Monochrome Monday

"And those who were seen dancing

were thought insane

by those

who could not hear the music" 

Safe Travels

Safe travels, 

wherever the Easter break 

takes you.

Autumn

Happy Easter

Have a safe and

happy Easter.

Analogue Treasures

Fall down seven times, get up eight

The arc from exhilaration to annihilation took exactly 1.5 seconds, according to my camera. I'm sure it felt more like one of those slow motion disasters for this chap. who not only got drilled but copped three more set waves on the head. Leggie (leash) didn't snap either! Talk about putting "fall down seven times, get up eight" into practice.

Monochrome Monday (barking at light)

Surf photographers have to be barking mad.

You stand in the sun for hours while everybody else is having fun. Or you swim around trying not to get run over, so you can get a shot worth keeping.

There's no money in it, though your equipment outlay is enough to feed a small third world village for a week. Maybe it's just barking at the light.

But I intend to keep doing it as long as I can. Yep, it makes as much sense as trying to hit a white ball into a hole 18 times or losing a heap of money watching horses run around in a big circle.

But linear, economic rationalist logic explains nothing here, so I'll leave the final word to legend Kiwi photog Jackie Ranken, who says:

"I am at my most settled when I have a camera in my hands and the space, the time and the light to make photographs and print them."

surprise package

Got this set of images from good mate, media-tart and longboarding legend, The Bazzmeister, from our recent foray north. A pleasant surprise,

Away back crook shabby tired and all that

Sorry to the regulars who may be righteously indignant that I have slacked off for a few weeks. I've been hanging with friends around the spot above. Sometimes I've even trapped time in one of my little camera boxes like this one below of Bill Stewart one of the Stewart Twins who are reviving the Woosleys surfboard label using original templates from the late Ray Woosley, an iconic board maker in these parts from the 60's.

One arvo, I shot for nearly three hours with my big professional beast and a little telephoto portrait lens inside a pretty yellow casing. The light was gorgeous and the vibe aloha-like. I got sunburn, hypothermia and a nasty ear/throat infection.

But it was worth it.

West Coast Confusion

I surf on the East Coast of this big island, where the sun rises out of the sea and sets over the mountains.

Simple. Until I get to the West Coast of anywhere and the opposite happens.

I shoot away thinking the light is going to get higher and harsher.

But it gets better and more beautiful. 

I lose track of time.

And before I know it, the stars are out.

Cyclone

Busking and Hitching

 I was always a more successful hitchhiker than I was a busker.

Recently I was reminded of the similarity between both activities when I listened to a presentation from Amanda Palmer of the The Dresden Dolls, who started her performing career as one of those all white statue buskers who don't move. 

In the talk she describes an exchange of giving where the busker gives a performance and the stranger strolling past gives a coin or two. Nothing particularly exciting there as this is the principle of our international free trade economy - I give you a product and you give me money. 

The exciting thing she describes is the fleeting exchange between the two where their eyes meet and lock for a few instants and there would be this unspoken flash that would say "thank you" and theirs would suggest "thank you for acknowledging me and helping me feel more visible and less lonely" 

Hitch hiking was a bit like that. (I've retired my roadside amble.) Strangers would give me a ride somewhere, sometimes to my destination and sometimes not. I'd provide them company and a few yarns. For a little while, my presence would break up the monotony of their journey as they lived vicariously though my adventures as a hitcher - just about always with the same sorts of questions "What's it like standing beside the road waiting?
Anything awful happen? Do people abuse you?
Why don't you have a car?"
And we'd talk story and make each others lives a little better for a little while.

It's an amazing feeling giving and appreciating the giving of others.

It's amazing how total strangers will help each other if they are only asked.

For free.

Monochrome Monday (Mould)

Dave Dunn ex Pres of Noosa Mal Club on a sunny one

Today's post is for everybody out there battling the mould and the wetness trying to get their homes homely again after one way wet summer.

Casablanca Autumn

Sunny Coast before the floods

Marrakech Autumn 2012