SlateSpade

A selection of thoughts and photographs.

"Be not over wary, but wary enough,
First, of the foaming ale,
Second, of a woman wed to another,
Third, of the tricks of thieves."

—

Havamal

For the Viking within

"I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street."

— W.H. Auden
Always gets me.

"They sicken of the calm,
who knew the storm."

—

Dorothy Parker, ‘Fair Weather,’ Sunset Gun, 1928

Find your storm again.

"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer."

—

Ansel Adams, landscape photographer.

I feel it applies more to portraits.

Places in Faces IV

Q: How cute are little boys?

A: Very.

I took the picture below in the town centre of Litang, this little boy was smacking his gum with the confidence of a stud.  Looked me straight in the eye and blew a bubble. So cute.  His mum had better start barricading the windows.

What’s funny though, is that no matter how long ago I took a particular picture, or how random the circumstances surrounding the picture, I can always recall the exact details surrounding the shot…where I was, what I was doing, why I took the picture.  As a result, I am not too overwhelmed by the fact that I have tens of gigabytes of photographs from all over. 

In other news, it has been a while since I posted pictures or quotes or anything really.  I always mentally blame it on the disorganised state of my photography archives, or on the sporadic internet connections I so often encounter, but those are half-hearted excuses.

I think it has a little bit to do with the fact that photography is a hobby.  But it’s not just because it’s a hobby, it’s because I know (or want to know) that I do it for fun. For kicks. I don’t have to do it, not to eat, not to live.  It’s not the boss of me, so I forget my beloved tumblr for a while.  But I DON’T forget it, not literally. For one, it’s on my Safari speed dial, so I see it every time I launch it.    And I would much rather have all my pictures sorted and edited and renovated and just bloody LOOKED AT again by me.  So I’m gonna try to be better about that.

Anyway, there are lots of little photographic miracles hiding in the anals of my WD, and it is my duty to myself to re-acknowledge them, no matter how long ago I took them.