2012 Royal Canberra Show – Clean Sweep
The Royal Canberra Show is held every year to celebrate and showcase the very best that the region has to offer. I have been entering photographs into the Canberra Show Art Prize for the past three years. There are four classes in which to enter photographs;
- Open
- Landscape/Places
- People & Portraits; and
- Black & White
I always try to enter a photo into each class and I have picked up several 1st places over the years in various classes. This year though something quite remarkable happened: I won every class! I still have not quite gotten my head around quite what this means but really it's an excellent result! The photos and their classes are presented below;
Organ donor? I have decided. Have you? Does your family know?
I was reminded by Ally over at her blog everyday miracles that it's Donate Life week – an initiative by the Australian Government to promote awareness of and (hopefully) increase the number of people willing to donate their organs. Organ donation in Australia is low. In fact, Australia has one of the lowest donation rates in the developed world.
I have always rationally believed in organ donation … although I admit to finding the subject a little disturbing at first. I found that if I turned it around… if I thought about how I would feel if someone had donated to me and given me what amounts to a most precious gift … then signing up for my card would be a lot less disturbing. So that's what I did. I figured if I'm not around to require it any more then someone else would be free to use it. I signed up, I had my discussion with my family who thankfully agree with donation and are (for the most part) organ donors too.
Some facts about organ donation in Australia (from the donate life website)
- One organ, eye and tissue donor can save or enhance the lives of 10 or more people.
- Australia is a world leader for successful transplant outcomes, yet has one of the lowest donation rates in the developed world.
- Around 1600 people are on Australian organ transplant waiting lists.
- On average, people on the transplant list can wait between 6 months and 4 years. 4 years!
With a majority of Australians generally willing to become organ donors it is vitally important that people willing to donate their organs have a memorable discussion with their family about their wishes. In Australia, the family will always be asked to confirm the donation wishes of the deceased before donation for transplantation can proceed. Less than 60% of Australian families give consent so it's again vital that your discussions are had and that they are memorable.
I carry my card, my family knows.
Organ donor? I have decided. Have you?
http://www.donatelife.gov.au/decide
Princesses Aplenty – Riverfront Theatre Company
Towards the end of last year I received a lovely email from Paul Coleman at the Riverfront Theatre Company in Windsor Ontario, Canada. He was putting together a youth theatre production called "Princesses Aplenty – A Fractured Fairytale". Paul had seen a photograph of mine and thought it would be great to help promote the production and asked if he could have my permission to use it. Here's a part of Paul's letter…
"I work with a group of kids at a non-profit organisation called the Riverfront Theatre Company in Windsor Ontario Canada. We provide theatrical art programming to over 80 young people at absolutely no fee for the participant. We are entering our 8th season we are spreading our creative wings to present an original production entitled Princesses Aplenty. There is a dragon in our play and we would love to use part of your image in our poster. Attached is a rough draft of what I would like to use. (with your permission of course) If you are willing to allow us to use it could you send me a higher resolution copy. We would gladly credit you on the poster and on our website."
I was chuffed and not least because it's nice to be asked. I said yes and provided a high resolution copy of the dragon image below to Paul. Anyways, time passed and every now and then I'd receive an excited email from Paul letting me know how things were going and how everyone loved the image and it looked great and then yesterday I picked up a parcel from the post office. Inside (see top picture) was a t-shirt, two tickets, a program and two posters … cool! I was especially impressed with the t-shirt. Thanks mate, it made my day.
Now it transpires that Paul, as well as running graphic design house Creation Design is a photographer too and has some nice photos up on his website. Go have a look and tell him I said 'Hi'.
Sweet White Noise
When I first published this self portrait of me sleeping like a bat, I was listening to the album The Sound of White by Australian artist Missy Higgins.
Listening to the title track got me thinking about the sound of white noise and how relaxing I found it. About how white noise is the sound made by all the frequencies randomly occurring together at an equal or flat power. About how the sound is there but there is no discernible frequency or signal that stands out (because there isn't one!). It's like experiencing thick fog, an aural isolation chamber. Listening to white noise I find my mind exploring it, looking for a handle, something familiar. Rationally I know it's not there but my mind searches anyway, fumbling and groping. Then comes a strange feeling of floating with in the white noise as it surrounds me with no detectable source … the sound comes from everywhere – omnidirectional.
White noise gets its name from the term white light which describes a light where all the frequencies are of equal power. I like exploring that too.
Wikipedia has a more thorough and technical description of white noise and it's myriad uses.
Summer Break – back on track
Not that I can believe it's February (or 2012) for that matter. I've been busy and had a lovely time over the Summer holidays being busily doing not much.
Over the summer break I had a 3-week period in January where I didn't even switch on the photo workstation! My processing has piled up and inspiration is coming back online. In a way it has been nice to not do any photography … to just let it go for a little while, to regroup and reassess my focus so to speak.
Here comes 2012!
Flying foxes with lightning – Elizabeth Bay Sydney
Here's a lucky catch! A crop from a 30second exposure during a twilight thunderstorm at Elizabeth Bay in Sydney.
I didn't see until post-processing that I'd caught two flying foxes. Cool huh?
So … Flying foxes with lightning – Elizabeth Bay Sydney :-)
In the Garden: jumping spider
Found this little one on the curled leaf of a lime tree in the backyard. A cutie huh? Very inquisitive critters … I'm not overly fond of spiders (the larger … the less so) but I like these ones.
D80 – Tamron 90mm SP Macro
In the Garden: jumping spider
Feel the wind of a passing train
Feel the wind of a passing train. Those destinations unridden, the breezy suggestion of another place.
Stand anchored, feeling the pull and blur of the cars … the light unconscious pull and tug…
Shot on the platform of Tempe Station in Sydney.
1/6 sec at f/22 in case you'd like to know :-)
‘The New Year’ a poem by Rudi de Jong
I see this poet in Civic standing tall and somewhat dishevelled asking passers by if they'd like to buy a photocopy of one of his poems … yesterday I did and I liked it … here it is….
The New Year – by Rudi de Jong
Time passing
the old becoming new
new hopes
new visions
a royal tapestry
old ways
resolutions forgotten
home, sweet, home
the golden handshake
the spoken word
prayers said
midnight joys
the economy in trouble
friends hard to find
the word spoken
another year
the future unknown
"Sufficient unto the day the evil there of"
the New Year.
Happy New Year 2012
Wishing everybody a Happy New Year and all the very best for 2012 …
This is one of those pictures best suited to some quiet time pondering … like the beginning of a new year … or the quiet patch of a garden which is where I found this :-)
~