a breathtaking photograph of Istanbul the Bosphorus at dawn before leaving for the inspection of Macka.

When I saw this picture it drew some  kind of ancient memory or dream from my subconscious. Somehow the ancient light and the merging of a casual cafe scene with the sea and boats is so beautiful and unexpected.
I don't know who took the photograph, but here is where I found it.

Ferry ride from Queenstown '95

I took this photo with my old Nikon F2 in 1995. Today it feels perfect as a reflection of darkish mood
I find myself in.
It also brings back memories of filling Sundays up with my teenage son somehow, to
keep some kind of connection going, struggling against all odds, as he pushed the boundaries to individuate, cutting his own path, however wild-and-woolly it seemed at the time. I'm sure today he's glad that I was able to let him explore, but I always kept a safety net suspended there (covertly). The dark and the light, the ambivalent tenuous hold one wants.

Giorgio Morandi and the Stillness

Giorgio Morandi - 'Still Life' (Natura morta), 1956

I can't believe that I've been somehow involved one way and another with the visual arts for most of my adult life, and I hadn't familiarized myself with this incredible still life artist, Giorgio Morandi. With the six days of painting intensive behind me now(see last entry), I can look at this remarkable artist's work online, at least.

I found this image at the Met Museum. I gasped, as I experience the Stillness... 

Degas and the light

I am currently doing Geoffrey Dupree's 'From Drawing to Painting' course. For the last three days we have focused pretty solidly on tone, and how it indicates space. Most of us look at colour and shape all the time. I found that I rarely look at tone. And then I thought about the painting of Degas' that I saw at the French masters recently. It's just a small painting which is probably the first painting you look at when you enter the exhibition. I stood in front of it for a long time, just absorbing the light and the space he created with light, and the absence of light. And then ofcourse there's his flawless draughtsmanship. Need I say more. But with very little colour, he allows you to enter into his illuminated world of light and space. Magic.

concrete waves, leaves, dark & light

I took this photo yesterday afternoon on St Kilda Road here in Melbourne. The light is starting to mellow out and the cooler mornings mean that Autumn is nearly here. I love the contrasts here between the 'soothing' waves of concrete, the leaves, the light...

that Maui sky

I came to from the deepest Shavasana (last pose you do in a yoga sequence), and this is what was there. That wide blue Maui sky and the palm leaves..Its hard to convey the magic of Maui, but over the next few days, that's what I will attempt to do...Such a soft and lushly beautiful island, right out there in the middle of the Pacific, part of what we know as Hawaii.

where can our imagination take us?

I picked up this image from a blog I'm enjoying at the moment called: Pretty things. There are many pretty and lovely images and sayings here, I find it a soothing place to go. I find it allows my imagination a license to float and roam...no conditions...
In Melbourne the temperature is virtually unbearable at the moment, so we need to float into other realms to cope. Our body temperature is 37.6 degrees I think, so anything above this, must mean we've started to 'cook'.

Shadow dancer

Rory, my partner took this image yesterday afternoon, when the sun happened to be just in the right spot, behind the Lorenzl bronze dancer I have in the window. When he showed it to me I didn't recognize her at first, it looked like a dream of her, a journey she was making in the ethers, a lone path into the light...

Eclipse

Eclipse, originally uploaded by cYrus!.

This photo came up on a search I did for 'death flower'. Another person within my community has just died, and it feels like a time of transformation, and letting go some more.
This photo has a mixture of dark and light. There is a feeling of a group of people holding the light. I sometimes find the light of my inspiration comes after a journey into the dark.

Enjoying the warm dark beach

Outside right now, it is cold and gusty big rain is slapping against the glass panels in the roof, so this gorgeous late afternoon shot I took at Peregian Beach, (south of Noosa) just feels perfect, and in a way, although I'm glad to hear the rain in dry old Melbourne, that warm dark beach is just what I need to think about today.

looming sky

I've just been looking at a lot of photos on a site where you can buy royalty free images, I just looked at sky pictures. I still thought that this one I took when we visited Queensland some months ago spoke to me more about light and dark, changes and natural beauty. I took it with my little pocket Leica, while we were spinning down the freeway on our way to the coast.

the dancing light

I took this picture when we were in Koh Samui the year before last. I still look at it alot, because of the dancing light, and the pattern created by the relationship between the girl and her dog. The dog was leaping up into the air for the ball. The light was dusk, and the air was thick with the scent of spices and frangipani, and that moist warmth which makes every cell in your body surrender.

Autumn rose

Yeah I know its a bit corny...but how about that delicate transition from pale cool yellow, to frosty sweet pink, and that slight wind and angular light..I just couldn't resist! I took it with my phone camera (quality isn't great) yesterday in Preston. Poignant and sweet...

The pier

This sparkling criss-cross, in the late afternoon Autumnal light..my eyes close slightly as the inner light finds the resonant beat, the internal structures containing the pathways, or are they just an idea...