eternal feline beauty and water

'Tiger, tiger burning bright in the forest of the night...." (a extract from Willaim Blake's famous poem) I haven't put the whole thing here, because this is really about this amazing picture.

That poem and this picture just do something magical to my inward eye. I guess its a little unexpected to see a cat sitting so happily in water. The fluidity of his body merging with water.

 I find this so inspiring and uplifting.

Evolutionary fashion

This morning I read an article on 'The Daily Beast' titled: 'Fashion's Arab Spring' about my favorite designer of the moment, Haider Ackermann. I read more about him and his life. And then I understood why I feel such resonance with him. He was born in Colombia (where I grew up for several years of my childhood, in Bogota), and he was brought up by French parents, and then proceeded to live all over the place. My parents weren't French, my father Dutch and my mother English, but we did live all over the place, including Iran. (this is back in the fifties!) So I have things in common with his background. But apart from that, I am an advocate of being free to be who you are, 

and enjoying your beauty and sensuality.

His work is about freedom. Freedom to envelope your body in beautiful draping fabrics, freedom to be feminine without having to display your body packaged and bound up so tight, layers of stiffening and hype, your flesh sort of squeezes out of the gaps, and you can't breathe, you can't walk properly, because you should done have a course on stilt walking before wearing those shoes, which may make you feel tall and powerful, but compromise your back, and your natural rhythm, and actually disconnect you from your real power, that of being a woman standing on Earth now, in these times. How can this be 'cool' or 'hot'? You're not free to just enjoy and revel in the beauty of being in a feminine body, who's natural rhythm is like that of nature, sensual and gracefully shifting between spaces, the senses alive and open.

sunset at North Pole, a rare and beautiful sight

This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point earlier this year.

A scene we will probably never get to see in person.

The sun is also below the moon, an amazing photo and not one easily duplicated.

I find this photograph quite hypnotic in its silvery beauty. It reminds me of a mystical

or sacred vision of some kind. It evokes quiet and profound thoughts and feels dreamy and

mysterious.

Paul Strand & Alfred Stieglitz

This is an unusual photograph for Paul Strand, usually his photos seem to be a take on social realism. I think here he had a a more ethereal moment perhaps..

"It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time."

Alfred Stieglitz

if only we could capture the scent of daphne on camera

flower from out-a-space?

This is an African daisy and I just searched online for it, because I was looking for something outrageous from Nature, a statement about how innovative and out-of-this-world she can be.  I wanted colour and dynamism. This picture delivered!

black swan threesome

I took this pic in Canberra too, and played with it a little, (using Photoshop ofcourse). I just wanted the eye to take in the relationship between these three beautiful creatures in their domain, the water. Their necks are such a huge part of their expression, and ofcourse their 'signature'. 

Ansel Adams his eye for Nature

'Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu', T .H. 1948 gelatin silver print.

The legendary phtotgrapher Ansel Adams just always inspires and stirs me..I think his influence is not to be underestimated when you consider when he took this photo!

Ice Spiral - Tree Soul

I woke up this morning thinking about Andy Goldsworthy, artist/naturalist and in my opinion a kind of futurist shaman. The whimsy and beauty and alliance with the natural, belie an intensely deep question of what art is, how it can manifest through our imaginations and skills and speak to the onlooker in a nonverbal language of the heart or Soul. I love this work.

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.

Nino talking

I still think about Nino my little beautiful extraordinary ET black cat. He only lived for two years, and in that time I learnt a lot from him. He used to talk a lot about his world and his experiences, and he'd respond to my questions. He still inspires me with his beauty and grace.
When he was happy, like he is here in this picture, his tail would fluff up..