Blake in the Kitchen

Just between you and I, working in the school canteen isn't the glamorous job it's made out to be. Last week during my shift, in a lull between the grasping sticky fingers and turning the hot chicken nuggets, I found some time to look around and observe. As the camera or iPod is never far from reach, I reached for it, I looked down, I tried to bring order to the universe with the camera as my compass, my gyroscope. The world quietened and all became serene.

With iPod in hand I traveled through the room. Venturing past the obvious and looking for some insight, something new, a place where I hadn't been before. I found these six images which seemed to belong together. They gave me space and understanding, and a feeling of being connected to what I was observing.

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour

from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake.

Solid Rock

As I was saying, water has a hold on the images I make... and on me, always has. I incline my head and recall many early morning trips to ocean baths and other coastal locations to try and capture the essence of what I see and feel. What is it that invades my consciousness and draws me deeper within itself and myself.

The slightly rank smell of dried out seaweed scattered along the beach or across the rocky platform. The misty salty spray dampening my face while I hold the camera under my shirtfront or behind my back to protect it from corrosive decay. The tremendous constant crash of waves breaking, relentless and overpowering and also calming and inducing a meditative focus.

I walk, run, crouch and stare. I stand and watch as time stands still but never stops. Moment by moment all is reborn before my eyes as through the lens. I want to capture every single moment, each tiny crack between every second that passes. I become the moment and the moment becomes me. I am lost and found in one place and in all places.

 

And even as the subject changes, still it stays the same...

Water Blogged

Water, liquid, aqua, fluid, juice, solution, pond, dam, lake, loch, reservoir, river, stream, creek, billabong, rivulet, spring, puddle, drip, flood, cascade, waterfall, ocean, lagoon, bogeyhole, bay, canal, estuary, sea, pool, puddle, splash....

Never far from the water it seems. Looking back I realise that all the posts so far have been rather damp. I am landlocked and surrounded literally by that which makes up 70% of my body. On one side the big blue, on the other "Australia's Largest Inland Salt Water Lake", or so the rusty sign says.

All that catches the attention of my lens today and most days is that which gives us life.

 

 

 

 

Getting edgy

Have you ever wondered how far it is to the edge of the world, (not the end of the world, the edge) It's something I often speculate on.

So.... speculate no more. It's quite simple really.

First approach the water until your toes are getting wet. This is a good thing to do anyway for non-mathematical reasons. Recall how tall you are (in metres) and deduct the distance from your eyes to the top of your skull. Work out the square root of this number and multiply by 3.856. Simple. The answer in kilometres is the distance you have to swim before you fall off the edge of the earth. So if I were an average height of 1.7 metres, dangling my toes, there would be 5kms to the edge of all I can see.

As the Buddhist's say, 'no moment is like the last, we are constantly changing.'

This is never more obvious than by the ocean.

It's a Man's World too

Here I go again, uncover to delve into the sacred world of Men’s Business. I'm hoping to capture some of the atmosphere, (but not too much). Perhaps some of the hidden feelings that are only found on the other side of that tightly closed portal. With all due respect to my fellow members of this absolutely exclusive club I venture again into the inner sanctum.

I hope you all appreciate how dangerous this is for me. If I’m ever caught in here with a camera…. well you can probably imagine the consequences.

Living life on the edge....

It's a Man's World

Thought I’d take you on a tour of the inner sanctum, the private club, the world of men’s business where men do their business. The Men's Room.

Long thought of as the last and lost bastion of the masculine domain. Not only a private place to hide away and contemplate the state of the world, politics, environmental issues, pre-packaged Taco sauce. This special place for men also gives the opportunity to catch up on some reading, exchange a cordial word or two with a co-worker or acquaintence or straighten your tie and zip up before an important business meeting.

The antiquated, and oh so stylish, water closet lives on in a few relics of mid-20th Century architecture. Some have been ‘shamelessly’ modernised, some simply closed off to the general public awaiting renovation. Working in one such period building each week, I have the privilege of utilising and appreciating a true golden oldie from the sixties.

I cast my eyes, and lens, over the decaying and none too fragrant world of this Institutional Mens Public Lavatory. Take a deep breath, we’re going in.
 

 

 

open the iPod bay doors Hal

Perhaps it's setting too high a target for comparison with that quote from that film set just 10 years ago. Drifting through space with an uncooperative computer at the helm is not a tad left of the ideal photo op. However you can't get more down to earth than your kid's first high school swimming carnival with an iPod touch burning a hole in my pocket.

I've been playing with the iPod for some time now and although it's kinda difficult to hold and the image resolution is pretty low it's a bit of fun on a warm afternoon.