Three snaps of London


Marilyns


Roundabout for Hire


County Hall

Too Many Hotel Nights..

You know that you spend too many nights in faceless hotels when you start seeing plumbing fittings as art.

Zen and the Art of..

I have been troubled that my current interest in elderly rangefinder cameras is a diversion from both awarenss and good photography. Is it some cheap version of commodity fetishism, a subsitute for actually taking pictures or just sado geekiness. Well its not as if I spend my time desiring a Leica M7 or a 6 megapixel digital (well not all the time at any rate). Its like the bowman in Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery. The argument here, as I understand it, is that to be an expert bowman - you, the bow, the arrow and the target become one. The arrow is released not by the conscious mind but by one's own buddha nature.

Good photography is the same. You, the camera and the subject are one - your buddha nature takes the picture. That is why photographers are so fussy about their equipment. The bowman selects their bow with care, the samurai selects the sword as if their life depended on it. The camera has to be part of you, not a heavy weight around the neck. If you dont like your camera, if its operation is not an unconscious process, the pictures wont work. I think the picture below works becuase the timing is right. The bloke in the middle is looking at the camera, the woman on the right is looking at him, the woman at the back is filling the gap and looking the right way and the man on the left is doing the strange thing with his ear to fill the space. Was this random chance (give 100 monkeys enough film...), was it a conscious decision - no. It just felt like the right moment to press the shutter.



As Henri Cartier-Bresson said in explaining his philosophy of photography (quoting Cezanne): "When I paint and start thinking at the same time, everything’s lost".

" So maybe "the right art, is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen." Zen in the Art of Archery

Can we photograph reality?

A monk asked Fuketsu: "Without speaking, without silence, how can you express the truth?"
Fuketsu observed: "I always remember springtime in southern China. The birds sing among innumerable kinds of fragrant flowers."

Expect Nothing

There is a Zen saying that when travelling - expect nothing.
My take on this, is that you need to lose expectations of what is going to happen and avoid putting emotional attachments onto places, people and events. Not only will you be disappointed but other opportunities will pass you by, as your attention is locked into pre-conceived patterns.

Wandering without purpose in Yorkshire I happened across (or it came across me) the local carnival. Pre-conceptions would have led me to avoid it. But there it was...

Can you live without the rules?

or maybe the rules are inside us
and intrinsic to what we are and what we see
go see

Just Wandering

Its possibly sad, but I have been collecting 1970's rangefinder cameras through Ebay. Just bought a refurbished Konica S3 and took it for a walk through Glasgow to try it out - and practice just seeing what was going on.


Trees near the River Kelvin



The Concert Hall



Underground

Short trip to Paris



The Louvre


Down in the Metro


Wandering in the gardens


In the Eiffel Tower

Every minute is an opportunity to turn your life around..

Life is an illusion, but which illusion?

Try the Matrix test. Apparently


I am Morpheus, from "The Matrix." I
have strong faith in myself and those me
you. A true leader, I am relentless in my
persuit.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Unfortunately, I have a 20% geek tendancy as well (which is a bit of a relief, expecting the worst)
http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

Even more worrying...

I am a Palm Operating System. Strangely, I know what this means.........
http://bbspot.com/News/2003/01/os_quiz.php

Zen Haiku

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Blogging is like that.

and..

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank....

3 Images


Winters afternoon in Lyme Regis, on a Duckspool photo workshop



Wandering aimlessly through Venice, waiting for images to find me



Haven of peace in Marrakech

Dailyzen
How mysterious!
The lotus remains unstained
By its muddy roots,
Delivering shimmering
Bright jewels from common dew.

- The Monk Henjo