Friday, January 30, 2015

Profound Beauty

The sun is streaming into the Starbucks where I’m writing this weeks blog, its warm embrace is deceptive as I had to walk through a veritable blizzard to get to the store this morning.  If you closed your eyes you could almost imagine it being a sultry summer’s day outside given the warmth that it’s projecting through the window and not the actual depths of winter that we’re experiencing.

Peering into the sky I also recognize the clouds floating by as those that you’d generally equate with the French Impressionists.  I can almost imagine the likes of Monet, Renoir, Sisley or Seurat readying their brushes and canvas ready to slip outside to capture the beauty of the sky this morning albeit a frigid morning (-10C).  One of the few things that have stayed the same over the centuries is the landscape of the sky, so even 150 years on you can still observe the same structures, patterns and colors of the skies that those masters captured so beautifully all those years ago.

The old adage that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is so true.  Recently an avid reader of my blog who commented on my photography said they were so impressed with my photographic style.  So my first question was “what is my photographic style?”  Firstly, glad I have one , but secondly so how would you characterize it?

The response I got was both surprising, and deep ...“layered abstract in the everyday”…   Who knew?   But as I think about my photography that is actually a very good evaluation of my style to this point in time.  For me the images that I photograph actually grab my attention and shout out to me “take me, take me” and thus I’m drawn and feel completely compelled to take the shot or series of shots.  Apparently when I’m strolling with my cameras I’ve been told that I actually coo when I see “the shot”, (totally involuntarily btw, well that’s my story anyway) and a tad embarrassing that I physically make a sound when I find it but there you have it…probably too much information eh?

One of wonderful things in life is that everyone is an artist at heart, as we all inherently know and understand what we like, how the image makes us feel, and where it takes us emotionally, or perhaps how it teases our senses and passions.    

I guess we’re all art critics, to illustrate this even as I’ve strolled the endless rooms of the Louvre in Paris or the Uffizi in Florence and surrounded by arguably some of world's best known masterpieces I'm often a little bored and overwhelmed.  Some of the least interesting genres of art for me are the Renaissance period and the Baroque style, and even though I have a deep  appreciation of its beauty it does little for me…   Yet the inverse is true when I view Impressionist works as they get me every time, there is something about the light that they are able to capture and convey that engages me every single time, and either the painting has the light or it doesn't.  Without light it leaves me feeling flat.

Inherently we all gravitate toward beauty and if I can draw a parallel, yes I'm being a little cheeky here in that, I, like the great impressionists am able to see and sometimes even capture the light (okay perhaps only in my dreams, but I figure dream big if you're going to dream!).

Some of my favorite photos are of the inconsequential things that often times get overlooked. You could say it’s almost a “non-image” (if that’s a term, okay I may have just made that word up), because its small or doesn't stand out in the larger realm of things. Sometimes it can be quite abstract, often layered and you have to concentrate to determine what exactly you're looking at - I like making you look and think about what you're seeing.

Another of my other favorites things to do when traveling is to photograph urban art, which is widely regarded as a combination of street art and graffiti.  Its been brought into the contemporary art world by the likes of Banksy, the mysterious and well known English urban artist (apparently no one really knows the identity) who have gone onto mainstream prominence.  Often though, Banksy’s work includes societal and ironic overtones, which tends to separate it from much of the graffiti that we see today in our streets, lanes and disused buildings.

I love the fact that urban art is so universal in nature, you can be anywhere in the world and capture something that is completely free of any type of distinguishing feature that would tie it to a particular place or time.  

I've been trying to determine where my love of art comes from, my family by and large is not an artistic one, my parents were never interested in art nor exposed us to art in any fashion. Although my sister Glenda is quite an accomplished painter, and Sami definitely has the eye for art and especially photography.  It surprising how different siblings can be in terms of personality, but also in terms of their artistic and life interests and how varied they are from one to the next, even though they were brought up under the same roof and have the same genetic makeup as their siblings yet so vastly different...makes you think doesn't it!  

I realize that I have a gift for photography, and maybe even one for the written word...  I definitely feel blessed and honoured to be able to share it with you all each week.  

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This weeks photos are a very small collection of my favourite abstract photos as well as some of the best urban art I've photographed in the past year - just from Italy...   Enjoy!


Roman tablet lying dormant in the basement - Assisi

Reflections in the Roman baths - Assisi

Devotion - Assisi

Stone stairways have felt 2000 years of history - Assisi

Hidden tunnel - Assisi
Droplets after the rain - Assisi

Street Art - Civita Castellana


Cobbles made from sea sediment - Cortona 

Afternoon sun - Cortona

Post wedding rice and rose petals - Cortona


The cross of sunlight - Cortona

Bell tower at sunset - Cortona 

Where are my keys?  - Cortona

Street shrine - Cortona 

Figurines in the window - Cortona

3D floor inside the Duomo from the ceiling - Florence

Mosaic - Siena

Painting in dust

Angry bird post box - Milan

Streets of Milan 

Painted telephone box - Milan

Double reflections of TW - Orvieto

Doorway - Orvieto

Duomo carvings - Orvieto

Sculpture with the red scarf - Orvieto

Number 10 - Orvieto

Memorial fence - Orvieto

Water fountain - Orvieto

The red pattern - Orvieto

Afternoon glow in the hallway - Orvieto

Work is officially done for the day - Siena

Afternoon - Siena

Scooter dreams - Siena

Corners - Siena

Chain and shadow - Siena

The ornate high fence - Siena

Tourist reflections overlaid - Siena

Herringbone bricks in the Palio - Siena 

The tree was saved - Siena

Painterly clouds - Siena

Moss burst - Siena

Sunset light - Siena


Graffiti by the Lake - Lenno

The balcony - Stresa

The Blue robot - Milan 

The Orange panel - Milan 




Friday, January 23, 2015

And you?

For the past three plus year I've been blogging about my life with Zach and Sami, our adventures, my career changes, new business and travel adventures.  I find that it’s so easy to take a completely introspective view of the world, but this week I began taking stock of all the other things that I've noticed going on around me especially on the social media front.  Let’s start with the usual suspects shall we?

It’s surprising but, Facebook is, for me becoming more irrelevant than ever!  I find that rather than an intimate group of friends keeping in touch and celebrating each others up and downs in life there seems to be more “pulp” than ever before being broadcast which tends to clog the experience I’m looking for on a personal connection front.  Whether its advertising or pseudo advertising its annoying! 

To give you a tangible example last year when the ice bucket challenge was at the zenith of its reign of popularity I was ready to chuck it all in.  I get that it was a great way to raise money, but for the most part it got a little crazy with the never ending video's and challenges, from the famous to the ordinary once you'd seen it once that was pretty much it, yet after the 500th time not so much.  I'm not sure about you but more recently I've been inundated with a plethora of cute animal videos, to be clear, they drive me crazy.  I can hear you all now, so cold hearted, what a grinch!   C’mon what could be more adorable than a kitten falling asleep into his food bowl, or a dog that rides a bike...  Yep, to be clear I'm over it people!  Just sayin...

Not only is Facebook on the wane for me personally, but let me be the first to say that Twitter has completely lost the plot!   I experienced this first hand when as I crossed the invisible threshold and followed more than the un-documented 2000 people divide.  Now even though my following is close to 1200 apparently it was far from acceptable for me to choose anyone else to follow beyond the magical 2000 or reciprocate if they followed me.  As soon as I try to add another person it’s blocked with a rather curt little note.  It's been two months that I've been frozen on 2000…can you say "oi vey mate?!"

So not to be disillusioned I tried to find out why, easier said than done my friends.  There is no clear explanation as to why there is hidden threshold to pass before you’re allowed to enter the “magic kingdom” of Twitterville.  Why does it feel as though I’m playing a video game with regard to this?  All I know is that where ever I looked to Twitter for an explanation it quickly turned into a what I’d call a “complete bun fight”, to use the Australian vernacular.  

Not only is this immensely annoying but really the more I looked at the content the more I’m feeling disillusioned with it (read crap with a capital C).  Maybe I should have known better but I continue to be inundated with people on Twitter trying to sell me an instant following – “get 20,000 followers for $29.99…really???  So how exactly do you do this if I’m already blocked?  I smell scam all the way!
  
Perhaps it always as shallow and irrelevant to the world, but I just didn’t stop and take my time to really see it for what it really is…a fad.  No doubt the next big thing will supersede it, I guess I have to wait patiently until that comes to fruition.

My final social media channel is Google+ and to be fair they’re joined at the hip with my Blog account so perhaps I shouldn’t be too critical, however, that being said my bugbear with them is that I can only follow three new people, communities or sites per day.  Why the constant barriers?  Clearly its to limit the minimize the people who go and follow the world…no literally, the world all at once just for the sake of saying they did vs. any tangible value.  So to some degree I get it but I do feel controlled by the whole medium in general.

The good thing about Google + is the large base of creative types – writers, bloggers, photographers and the like.  It’s been amazing to see some of the outstanding photos and written work from this community, and this coupled with its smaller and more niche community I sort of prefer it to the others.

Fortunately for me I have the new Indelible Adventures Inc. website which is where I want to channel people anyway, although unsure that it’s as compelling as the apps I've talked about tonight, only in my wildest dreams.

Interestingly, Zach has never had an interest in using any social media channels and I mean ever.  A bit of a rarity I would imagine, although I hear from more and more of the kids friends that these particular social media sites are just not that cool.  Sami and her friends are fully immersed and use Snapchat and Instagram non-stop, so perhaps it’s a boy – girl thing?  Or perhaps the two-year gap in ages is really a much greater divide than I could ever of imagined.

Not sure why I've been on a rant tonight other than this week I've definitely felt a little more feisty than normal.   

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This weeks photos come from my shoot in New Orleans last weekend.  Enjoy!



This is my favorite float from Mardi Gras past - they kept it along with
almost every other float since the early 20th century

Joan of Arc statue in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Such a cool contrast between the color to the statue and the sky

Having an original Muffuletta at the Central Grocery in New Orleans

Great old posters at Central Grocery

Cherokee tomatoes at the early morning market

...and it was early too!  Isabels is one popular Tamale stand

Beautiful sculpture

The antique chandelier had so much charm and color to it...gorgeous!
Afternoon photo shoot at the Shusham Municipal airport 
on Lake Pontchartrain 
Often referred to as the Lakefront airport and only used
for light planes these days


This plaque is in the floor of the renovated Art Deco terminal - built
in 1934

All aspects of the terminal building have been fully restored, and
its spectacular!

The inlaid gold corniche around the roof of the terminal


Loved the sign for the fountain out front of the terminal

Clearly the fountain has seen better days, and not part of the recent renovation...


Downtown New Orleans is going through a significant regeneration and all of the old factories
are being converted to loft style living.  Its already an up and coming place to live

The mural on the wall of the adjacent parking garage at the Saturday morning market 

Downtown in the French Quarter

The 3D mural at the French Quarter market

Central Grocery - great Muffuletta!

Graffiti on the corner of Religious and Market Streets down by the river

Steel cables at a run down factory - what a life they've lived

Looking inside the old Market Street Power plant through the wire

This electricity pole stands outside the Market Street power plant, check
out the dates on the tags for when its been certified as sound.  Katrina
was in 2005

Heading over the Greater New Orleans bridge
Over the bridge to Algiers...

A freighter on the mighty Mississippi with the city of New Orleans just across the river

The Algiers Court House situated across the river from New Orleans



Statue of Louis Armstrong at the Ferry Terminus at Algiers

Seeds on the palm tree
Loved the colors and lines of the new growth on the palm tree base


Barges plying the Mississippi being pushed by six others


Colors and waves in the river - late afternoon light


Water and sap mix on the stump of a tree in the Irish Channel district of New Orleans



Palm reflected in a puddle in the early morning light