more eastern meditations...

From a role I shot recently, was feeling peaceful that day.

Something for the start of the day

I like the energy, and I need energy today.

Things change ...

There are in Hong Kong, but for not much longer, dai pai dong stands (apparently this means “big permit stall” for the size of the permits they where issued with originally) they came into their heyday in the 1960’s when the population of Hong Kong was growing rapidly. They are cooked food stalls where you can sit and get a bowl of noodles, a cup of tea or some congee. A few years back the Hong Kong govt. decided they where a menace to health and hygiene. Now, when the permit holder dies the permit can only be transferred to their spouse. As a result they are literally dying out.

This is the “memory” of one that has now been pulled down. Hey, maybe a Starbucks or Pizza Hutt will go in instead.

Some might read a sense of irony in my diptych, what can I say.

I have also found this series on the last day of a dai pai dong by a local photographer which is worth a view www.flickr.com/photos/ahorizon/42032336/in/set-921379/

A tourist image

OK, it's very predictable and kind of derivative but I like this one. And it's colourful which is always nice. This is the (slightly cropped) back of a street stall for those of you who need to know.

There is somthing about controlled nature ....

... that makes it interesting when they try to create parks in shopping malls.

Golden horses

A quick one for Andy. Continuing on your "Race Track" theme of recent posts. This one from a Hong Kong Jockey Club display at a local shopping mall.

The Promised Land

Another from the series I am working on. This references Exodus and the signs used to guide the Jews in their search for the Promised Land.

New/old/continuing work.

I have finally worked out how to post images. I am such a Luddite at times. Anyway I am playing with some ideas at the moment around spirituality and seeking hidden meaning in the everyday. This is the first of a few images I will be posting as time, skill and technology allows. The series is tentatively called “The Face of God”.

Been reading...

..a few good books.

Among them is One Hundred Photographs: A collection By Bruce Bernard. A great collection of images from some of the great names in photography, and, I feel, appropriately, a large number of anonymous ones as well. One of the 100 images in the collection is W.Eugene Smith, Tomoko with her mother beside the Bath. This image is iconic in its depiction of the effects of mercury pollution. In the book the photograph is not shown, in its place is a short essay on why the image is not published. It makes interesting reading regarding the use of images and their wider effect. I recommend it to any photographer who photographs people.

Another day

It’s been nice today. The rain and wind cleared the sky and the light was good, temperature was in the mid 20’s with comfortable humidity. So I stayed inside most of the day and worked. Shit happens.

I did get out in the end, had to get some stuff done and post some letters (you remember those, messages that you put on paper, stuff in an envelope, put in a box with a token on them and someone then gives them to the person you want to get them) and run some errands.

As one of the errands took me to Kowloon I went and had another look at the Rothko exhibition. It’s great, even in one of the worst art galleries I have ever been into the work just glowed and asked you to come closer and spend time with it.

So, if you are in Hong Kong, go to the glorified toilet on the Kowloon waterfront and see the Rothko’s. It’s worth the visit.

... as Chanchu passes to the south...

...the typhoon warning has been raised to level three, that means expect winds of up to (gasp) 46 km/hr. That's a still day in Wellington!

...and if you are at all interested...

Here is a web link http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc_pos.htm where you can track Typhoon Chanchu.

If it keeps to its current track it will most likely miss Hong Kong. Still, good bit of rain will clear the air and might well encourage more creative efforts on my part.

While I wait for the typhoon ...

The level one Typhoon warning has gone up. For those of us who come from Wellington that means it looks like we might experience some familiar weather.

T1 means that there is a Typhoon within 800 km of Hong Kong. If it gets here it will arrive on Thursday. Should be interesting.