surface:

the world is one of self-presentation and surfaces. You can try to go deeper if you want to, but the surface is where you have to start. If you are smart, it is where you will stay.

via Diane Arbus’s Strange and Surreal Visions of New York by David Freedlander.

On Photography - Garry Winogrand and People Photography - Blake Andrews (Tue 12 Mar 2013)

Hands - Park Street / Sydney (Tue 12 Mar 2013)
Blake Andrews (*) writes about Garry Winogrand (*):

I think Winogrand's attraction to photographing people was psychological. He liked to play with figures as compositional figures, but more importantly he liked to get inside their heads. Many of his photos are like X-Ray visions. They burrow right into the thoughts of the characters. It's not easy to make photos like that without bogging down in sentimentality, without the thoughts becoming the primary subject. I see a lot of portraits nowadays concerned with that penetration, but they often leave the rest of life behind. Winogrand somehow combined X-Rays with surface level reality in a way that I think is rare. I know I can't do it.

via More thoughts on Winogrand (*) by Blake Andrews (*).

Forgotten Years - Midnight Oil (1990) (youtube)

Forgotten Years - Midnight Oil (1990) (youtube)

Who can remember, we've got to remember


Norm (a few weeks before he suddenly passed away), Jo, Margaret, Geoff and Jenny - Graduation - Masters Degree in Accounting - Town Hall / Sydney (May 1992)
Anzac Day here in Australia. Jo and I have just been for a long paddle in the rain under and around the Anzac Bridge.

Always think of this song on Anzac Day. I remember hearing this back in the early 1990's. Whenever I hear it now, I think of Jenny and Joanne's Father, Norm. I was always invited around to the Petterson Home for lunch on Anzac Day (I would have three Anzac Days with Norm before he passed away suddenly in June 1992) and there would always be Anzac Biscuits with a tea or coffee for afterwards. Joanne has made a batch for today, so the tradition continues.

Norm - Woranora (Wed 22 Dec 2010)

Random Recollection follows: Was lucky enough to hear Midnight Oil play this song live in April 1990. I was the only member of the audience ..

I played hockey for most of my life and back in the late 1980's and early 1990's we started playing on a synthetic surface, rather than the traditional grass. The only fields in Sydney at the time were at Homebush (the site and surrounding area would host the Sydney 2000 Olympics).

The only other sporting facility at Homebush at time was the State Sports Centre which had a number of sports halls for playing basketball and many other indoor sports.

After finishing a week night training session with my club, Sydney Uni, I could hear live music being played in one of the sports hall. It was early in the season and it was still warm. The doors to the Hall adjoining the hockey field was open, so I had a look.

At the far end of the Hall was a band playing - it was Midnight Oil rehearsing for an upcoming tour. I sat down, leant against the wall. They appeared to not notice me or did not care. As the lone audience member, I just sat back, thought how lucky I was, and watched and listened to Midnight Oil rehearse a number of songs.

This song, the Forgotten Years was one of them. It stood out to me and I liked it immediately (still do). It was the first time I had heard it and I remember telling Jenny about my good fortune and hearing all their big hits of the time (eg Beds are Burning). I told her about this song, which I had not heard before.

I don't know exactly when, but I know this song started to get some air play and I saw the above film clip which seems to give the song even more meaning.

Here are the lyrics ..


Forgotten Years Lyrics

Few of the sins of the father
Are visited upon the son
Hearts have been hard
Hands have been clenched into fists too long

Our sons need never be soldiers
Our daughters will never need guns
These are the years between
These are the years that were hard fought and won

Contracts torn at the edges
Old signatures stained with tears
Seasons of war and grace
These should not be forgotten years

Still it aches like tetanus
It reeks of politics
How many dreams remain?
This is a feeling too strong to contain

The hardest years, the darkest years
The roarin' years, the fallen years
These should not be forgotten years
The hardest years the wildest years
The desperate and divided years
Our shoreline was never invaded
Our country was never in flames
This is the calm we breathe
This is a feeling too strong to contain

Still it aches like tetanus
It reeks of politics
Signatures stained with tears
Who can remember, we've got to remember

The hardest years, the darkest years...
Forsaking aching breaking years
The time 'n' tested heartbreak years
These should not be forgotten years

The blinded years, the binded years
The desperate and divided years
These should not be forgotten years
Remember

As someone said ..

This is simply a song about remembering the sacrifice made by all soldiers during war.

Poster - Watkin Street / Newtown Hotel (Thu 16 Dec 2010)

Poster - Watkin Street / Newtown Hotel (Thu 16 Dec 2010)
A ripped A4 Poster pasted to the side wall of the recently reopened Newtown Hotel.

I like this a lot for some reason. The sweeping wave-like hill and it's detailed surface (with figures and all), the weeping willow, and the warrior with his sword and fancy boots to match the curvature of the hill. Seems to have some Chinese influence, but it would appear to be of European heritage.

Poster - Watkin Street / Newtown Hotel (Thu 02 Dec 2010)

Untitled - Lisbon (Wed 14 Aug 2013)

Untitled - Lisbon (Wed 14 Aug 2013)
Not to everyone's taste, but for me I love the way the colours and outlines work one the uneven surface of the wall.

On Performance - Drew Ginn (Fri 12 Jun 2009)

Water (*) - Hvar / Hvar / Croatia (Wed 31 Jul 2013)
Drew Ginn (*) writes on Performance (*):

preparation (*), connection (*) and release (*). It seems to me the simple cycle of what we do in the boat [/and Life in general]. [..]

Drew then expands on the concept of release (*):

Release and get excited I like because no matter what happens we have the power (*) and capacity (*) to see (*) and respond (*) to our experiences (*) in a way that best serves us and those around us.

And finally::

it is fascinating to think about how our mind set (*), emotions (*) and the manifestation play out physically.

[..it's] what matters most and [..] learning (*) to keep it at the surface of awareness can have a huge impact on performance (*).

via What's on the RADAR (*) by Drew Ginn (*).

On the Verge of Success and Failure - Garry Winogrand / Mason Resnick / Trent Parke / Spencer Lum

Eros - Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain / Piccadilly Circus / London (Fri 12 Sep 2014)

Garry Winogrand on Art, Success and Failure:

the most successful art is almost on the verge of failure

via Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand by Mason Resnick.

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 ...

Don't wonder 'What if?' - Jenny P

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010) - American Suburb X - (Fri 17 Dec 2010)

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010) - American Suburb X - (Fri 17 Dec 2010)
I have a Google Alert for Trent Parke, an Australian Photographer who is a member of Magnum and in-public (who BTW have just celebrated their 10th birthday).

Trent Parke - Google Blog Search Result - My Google Reader - Fri 17 Dec 2010
Most days I will get one or two alerts come through on my Google Reader. Normally, they don't lead to anything interesting or something I don't already know about him. However, I received an alert that quickly drew my attention. It was titled:

Geoff Dyer on Trent Parke (2010).

As Andrew Bruce posted today on Trent's Facebook Wall:

easily the best piece of writing on Parke to date

Have to agree and it is definitely worth a read.

A bit of a ramble to follow. I have known of Geoff Dyer for sometime. At least since around the time of the publication of his book, the The Ongoing Moment (Guardian Review - 16 Oct 2005). A novel and rather modest approach to writing about photography - he claims that he does not even own a camera:

"I am not a photographer ... I don't even own a camera."

I enjoyed the book and appreciated his knowledge of photography. In particular I enjoyed his writing style and the metaphors he used to get his ideas across - you will see this in his article on Trent.

[on writing about the book, The Seventh Wave] The surface of the sea is a film separating two worlds, that of water and that of air. Though absolute the distinction is perpetually on the brink of dissolving, melting away. People fly through the water as if suspended in a turbulent sky, or float through great clouds of aquatic light. That’s what water is for Parke and Autio – liquid light. Forms dissolve, blur, swim into and out of focus. Quick and silver, the water is a flash-flood of mercury.

Phot from the The Seventh Wave - Narelle Autio and Trent Parke
On to Trent Parke. I have followed his progress since he was photographer with the Sydney Morning Herald back in the early 2000's. He had two photos in the first Sydney Looking Forward Exhibtion back in 2002. I wrote about one of the photos here. Indeed the post is one of the more popular pages residing in my little blog.

In 2003 I bought two copies of the two books he had published at that stage:

• Dream/Life


• The Seventh Wave

Both books appear to be long out of print, by the looks of the Amazon Used Books prices.

Looks like I have done alright with these purchases (they were about $50 each from the Stills Gallery). I could not help myself other than to buy two copies of each. They were just beautiful. I have a soft/weak spot for photography books. I can remember catching the train after work, upto Kings Cross and then walking into Paddington to the Stills Gallery. I took quite a few photos with my litte IXUS. Must drag them out of the archive to find out the exact date of purchase of the books. A job for another day.

I will close with a quote from Geoff Dyer's article on Trent:

Later works will continue but intensify the Dream/Life vision so that, at its most extreme, Sydney becomes a kind of ghost city, in the process of being annihilated by light. A passer-by will be transformed into an accidental super-hero: Solar-man, a bleached absence of pure radiance! (Part of the fascination of this picture is of the photographer-as-magician kind: how did he do that? The difference between magic and photography is that the spell remains unbroken even when the technical explanation - which, in any case, I cannot recall - is forthcoming. [GeoffE: maybe some discussion here will help: How is this done? (Trent Parke) at photo.net - 31 Mar 2004)]

White Man, 2001 - Circular Quay/Sydney (GeoffE: at guess!) - Trent Parke
An article by the Sydney Morning Herald's Tim Clayton giving some background to the working environment that Trent Parke evolved.

On Photography - No Caption Needed (Mon 20 Oct 2014)

Untitled - Paris (Thu 18 Sep 2014)
Lucaites (*) writes on Photography (*):

Any photograph is both more or less a record of what has happened, and more or less an artistically enhanced experience, both more or less empirical, and more or less interpretive, both more or less accurate, and more or less suggestive. The point here is that photographs –whether analogue or digital—operate in the interspace between reality and imagination. The camera records the surface of the world like no other instrument, but the truth of what is shown can be realized only through an act of imagination. Stated otherwise, the photograph is inherently not reducible to a simplistic realism, but is instead a heterogeneous object where different sources of meaning intersect, and the intersections are lodged in the formal design and explored through interpretation.

via A Realist Imagination (or is it An Imaginary Realism?) (*) by No Caption Needed (*).

Might have to read this a few times.

On Photography and Memory - Trent Parke / Suzie Keen (Fri 13 Mar 2015)

Jenny and Joanne - St George Hospital (Sun 21 Jun 2009)

Trent Parke on Memory and Photography:

I’m really interested in the subconscious and memory and how those things can suddenly re-surface, especially through photographs.

via The Black Rose: an odyssey born of loss by Suzie Keen.

Koala - Henderson Road / Alexandria (Fri 27 Apr 2012)

Koala - Henderson Road / Alexandria (Fri 27 Apr 2012)
Lucky I photographed this when I did - about 7am Fri morning before work, as the small shed was painted clean later that day. Won't take long for something new to be painted on this surface. The Koala had painted over some other piece of graffiti that I can't quite make out.

Intersection - Broadway / New York City (Sun 18 Aug 2011)

Intersection - Broadway / New York City (Sun 18 Aug 2011)
Was recently looking through all my New York 2011 photos and this one surprised and jumped out at me. I like the colours and the reflections off the wet road surface. Always nice to find a sleeper, in my eyes anyway, amongst the archives.

On Portrait Photography - Jorg Colburg (Wed 14 Jan 2014)

Street Portrait #1 - Oxford Street / London (Sat 17 Aug 2013)
Dorothee Deiss (*) writes On Portrait Photography (*):

In my mind a good portrait strives for honesty (*), truth (*), intensity (*), empathy (*) and respect (*). It dignifies and makes some kind of beauty visible. It is an emotionally striking picture of somebody, where one could catch a glimpse behind the surface.

via A conversation with Dorothee Deiss (*) by Jorg Colburg (*).

Dreams - Andy Webster / Mike Johnstone (Wed 29 Jun 2016)

kaleidoscope - Vivid - Circular Quay (Tue 14 Jun 2016)

Andy Webster on Dreams:

Feelings which are repressed when awake seem to surface in dreams!

via Always Know Where Your Camera Is! by Mike Johnstone.