The Tale of the Man with his Head in the Wishing Well

The Hand that Gives, Gathers (Sydney May 2015)

Now, as you may have heard me say before, I don't believe there are any ordinary moments, and you've probably read that I don't go searching for the surreal, or quirky or humorous moments either. However, every now and again, I witness something that just calls to me: "I'm surreal, I'm quirky, I'm anything but ordinary". Of course, as to that last one, I see those special things all the time, but stay with me on this one please.

One such surreal moment caught my eye yesterday in the centre of Sydney. A guy with his head down in a fountain. Obviously looking for something? Maybe. I will leave that up to you.

The fountain is actually a wishing well, and the statue of the dog is called The Legend of Islay. Let me quote the inscription (copied from Monuments Australia) so you know what it's about:

 The Legend of Islay

Islay was a favourite pet of Queen Victoria. Whenever he saw the royal mistress he would sit up and beg for a biscuit. He was often sketched and painted both by Queen Victoria and Sir Edwin Landseer, her painting master. The bronze sculpture by Justin Robson was modelled from a sketch drawn by Queen Victoria in 1842. Now over a century later, Islay is begging hopefully for a coin to help deaf and blind children of New South Wales. Islay died 26th April 1844 and buried in Adelaide Cottage, Windsor Castle.

Interesting eh? But, wait, there's more: The dog talks. Yes, a talking dog. And, naturally, someone has put a video online demonstrating him doing just that:

Even more interesting don't you think? The voice belongs to John Laws, the famous and notorious (in the opinion of some) radio shock jock who has been heard on Australian radio for as long as I remember (some might say too long). 

And, for a bit more: There is a stone on the front of the monument that comes from the battlements of Blarney Castle in Ireland. The plaque reads: "Touch the Stone from Blarney Castle, make a wish, and cast a coin".  

A it says above, donations go to the Royal NSW Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (where in a tangential and odd twist my father once worked as what they called the Bursar, or in real terms the manager of the facility).

I find this all fascinating and as a real treasured bonus to my work as a street and social documentary photographer. A surreal moment in a busy little square, that in fact reveals a story. Not necessarily the story we might all be wondering about: What's the guy doing? But an interesting one nonetheless. 

PS The title of the photo is from one of the inscriptions on the monument which you can see is in a number of languages.

Photographing the Self: What's it all really about?

Pucker Up and Pose for a Self Portrait (Almere The Netherlands July 2013)

Do you take photographs? And if you do, have you asked yourself why you do? Have you thought about the motivations, the reasons, the end results you are looking for when you make a photo?  Of course as a social documentary/street photographer, it is part of the job description to be questioning my own motivations, my own purpose and intention, on an ongoing basis. But, I have been thinking lately about that oft quoted observation: “everyone’s a photographer these days”.

I’m not into the debate about who’s a photographer and who isn’t. I am simply interested in what all those people who are now “photographers” are doing, and why. 

First up, I thought I would find out how many photos are posted each day on the internet.  As of February this year (2015) 300 million per day were being put up on Facebook, and the latest news from Instagram reports that over 70 million photos and videos are uploaded every day to their site. When you think that these are only two of many social media platforms (not to mention other types of websites), it’s probably true to claim that the total number of photos being made and then posted to the internet every day is many times those figures: hundreds of millions of photos. Every day.

There is no doubt that the proliferation of mobile phones equipped with cameras accounts for many, even most, of these photos. And according to my research, it seems that most social media sites are experiencing huge growth in the number of photos posted. Many claim that this suggests photography as a pastime or hobby is growing ever more popular.

While this may be true, I think there is something else at work here. I believe that most people making photos today are not doing it as a hobby for pastime: for the majority “taking” photos serves other purposes. Of course I can’t speak for everyone who posts photos on social media, but I am convinced that the camera (or more often the smartphone) has become for many of us another tool we use to get ourselves noticed, to “be seen” as one writer has put it. For many the photograph is not a way to explore or view the world or even “as a way of seeing what the world looks like in a photograph” as the prolific street photographer Garry Winogrand once said of his own reasons for making photographs.

Just take a scroll through your Facebook feed, or have a look at Instagram. On both you will see untold numbers of images of food, people’s meals and desserts. You will see photos (and discussions too) of the latest clothes the poster has bought and countless photos of people’s possessions: cars, computers, sound systems; the list is endless. And then there is the ubiquitous “selfies”. What we used to call self portraits have now become less a way for us to explore ourselves and our place in the universe and more a way to compete, to show off, to tell the world what we’ve got, how “cool” we and our possessions and our lives are.

You can even buy “selfie sticks”, equipped with Bluetooth no less, for taking those photos of yourself with your phone. I see them more and more on the street. Once upon a time it was fairly common to ask a bystander or someone passing by to take your photo if you were alone and wanted to record what you were doing or where you were. Nowadays, even this sharing and connection is denied as we slip more and more into a kind of narcissism which is aided and abetted by our materialistic and status driven society.

Remember Narcissus? He was that guy who came across a pond in the forest. Kneeling down to take a drink, he caught sight of his face reflected in the smooth surface of the pond. He was so taken with his reflection that he fell in love with it. He talked to it, smiled at it and tried to convince it to return his love, but each time he reached out to touch that beautiful face in the water, the image dissolved into ripples which faded away. 

Eventually he realized that the face in the water was his own reflection but he was still so obsessed that he stayed by the pond until he starved to death (one version has it that Narcissus was so grief stricken at not being able to possess his new love that he stabbed himself).

I think the lesson from this sad story is plain. The infatuation with mirages or reflections of ourselves is not healthy. As was the case with Narcissus, we can become so caught up in the surface reflection that we present to the world that we are not able to go any further with an exploration of self. Maybe we don’t take it the extremes that this guy did (he had already rejected love from all who offered it) but a fixation on that surface reflection does lead to disconnection from others, a growing lack of empathy and an over-concern for surface appearances to the detriment of the real us and what is really going on in and around us.

Am I saying that all “selfies” are bad? Of course not. Am I saying you should never share with your friends what you had for breakfast, or your new outfit/car/whatever? No, I am not. What I am saying is this: sometimes, just sometimes, when you are tempted to take a photo of yourself or your breakfast, look around. Ask someone near to you would they mind taking the photo for you.

One more thing: Dump the selfie stick (literally and/or metaphorically) and turn the camera or your phone the other way and engage with the world.

Peace

Talking About Subjects & Objects in Street Photography

Run Don't Walk (Melbourne Australia June 2014)

I read yet another definition of Street Photography yesterday. And boy oh boy aren't there a lot of them around these days? But never mind that. What I want to talk about here is just a few words that really stood out for me. The writer was giving his definition and said something about "objects" in the street. At first I read on, then, suddenly, I realised he wasn't talking about the buildings, cars, buses or other inanimate things one sees on the street; he was actually referring to the people in the street as objects—as things.

People as things? I don't think so. But, as I read on, there it was again, and then again. This so-called "expert" on street photography was describing people as objects. Sorry, I know I'm repeating myself here, but I was and I still am just so flabbergasted at such an idea. And, just think how many people are going to read that article. Makes me shudder.

Anyway, it put me in mind of something a fellow Twitterer said to me a while ago. I forget what we were talking about, but I had used the word subject in a post, referring to the people I photograph in the street. Here's his reply:

I wouldn't even call them subjects. Sounds too clinical. I'd opt for collaborators. It's a partnership.

And he was right. Is right I should say.  Regular readers will know that I have been trying for a while now to start a conversation that will lead to a less aggressive, less acquisitive and gentler way of speaking about street photography (here's my blog post about language in street photography).

I have for some time talked about "people I photograph" rather than using the word subject. A change that has to do with my desire to change the language, but in truth prompted by my fellow Twitterer's comment quoted above.

As a street photographer, calling a person I photograph a subject really implies that that person is subject to, or in some way not on the same level, or holding the same power as me, simply because I am the one with the camera making a photograph of them. If anything I feel that the person being photographed is the one directing the process. By this I mean that they are the ones who invite or do not invite the photographer (that's me) to photograph them.

Of course for many this is all very esoteric and perhaps is even seen as complicating what some would argue is a very simple process. And of course, street photography when practised well is a very simple process.

How is it simple? Well, I don't mean simple as in easy: it's not always easy. No, I mean simple as in straightforward. We talk about being "in the zone" when on the street photographing. And when we are in the zone we are in touch with the feeling—the vibe if you like—on the street and in a deep way we are connected with the other people around us. In this way we just know if we are given "permission" to photograph them or not. Of course it's not at all spoken, this permission; it's more about the intuition of the photographer connecting with the flow of energies and feelings of others around her or him.

So, it is about language. But it is about more than the words we use to describe our activities as street photographers. It is about an attitude toward other people and the environment we are working in. It is about a willingness to be open to the sub-conscious wishes of others and just knowing at a deep intuitive level what is and what is not okay.

I talk a lot about sharing moments with the people I photograph. By this I mean a two-way sharing that takes place as I feel the rightness of making a photograph of a person or group of people. In this respect those other people are very much my partners (as in having an equal participation and 'investment'), collaborators with me in the process of creating a photograph that is then a true representation of that moment.

Street Photography really is a team effort isn't it?

Street Photography on My Way to the Shops Today

I'm usually terrible when it comes to carrying my camera everywhere and all the time. I mean to say, I don't have it with me often enough. So, today we ran out of bread and bananas, and a clear and urgent call to replace and replenish supplies of these staples meant I had to head off to the shops, a ten minute bus ride away.

At first I thought, no I won't bother with my camera; after all oftentimes for me "chores" and street photography don't really mix that well. But, then, I had a real strong feeling that I should take it. So, I grabbed it and a spare battery and headed off ten minutes too early for the bus.

So, I strolled round the corner to the busstop. On the way, I was really attracted to the house on the corner opposite to the one we're looking after. I'd walked past it a heap of times, but today for some reason I thought I would make a couple of photographs of it. I know, I know. It's not what you might call classic street photography, but it is very much documentary I think. I mean, this is how people live today in this suburb. And in a lot of others too of course. Anyway, here's the house, or rather my photo of the house.

Storm Brewing Over Suburbia (Melbourne Australia June 2014)

A few years ago I gave myself a project I called Hometown Houses (you can see the collection on my website here) while we were living in Echuca on the Murray River in northern Victoria. Other commitments took over and I fell way short of my aspiration to walk every street of the town and to photograph all the houses that appealed to me or spoke to me. And then we left the town to embark on our current journey, so the project is kind of asleep or on hold, or paused. Stopped anyway.

But, today photographing this house, I had the brainwave. Why not start up the project again? Just this time it will be hometown in the sense of whatever town or suburb we happen to be living in. Well, okay, not such a brainwave, but I think it's a good idea nonetheless. I mean, suburban houses have a special appeal all their own.

They are where a large percentage of the population live (in this country and of course in many others). They so very often are a reflection of the society, the time they were built in, the occupants' individuality and preferences for how they want to live or what they think is important, and really are an important element of our society that cries out to be recorded. After all suburbia, like all things, is in a state of constant flux. New houses replace the old; new styles take over every so often. Yet at the same time, there are pockets where you will find houses of all eras side by side. Then again, in some suburbs you will find acres upon acres, miles upon miles, of identical houses or apartment blocks all built at the same time.

In any case, that's one of my new, or renewed projects, I'm going to work on. Today was a good day to take my camera out. I've reconnected with this project, but I also came home with a few photographs that fit more neatly within my humanist street photography practice. Like this one for example. This lady was waiting at the busstop to catch a bus going the other way. She just caught my attention. And we shared a moment!

At a Suburban Busstop (Melbourne Australia June 2014)

Oh, all those storm clouds. They looked like they were going to turn into rain, but they didn't. And that was a very good thing as at the other end I had to walk a few hundred meters to the shop. You will be happy to hear that we now have a pile of bread and a pile of bananas. So, we should be okay for a while even if the storm does come

Peace

Bali: My month on the island of dreams has just begun

Hanging Out with Dad (Ubud Indonesia March 2014)

So many people dream of spending time on the island of Bali. And we were among them. But now we are here. In fact, we've been here four days so far. At this very moment we are in the central town of Ubud, an even more evocative site of dreams for some. First impressions are very mixed.  On the one hand there are the people. I don't ever like to stereotype people, so all I will say is that thus far we have been treated by every person (and I am not exaggerating. I do mean every person) we have encountered, with courtesy, kindness and a helpfulness and hospitality of a sort I have never in many many years of travelling experienced.  And there is the architecture; it is extraordinary. I mean it really is. For example, every house has its own family temple and the front gate to every home looks like the entrance to a temple with lovely statues (always including my favorite, the elephant god Ganesha), floral offerings and even incense. 

On the other hand in all those many many years of travelling, often in the world's largest cities, I have never before experienced the intensity both in terms of noise and congestion, traffic like there is here in Ubud. I have after two days yet to come to terms with the reality of it. If that makes sense. Ubud is a set of villages now more or less running into one large town, and there are only a few very narrow roads lined with buildings. So, what you get is a lot of  cars, bikes, trucks and pedestrians in a confined space which makes for maddening noise and chaos. Well, as I said, I've never seen the like in my life.

But, having said that, I am excited by the possibilities here in Ubud  for street and documentary photography. It's a very colorful place, with friendly people, lots of tourists and travelers. And there are so many wonderful streetscapes. This aspect of the town I love already.

I know that after a few days I will adjust to the negatives and relish the positives (I forgot to mention the great food. And then there is the tea! Best I've ever had, and what a relief that is after travelling to some very tea impaired places in the last year or so). So, to begin my positivity: I am typing this post which I will soon share with you all, on my laptop with my feet up in our very comfortable hotel room and can't hear a sound. Well there is the air-con! I think that, once I get out and into the street a few more times, this place will start to feel like home. I actually got a little hint of that vibe when out today for an hour.

So, stay tuned, for more posts from Bali.
Peace to all

PS I should point out that we have yet to explore outside the town. The traffic really does, from what we're told, affect only the central business areas of the town. I am also prepared to admit that my reaction could be a result of a bout of extreme sensitivity brought on by tiredness and travel weariness. As I say, stay tuned!