Weekly Photo Challenge: (Pattern)

Wot another great theme, the great ones being ones open to a range of interpretation… so many pictures, so little space, but had a variety of shots that jumped out at me to use in this post, each bringing their own personal flavour to this Patterned Buffet:

Clockwise from the top left we have:

# the patterm formed by row upon row of white fluffy cloud hovering over the water and nature scene below like a flight of incoming U.F.O’s

# the unique pattern+shadow formed by the upside down bicycles hanging in our community house on Potter Street in Philadelphia

# both the shades and the shapes of the tyres and the paint which in this picture are all scattered around but are being prepared so that they can be places in a creative design around the new park area reclaimed for the children in our area

# the leaves that amass in front of the blurred image of my beautiful bride on our wedding day, almost as if they are an army, ready to command to do her every will

# the various patterns and shapes of different colour that individually resemble chaos but as they are crafted by my friend Karim come together in a beautiful design that he says is me and gives his unique nickname for me of ‘Fisher-man’

And then this last one stands out for me. The pattern formed by the water. Not quite Moses parting the Red Sea but my best attempt at it. The uniformity of the waves creating a stunning image of venturing forth’ness.

 

[For the previous Photo Challenge with the theme of ‘From Above’ click here]

Weekly Photo Challenge: (From above)

i love the themes that are open to great interpretation or variety and ‘From Above’ is no different… really hard to just stick to one picture and so here is a selection of some images which capture this for me in different ways and contexts:

firstly two shots from the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, the first simply giving a sense of the height and the second for me stood out for the uniformity of the scene below which gives a sense of calm and order:

View from Petronas towers, Malaysia

The uniformity captured below.

the next shot was one picture from my trip to Niagara Falls which was way too short and completely moved me just in terms of the power of the water and the beauty of the scene [as someone who appreciates nature but not usually to that extent] – i like the minimalism of this picture with the boat squished into the bottom corner heading towards this wall of water:

View from the top of the Niagra Falls

and lastly an old photo shot with some mates who i stayed with in Old Oak Road, Shepherd’s Bush, London… unity and harmony, friendship and fun, creating our own tower linking back to the first pictures:

[For the previous Photo Challenge on the theme of ‘Up’ click here]

Weekly Photo Challenge: (Up)

another week and another great photo challenge, this one offering a range of interpretation, although i decided to keep it simple…

here is a picture of me and the world’s most famous stuffed dolphin, No_bob [because he doesn’t!] taking in the sights of the Petronas towers in Malaysia… a strong sense of Up happening there…

and then these three from my website photo shoot many years ago… which i call ‘preparing for take-off’

[For the previous Photo Challenge on the theme of ‘Colour’ click here]

the tragedy and not so tragedy of the Boston Marathon explosions

what happened yesterday with the bomb explosions after the Boston Marathon that up til now have claimed three lives and injured well over 100 people [with ten or more amputations that occurred with some of the survivors] was a tragedy.

any time someone is killed it is a tragic thing and more so because this was something that was ruthlessly planned and carried out.

and Facebook knew about it – scrolling down my news feed page there was mention after mention of it with people sending prayers and good wishes to the families of people involved or just stunned that it had happened.

a little bit later i saw online that there had been a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Iran with 40 people killed [so far] and when i went back to Facebook i saw mention after mention of supper and the latest show and movie news and work stuff and i have yet to see any mention of the earthquake.

in fact when i went to find a link to an article on the earthquake i found this list of news items under the heading ‘World News’:

1. Boston explosions: three dead, no arrests, no claims of responsibility

2. Boston marathon blasts: hunt begins for perpetrators – live updates

3. Carlos Arredondo hailed as hero for Boston Marathon rescue efforts

4. Alaska military policeman jailed for selling secrets to ‘Russian spy’

5. Huge 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits near Iran-Pakistan border

So Boston, Boston, Boston, a guy who was jailed for selling secrets, oh and by the way there was this little earthquake that killed 40 plus people.

please hear me on this. i am not saying that what happened in Boston was not a tragedy, but what i am saying is that what happened in Iran is equally a tragedy. what is important when an event like this happens is to be shocked and to grieve and mourn with those who have lost friends and family and to stand alongside them and to also try and bring justice and stop something like that from ever happening again… but at the same time it is so important to keep some perspective – this is not the most tragic thing happening today…

for just a glimpse of the kind of context i am talking about, here are some facts and figures from The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, which i don’t see happening in peoples Facebook statuses [stati?] or Twitter feeds day after day… and this is stuff that Americaland with all its resources [even just a fraction of their military budget] could prevent:

Overview of World Hunger
For millions of people, the fight against hunger is a matter of life and death. 841 million people in the world do not have enough food to eat, including 153 million children under the age of 5 years. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ estimates that 6 million children die each year as a result of hunger and malnutrition. There is no other natural or manmade disaster that compares to the magnitude of devastation caused by world hunger.

Who is Hungry?
841 million people suffer from hunger, malnutrition and famine across the world; 550 million hungry people live in Asia and 170 million in sub-saharan Africa. In total, 95% of people experiencing hunger live in developing countries. However, hunger has recently grown in severity in countries like the United States and former Soviet Union countries, mainly as a result of poverty.

The World Bank estimates that by the end of 2010, 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty– surviving off less than $1.25 per day.

The Extent of the Problem

40,000 children under age five die every day from hunger and preventable diseases. That’s 24 children a minute; equal to three 747’s crashing every hour, every day, all year.
The loss of human life from hunger is greater than if an atomic bomb were to be dropped on a densely populated area every three days.
One in every five people in the world is hungry.
More people have died from hunger in the past two years that were killed in World War I and World War II combined.
70% of childhood deaths are associated with malnutrition and preventable diseases.
70% of people in Asia live in extreme poverty.

Boston marathon bombing – tragedy – 3 killed, a hundred injured
Iran earthquake – 40 plus killed, hundreds injured
40 thousand children under 5 die every day from hunger and preventable diseases – we do nothing. we don’t even take time to grieve, mourn.

surely that would be a good place to start focusing our energy, concern?

Weekly Photo Challenge: (Colour)

black and white definitely holds something special and extra for me in terms of being able to convey the depth of thought and seriousness in the picture on the left or the heightened mystery and intrigue of the pose in the picture on the right. the shadows in both add a stronger presence to the pictures.

when it comes to injecting colour though:

for me the picture on the left, which has not been worked on at all, has such a range of blue going on starting from almost white and working through various shades, it resembles one of those pick-the-colour blocks you get for choosing backgrounds and is just stunning in its natural effect. the second picture which was done using laptop webcam special affects i like because of the psychadelic nature of the colours used which create an effect of out-of-this-worldness, a sort of gentle surrealness.

And then ending off with these two which are contrasts in hairstyle – the one on the left is me in action with two of the greatest TheatreSports guys i ever played improv with and if you can get past my horrendous hair [worst ever!] then the depth and darkness of the blue is what really makes this pic come to life for me. It has a bold and framing effect which i really enjoy. And what collection of pictures on colour would be complete without one showing the changes of colour to my hair, this one of my favourite times of going for a mix of it:

 

[For the previous Photo Challenge with the theme of ‘A Day in my Life’ click here]

Weekly Photo Challenge: (a day in my life)

the theme was a day in the life of me, and to a large extent this is what a regular day looks like: hanging out with my beautiful wife, looking deep and contemplative in many different ways and poses, messing around with technomology, being different in some way, playing some kind of sport, game or improv to the full [sometimes resulting in africa shaped injuries], appreciating bobblehead [or 3D] Hulk, taking time to worship God in nature or other ways, and more posing and deepful contemplation… only thing missing from this day is some food appreciation…

[For the previous Photo Challenge with the theme of ‘Future Tense’ click here]

Weekly Photo Challenge: (Future Tense)

this week’s challenge is a little more vague than normal which is great cos it allows for a wider scope of creativity and so i came up with these two pics which for me contain the idea of ‘Future Tense’

first up, the world’s most famous stuffed dolphin whose name is No_bob [i was going to call him ‘Bob’ but he doesn’t bob hence the name and the lack of a huge number of entrants in the ‘stuffed dolphins of the world’ category means i can be pretty convinced that he is it] sticking out of my jacket pocket [which was taken at a Christian worship camping weekend called Namrock, held in Namibia].

he’s in a pocket so clearly he’s going somewhere – this is a temporary picture, promising something more – a journey perhaps, a destination not yet discovered, the moment of reveal… whatever it is, it gives the whiff of something to come which creates intrigue, mystery and suspense. and besides i just really love the pic:

and the second one is taken on the deck of a restaurant on the outskirts of Austen, Texas, when my wife the beautiful Val [tbV] and i were visiting my older sister and her family… the day slowly drawing to a close, some form of conversation or ‘just being’ happening and in the background the sun begins to set, letting us know that this day is being brought to a close, but another day will surely follow… again the expectation of what we see in the photo leads us on in our minds to continue the story and imagine for ourselves what possibilities may life ahead…

 

[For the previous Photo Challenge with the theme of ‘Lunchtime’ click here]