Australia, you're standing in it
This is a collage I created for Janet Basco, an accomplished and talented filipino singer last Sunday night.
Haven't written for a while, it has been raining in Sydney and surrounds now for the better part of 5 days...and whilst there are inconveniences, I love it. I love that the parched ground is receiving much needed moisture from the heavens. I love that the moisture from tributaries and inlets are making an impact on our combined water reservoirs in the Sydney area. The rain has come with a return of winter's chill as well, which is never a problem for me; I love rugging up and feeling cosy. One of my happy memories as a child was curling up with a Doona (quilt) on the lounge, having some food nearby and watching TV. It’s still something I love but rarely if ever do these days. I stood in the rain again this morning, and whilst it was cold, I love the exhilaration I feel as the drops come in contact with my upturned face, and as the drops reach my skin through the clothing. I am convinced there are neighbours of mine who think I have lost it...and perhaps they are right. I just love to feel the sensation. It is not the same as ascending Everest or skydiving, but to me it is equally as satisfying. It is akin to the feeling I have when I walk barefoot on cold frozen grass in the cold of winter as the blades crunch and bend under my feet. It is just wonderful.
We are also in the grip of electioneering and it is a very different thing here than in the Philippines where I was earlier this year at the height of their elections and the method of how they do it. Our practices between these two vastly different places are very different. Without going into too much detail, in the Philippines their campaigns and promotions assault the senses, some are just a laugh, a deep belly laugh in the happiest sense. On the other hand though I was watching the Taglish (Tagalog / English) news one night and they mentioned the stats of a sub category of elections I had never heard of before that point, called simply election related deaths. What the? Yes, a number of people die in elections there at election time. Sad but true. If I am not mistaken, when I was watching the news report on that station I heard election related deaths listed at 200. There was even one candidate running in Luzon (northern section of the Philippines) killed from what was assumed to be a disgruntled opposing voice. Like most of life in the Philippines, it is different there. For me it is a land of contrasts. They are an incredibly gifted nation of people. A famous Australian friend of mine calls Filipinos the Irish of Asia, and added they are the workers of the world. He said even going to Antarctica and other nations around the world, he has travelled to and written about, he found Filipinos working very hard. He has been to some 150 countries to date.
But back to elections here, I have photographed both John Howard and Kevin Rudd and find Kevin to be a much more personable person than what I found of John Howard, but the situations were slightly different. The fact that Kevin is seeking to be elected, and John Howard has "been there done that" is not lost on me either. My pessimism believes that irrespective of what tune they play or say, the result is that they are ostensibly the same. I am a bit of a person who believes in the fabled Shangri-La where peace, love and harmony are not lofty ideals but actual tenets of living. Ok, it is unrealistic at present, but it is nonetheless a goal I wish we could reach. I saw Burt Bacharach in concert at the Sydney Opera House a couple of months ago, and was amazed at how his music has become the soundtrack of many thousands of lives. I was particularly interested with his new material, which he says is his most important work ever. He almost apologised for his less melodic voice, as he sang songs from his latest Album, as they are songs about the world he once grew up in, and wondering where it has gone to now. He is in his 70's and said that he is worried every day about his children who are growing up in a world that is radically different and scary. His song, which I have mentioned in a previous post, called What The World needs Now, Is Love Sweet Love, has never been more appropriate and important as it is now.
I am not an avid or passionate follower of politics; I do however like the system that in America prevents anyone from serving for more than two consecutive terms. In my mind, that helps "keep the bastards honest", or at least accountable. I think anyone who stays in power for as long as John Howard has, irrespective of Party is not healthy. We need a change for sure. Change is good mostly, and it always helps me find a new way of looking at things. When all is said and done; Australia is a very nice place to live. I love visiting busy places like Manila, where there is a pulse and a heartbeat that just doesn't exist the same way in our fair land, and I love standing in the middle of the road in Times Square New York, or on the Vedette Du Pont Neuf in Paris, or even at the base of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur or in the middle of Las Vegas' strip, or even in the rice field of Macahig on the island of Leyte in the Philippines or even in a dive hotel in regional Australia. I have not visited 150 countries, and I have not climbed Everest, or sailed from Tierra Dell Fuego and Ushwya to Antarctica, but I like to believe and imagine I am a citizen of the world. I love the chance I have to exist and experience the things I do. Each experience and each person touches my life for good.
I am grateful for my cameras and lenses and the growing ability I have to see the world through the lens. I love people and over the last few days, I was able to photograph many friends, old and new, and some performers and am just happy to be here. Oh, and I have decided that there is an iphone somewhere in the world with my name on it!!!! I have decided after looking at a friend's one the other night that this is a gadget that will rock my world!!! I am going to get one! Thanks for showing me Jim. Love ya.
Peace and love to you all today.
Comments
“I just love to feel the sensation. It is not the same as ascending Everest or skydiving, but to me it is equally as satisfying…… I have not climbed Everest.”
Craig, how could you possibly know that the sensation of rain on your face is equally as satisfying if you have never climbed Everest or jumped out of a plane?
V2T
When you say that they are ostensibly the same, are you referring here to their political platforms? Could you please elaborate?
V2T
As you have developed your photography skills over the years, what training have you undertaken?
V2T
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They seem the same to a person who hears the noise and hype and is not influenced by the pork barrelling and giveways basket that makes an appearance at election time. It appears to me that no matter who is in power, they always blame the government of before. Taxes increase despite their best intentions, and after a while any new change of government gets into a groove we are stuck with for several years. I am not a fan of politics or any party particularly. Though I love this country, inspite of it's many shortcomings, it is a world better than some socially, economically and in the liberty and freedom I enjoy.
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I studied a course in photography at Tafe NSW and also have undertaken many courses in bettering and furthering my skills, but the most training I have undertaken is from experience itself. I have been exposed to sooo mnay different aspects of life, people and styles of photography, it has in no small measure greatly enhanced my life experience.
"Clearly there is an obvious flaw in comapring the experiences. I based my comments on speaking to a man who climbed K2, and died there on a later occassion, I spoke to people who have jumped from planes, and the unique thing that stood out to me was not the lofty views or the height they scaled but the simple feeling of freedom and achievement. So in that spirit my comparison stands."
Craig if you think your comparison stands simply because you have taked to people who have achieved thiese amazing things then you are seriously deluding yourself!
Not only are you deluding yourself, but you are belittling their outstanding achievements by claiming you have come close to the satisfaction of their successes because you have 'felt the rain on your face.' Come on!!
In a much earlier post you said that you wanted to be one of the 'great ones.' You don't get to be great just by standing next to or talking to a great person. You get to be great by doing the kinds of things they do.
What have you done that is great, out of the ordinary or truely different? Any human being can upturn their face, feel the rain and love the sensation.
Don't try to elevate yourself to the rank of greatness without doing the things that qualify you - it's arrogant and ugly.
V2T
I should not have used the words "arrogent and ugly." As I re-read the post I can see that they could be perceived as being offensive.
If I have offended you, I humbly apologise and ask your forgiveness.
V2T
It wasn't that you offended me at all, I was simply amazed at how an innocent comment from me that, as explained, was simplistic and innocent in nature and expression, could be so misunderstood and used to belittle or condemn the original thought. It is after all MY thought.
If you believe I am seriously deluding myself, so be it. Is the world going to change it's axis? IS what I think, see or feel going to change the course of history? will it change your view of whether I am great or you think I pretend to be? I doubt it. Seriously. Greatness and achievement as I see them are individual pursuits that I face every morning I arise and look ungracefully in the mirror and say here you are again. I just want to be better today than I was yesterday. Greatness doesn't always lie in the public face of achievement and adulation, it lies in the 20 odd years Nelson Mandella was incarcerated, it lies in the quiet resistence of woman Rosa Parkes who was so tired to move on a bus one day, that her quiet resistence changed the course of Afro American segregation in the good ole US of A.
Similarly,
Is there any harm in telling my innocent and guileless son that there is a Santa Claus, a tooth fairy or any thing else that may appear to be a delusion or falsehood? I am not launching my answer to become another point of volleying between us - I expect thsi point to rest after this response, I am just saying that I respect your point of view, please don't condemn me for mine. No matter how right, wrong or flawed it may appear under scrutiny. Just accept it as it is. accept it or don't, the choice is yours. Having said that though, I have growing suspicions as to who you are and am mildly intrigued, but appreciate your point of view always, no matter how much I may like or dislike what you say at times.
Thanks for hanging around.
“I am not launching my answer to become another point of volleying between us - I expect this point to rest after this response, I am just saying that I respect your point of view, please don't condemn me for mine.”
Craig, I have already offered a sincere apology for the harshness of my previous post.
V2T
“IS what I think, see or feel going to change the course of history?”
To answer the question you have asked me I refer you to your own words Craig:
“…it lies in the quiet resistence of [one] woman Rosa Parkes who was so tired to move on a bus one day, that her quiet resistence changed the course of Afro American segregation in the good ole US of A.”
So, I ask you Craig:
Can one person change the course of history [with what they think see or feel]?
V2T
“Greatness and achievement as I see them are individual pursuits that I face every morning I arise and look ungracefully in the mirror and say here you are again. I just want to be better today than I was yesterday.”
Indeed Craig, you are correct.
Thank you for clarifying and providing an understandable illustration.
Greatness is relative. Sometimes for some people who are living with personal struggle, just getting out of bed is a great achievement. For some people, living through another day is a great achievement. Sometimes just hanging on with every thread and living through the next half hour is the greatest achievement. (I am speaking generally here).
V2T
“Is there any harm in telling my innocent and guileless son that there is a Santa Claus, a tooth fairy or any thing else that may appear to be a delusion or falsehood?”
In my opinion…no…not at all.
However, many would disagree with both of us on this point.
To clarify though, I was not talking about children or fairy tales.
V2T
apology not needed, I was not offended, challenged yes, but not offended.
"Can one person change the course of history [with what they think see or feel]?"
Yes, clearly!! You're good!
"To clarify though, I was not talking about children or fairy tales."
Agreed, it was my attempt to switch the focus, and again you have picked up on that!!!
hehehehehe