birdbath

Several late afternoon visitors, they had fun in the courtyard.
I also had an end of year not quite metaphoric cleanup ~
extended wet periods in the tropics grow mould in
all sorts of places.

luscious photos: eastmanimages

flying

I made some carpet birds & have them flying over a series
of Cappadocian landscapes. They almost disappear, in the
larger versions, I amped them up for this size.
There are cave houses at the base of the cliffs.

This is the picture I made for my email christmas cards.
Many of the others I've posted are also available in
limited edition prints, about A4 size.
Write a comment if you are interested, I'll give more details.
Or email me. 

the past year at the big picture

decipher

This file is a bit larger than usual, as I'd like someone to
see if they can decipher any of these pages. I bought several
antique books, long ago in Kashmir; the store owner kept
flicking through, thinking there must be paintings, but I
love the look of the pages, how it is carefully mended, all the
small notations, many upside down. & I'd like to use some
in an artwork, if I can be sure it will not offend anyone.
I'd guess the red words are a name of God.
One of the books may be 3-400 years old. You can
feel how much concentrated effort went into each page.

calligraphy site

rainy drive

The drive north (to Gold Coast) is good by bus, it's
a higher view of the countryside, with big windows,
everything is so green with all the rain. It wont be
much fun for people camping, everything is either
waterlogged or flooded.

vintage clown photos

wet

The Gold Coast was distinctly gray, also
very dramatic in the different lights, the horizon
highlighted one moment, fuzzy the next,
it's always fun to watch the ocean from
a different perspective.
& to be with my family.

touching earth

Here's a few good luck buddhas for the end of 2010,
above are from Thai & Lao temples

& these are from Indian museums, so possibly a lot older.
The hands are in the earth touching mudra.

If you are reading this, it probably means
the world didn't end today ~
that's good, isn't it
!!!!!

I'll be back in a few days.
jaoa colagem, heimir bjorgulfsson, & my favourite eduardo recife

tropics

I doubt if palms grow where it's cold, unless they are
brought inside in winter. They always look so tropical, no?
Where I live - Byron Bay - is sub tropical; this summer
has been remarkably cool, due to clouds & rain.. maybe

The elegance of the seed pod case is so different from
the sticky red-faced feel of humid weather.

How about this solar eruption?

by the river

Went by bus to a nearby town last week, the plantings
by the river are starting to look good. The fig trees appear
to have very friendly relations above & below ground.

clever extinct toys by josh finkle

happy christmas

enjoy your time over the christmas break.

errol morris

meanwhile

Meanwhile my neighbour called me to have a look
at a water dragon laying her eggs in a hole. About 20 ~
where did they fit?. Then she covered them, I don't know
how long till there's lots of little ones, do you?

Stuart Freedman ..damn, has this already happened??

ditto

Maybe the places I lived have since been renovated,
'modernised', 'cleaned up'

with cool bars & bistros instead of..
which is too bad, as I had to ration my film, then,

So, yes, I'd like a ticket to the places I lived back then,
with a (as yet un-invented) digital camera; I could see
my friends again,

& take (& store) endless photos, etc etc.

airform archives

old prints

Maybe I'll have to go again to India, this time with a good
digital camera, it's upsetting to see the prints from
long ago in such poor condition. I tended to think of
photos more as reference material for my paintings, then.
Living there for 5 years, there were so many
unique opportunities..
time travel is what I need now.

joakimeskildsen

scribe

Scanned some old photos today, you'll see them
over the next week if you want to.
The chinese letter writer was in Chunking c. 1982,
the bamboo in Bali around then too

Cai Guo-Qiang

acanthus

Scanned the leaves top left, photographed in Germany,
I think it's the acanthus family: looking at some of the photos
from Istanbul, of architectural details, it's hard to be sure.
The pillar top centre is closer to Greek times.

the snakebox odyssey

calendar

Have made a calendar for 2011 using some of my beach
photos ~ I've enough for daily pictures for about 10 years!
Might change it to some of my new ones, i.e. since Turkey.
Watched an interesting video about the group
Baba Zula "Crossing the Bridge". They recorded the
Kurdish singer Aynur in the wonderful acoustics
of an old hamam, such a rich voice.

dig

Am playing with a few strands of thoughts/images to do with
memory/myth/tradition. Maybe I'll find a better
device than the almost-calligraphy that connects the sky
& patterns. It looks like an Arabic letter?

Ernst Fuchs

myth

I incorporated one of these Persian(?) dragons in a painting
long ago, she felt very at home by the volcanic lake.
Not sure of the provenance of the winged eagle lion; only when
I zoomed in to adjust it did I see the several flocks of
nervous sheep, nearby.
Yes I know they are small photos, however I'd like to
profit from them before anyone else tries to..
Available as prints, more details via email.
Not expensive

Jeremiah Maddock

the works

The fountains before the Blue Mosque seemed to come
with music, a trippy sky, the works.
I'll do more like the manuscript birds, right.
(available as limited edition prints)

Surendran Nair

cave dreams

Imagine the kinds of dreams you might have
in a cave room 7 floors underground, where for centuries
people had hidden during times of invasion.
In the city, the old trees looked down on us, the new invaders.

Gabriel Dawe

small folk

Will post a few of my new pictures, based around my month in
Turkey. Some are straight forward: no I didn't go ballooning.
The Cappadocian cave houses & their long history really
stirred the imagination, it was as if I kept seeing
small folk from the side of my eye, offering wildflowers.
As usual, you can email me for details of prints.

Fay Jones

watery

Had an afternoon at Boulder Beach, named for
guess what..

then to Lake Ainsworth where I had fun with reflections.
Both are on the coast, south of Byron Bay.
Feeling uncommunicative. You are too, it seems?

istanbul

These will be the last photos of Turkey, for a while at least.
All are large files, have joined several photos together.
Parts of Istanbul's wonderful city walls..

.. a quaint house & old doors in Istanbul.
There are of course new buildings, but this is what I like.

lensculture

food

One night I joined some lovely Turkish friends, (we'd met
in Thailand) for food on Istanbul's Asian side.
The cities evening silhouette really is fantastic,

the food stores are great, each with it's specialty
displayed in a polished way, so much more satisfying than
a supermarket. The food at Ciya
was the best I had in Turkey. They have a website, but it's
currently unavailable

byzantine

While in Istanbul we'd have breakfast at the hotel, looking over
the sea, & other hotels' terraces (Sebnem above right),
& work out a plan for the day. This day was to the
Byzantine church now museum Kariye, begun in the 5th ce

It's had lots of sympathetic reconstruction, & the splendid
mosaics still glow. It reminded me of "Sailing to Sarantium"
by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's a beautiful place, such a
harmonious mixture of art & architecture.

aya sofya again

After September 20, our group increased, so we went again
to some places. Aya Sofya is vast, & can be seen from many
perspectives: as a church, a mosque, a huge renovation..

I enjoyed finding some of the odd built-in or painted angles

though I wish it was possible to use a tripod.

an interesting science blog

inside

Our hotel, the Alp, was close to most of the sights, we often
passed the same shops, I now wish I'd shopped more.
We used wet days to explore museums etc.

Big fountains frame the Blue Mosque, where this
wonderful metal door is.
Topkapi & its numerous treasures is just
a few hundred metres east, the Golden Horn just beyond

The paper shirt left is exquisitely decorated in minute
arabic calligraphy to form a pattern,
(behind glass in low light doesn't give good results)
centre is a partial ruin set into the wall in Gulhane park.
In many places including Topkapi Palace the use of marble
is exceptional: they have used this particular piece of
the pattern, to harmonise with exactly that, it appears.

mad silence interesting scope

istanbul again

So now I'm back in Istanbul, it's about September 21.
Each day I'd move my photos to a storage device, so each day
is now on my computer as a separate folder ~ or
sometimes 2, when I used both cameras.
In 'real time' now I'm starting to make new works from
these many thousands of photos, as well as from the way
the mental images cross fertilise.

Did I mention before how I love the walls in Istanbul?
Some have stood for longer than trees, & you know how
strong trees are to touch. So they are more akin to mountains.
Mountains that speak as you pass by..

miki soejima's photos ~ intriguing stories

castle

Overlooking the lake, on stone cliffs is the old castle.
We went up there for a splendid sunset on the last evening
in Van. Below, there'd been at least one bloody conflict.
A small mosque by the great Sinan is being restored.

synaptic stimuli

armenian church

We went across Lake Van to the medieval church where there
was an historic church service the next day, Sept 19.
It's a delightful building. We'd met the co-publishers of a
new book on Aghtamar church, half of which
is devoted to colour photos & architectural drawings.

It was then I realised I'd made a drawing from an old book,
perhaps 40 years ago, of one of the reliefs below left.
(I've made about 3 drawings with a christian reference, ever)

I doubt if it means anything except that the figures carved
all round this 10th century church are a delight.
It has an altogether happy feel to it, on it's own little
island on the beautiful lake ~ in spite of the tragic history.

on foot

We had a remarkable day walking in Van. People so friendly
& generous ~ sweet! Flew back to Istanbul 2 days later.

One man asked why I was photographing a broken house,
when I said because I found it beautiful, he shrugged,
clearly thought I was a bit crazy.

missed connections

4th century

Near Van, in an old village full of beautiful children are the
remains of a very early Armenian orthodox church.
The back section has a strong presence;
all places of worship, whatever religion,
seem to achieve that over the centuries, no?

intense messages in the photographs of taryn simon

van museum

With all the side trips we didn't get to see much of Van at
first. It has a small but charming museum. I particularly
liked the figures in the courtyard, found only 12 years ago
in Hakkari, carved there some time between the 15th
& 11th century BC. They have that amused look of
so much naive art, though the times may have been
quite serious then, too.

more details on the Hakkari stelae

dogubeyazit

After the beauty of the Ishak Pasa Palace, the nearby city of
Dogubeyazit is.. well, not very attractive, or if it is
I didn't see that part

We went into a depressing market, full of tacky stuff,
isn't it odd how that sometimes makes interesting photos?

goodisdead