Earlier this week I took a photo similar to this one. It was partly to get a reference shot for this, which I took yesterday. It was also partly to see if this scene would work without using the 70-200, but it didn’t work how I wanted it to work where I was when I took that photo.
The below was taken with the 70-200 and I like how it seems both peaceful and menacing.
I hope you enjoy.
One listen for this one. Bit uneven in that it’s really rigid for a while, then suddenly loosens. I think that, had I tried to do something more gradual this would read much better.
Because of Ghosts’ “Dreaming is Essential” is from This Culture of Background Noise.
I hope you enjoy.
—
A gradual hum of guitar and something percussive fades into view. Eventually the guitar takes on a louder form as it rings and gently rolls out notes. The percussion too takes on greater shape, but the space is there. The space remains as a sweet melancholy flows through the instruments. The bass is there too, subtle and quiet, but flowing along, underscoring and supporting.
The sounds thrust in brief moments and keep their procession slow outside of those, but they also build quickly into a dry loudness, and they seem to meld more as they take on clearer form. They pull back and strings become apparent, moving with the sounds and drawing out, and seemingly disappearing just after everything else. Then its back to the core of the guitar, bass and drums.
They start building once more and the strings are back, and the melancholy remains, but there is a joy here. As the sounds continue on and move back to building and growing that joy remains. Innocence seems to whisper outward as thoughts play out images of simpler times, thought maybe what it is is the fight to maintain hope, and to look forward and outward from a heavy space.
All drives forward and stepping forward through thoughts and desires it becomes easier to look through the sadness and reach forward. It becomes easier to dance and run and see things in vague specifics, but their sentiment lingers and they guide and help shape and construct, and the sounds continue on in a warm lowness, for the moment of build seems to have passed and now it’s to remain steady, and you keep on running forward and you run through the streets and the fields and by the sea on a coldly warm day, and the light is beautiful, but it all fades into something that seems distant, but it instills hope and a sense of comfort, and it becomes easier to look forward and a drive remains, and perhaps it is all beautiful. It’s saddening, but it’s just beautiful, and it remains as such as the sounds fade and the song ends.
I spent most of yesterday in The Blue Mountains. Needed to get out of Sydney.
I went on a walk with Ewe out to this point. We had another walk in mind but we chose to do the walk that leads to this point instead as it’s a fair bit less intense.
Lockley’s Pylon was named in honour of J.G. Lockley. After being lazy in trying to find out who he was, what I’ve learned is that he was a journalist who, at times used the pseudonyms “Redgum” and “Florist”. He also supported conservation efforts for The Blue Gum Forest which is nearby this location.
I hope you enjoy.
So I had this plan where today I was going to do the thing that I recently said I was probably going to do but ended up not, but that has fallen through so now I’m writing at this particular time of the day rather than earlier on in the day and I write about the day a lot so I should probably stop doing that and instead enjoy the TEA that I have next o me, which I am enjoying but not saying much about for various reasons that don’t involve much, and yet involve the whole world and its mysteries.
That’s not going to happen, however. Instead of that I’m just gonna sit here and be angry and hate everything as that is a far more productive use of my time and I want to make sure that I’m productive every time all the time. It’s the only way to be and that is something that people need to know more of. Of course you could know less of it, bit you need to know more of it as that is the way it goes and that is what I’m putting out today.
There will be no music and there will be no expression. Expressiveness is explicitly forbidden and I won’t hear another word of it, unless I have no choice but to hear another word of it, in which case I don’t know where to go from there. I may be struck into silence, and then what? Where do I go from there? Other than to wherever the road takes me as it becomes amorphous and directionless, uncaring in whatever it is delivering and where it is going and perhaps that is okay. Maybe there are other, far more important things to worry about in this life we refer to as life.
Maybe I am writing about the wrong things at this moment but I need to not be expressive. I need to be as neutral as possible but that is a challenge and I am lazy. I am not down for a challenge. What I am down for, however, is not hurting myself and so in not hurting myself I need to slow down how quickly I type, but that too is a challenge and I want to avoid challenge so instead of that I will do this and I will keep on going with the thing that I’m doing now. From there I will do something else and then from there I will do something else that is more else than the thing I was doing previously.
Perhaps there will be even more else after that and it grows more else in small increments so as to appear as a smooth gradient, and that would be nice. It would look pleasant, or at least I’d hope it would look pleasant. Could look absolutely awful; I’ve no idea at this point in time, but perhaps with more time I will know at some point in time.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:49:08
At the moment I feel as though I’ve left a draining situation. I probably feel that way because that’s pretty much what has happened with moving house. Still not a good bit of writing, but I think it’s okay. I think some parts work really well.
Written at home.
Here’s a long exposure of the same area as seen in this photo, though from a different spot.
Maybe it was the same spot but zoomed out. I can’t remember.
Anyway, had the opportunity to do some long exposures whilst in Vaucluse so I did as I haven’t done any of this kind for a while and I miss doing them. I think this turned out well. Of course it could be better, but the overall smoothness and light lines are nice, I think.
I hope you enjoy.
One of the last photos of one of the rooms in the place I recently moved from.
I did a few versions of this photo and this is the one I feel works best. I wanted to focus on the light and its reflection; I like the way it seems to bend so I felt if I could keep the attention on that, then this would work better. I’m not sure if I succeeded, but I like the result regardless.
This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.
A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.
I hope you enjoy.
A bit frozen today but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Could be much worse. Could be better, but could be much worse. Need to keep that in mind as if I don’t keep it in mind it’s then out of mind and I need to chase after it and I don’t feel much like going on a lengthy digression that leads to nowhere right now as I’m a bit tapped out. I feel I’ve got no digressions to go on and if I’ve none to go on I’ve nothing to ride into the infinite distance that never arrives. It just stretches out beyond all that I can be bothered to see and so i0nstead of all that chasing I just want to sit down and not think of much.
Now that I say that, of course much is what comes into my brain and so much is now what I need to think of, but I’ve got more important things to think of, but now it’s much. It’s much and it’s too much to think of much at the moment, but what am I gonna do? I’m just gonna keep on stretching out the idea to the maximum possible stretching and then call it a day, but of course the day is already called a day and so I can’t really call it that, but I can and so that is what I will call it.
Where am I going with this? This could be packed to the brim with something that says something but instead all I’m saying is very little. Of course this isn’t different from the norm but I’m really feeling it today and that’s not a good thing. I do wish it was a good thing, however, as if it was a good thing then I could say that it was a good thing and I’d be free to parade this fact around whilst I recline in a parading chair that does the parading for me and… I don’t know what I’d do if that happened, to be honest.
So now I’ve come to the point where I try to tie all of this together but there is nothing to tie together, I’m afraid. There is nothing going on and I’m just waiting to defrost a little more so I can get on with the day. It’s taking some time and so I’m not happy about that, but sometimes that’s the way the frost defrosts so I sit here waiting whilst I try to keep that in mind as I don’t want it to be out of mind as that causes all sorts of issues and I just don’t want to deal with them at the present moment.
Then again, maybe I could just let that happen and then give up on the rest of the day. That is a valid approach; it might not be the best approach, but it is valid.
Then again, maybe it is not; I have no idea.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:07:10
Not the best thing I could’ve written. I think I relied too much on repetition here. It wasn’t beneficial.
Written at home.
Another Ens song I’d queued up for writing about, but time has been limited and so it is only a few minutes ago in which I was able to get around to doing so.
I think I was looking for imagery here but I ended up more describing what was happening. I didn’t quite try to cover as much as possible here and just focus on some parts and it kind of worked.
Ens’ “All in the Mood” is from Warp + Weft.
I hope you enjoy.
—
Percussion rolls and crashes as it echoes outward. Soon it seems that bass splays across the percussion as something in the background descends. There is an organisation here but it sounds like an organised disorganisation.
A sound beeps and disappears at points as that descending gets louder, and something else echoes out, much higher than everything else. It is not lofty but it is above all.
The percussion stops, leaving focus on everything else for a few moments. Eventually more percussive sound comes in, seemingly cycling as a brief snippet whilst a drone appears underneath. Bass plays against and alongside this new percussion and other sounds appear here and there and the space remains with an oddness, but it is certain. It seems more organised now and remains as such when the main percussive strikes return to crash and roll and echo outward.
All continues onward with a spaced fullness. All continue onward, steady until it is time to pull away, leaving the percussion to close as the song ends.
In pain and tired but today that isn’t going to stop me. Today I’m going to hit the ground flailing. Will do that and then do other things. You know how it is.
Currently my hands are covered in grass cuts but they are getting better. Taking time but getting better. Hard work works often but sometimes there’s a better way to go about things. I did things not the better way and it was a conscious choice and now my hands are covered in grass cuts from weed removal, but I’m not complaining. It’s an annoyance but it’s not preventing me from doing stuff.
At least, as far as I’m aware it’s not preventing me from doing stuff.
Sitting here, getting ready to tackle the day as hard as I can. The day will naturally take me out and push me back but that’s okay, I think. I still will tackle. I still will fight and push on and move toward whatever comes next. No stopping; just going and going forward to go on into whatever comes next and all that other stuff.
Wait; I hit the ground flailing. There isn’t much of anything that I will do until I stop flailing. Also, rather than hitting the ground it was more like a gingerly lying down on the ground followed by swinging my limbs around in a manner that implies flailing but not really flailing as what I’m doing is more performative than it is anything else, not that I’d ever want to admit that of course, but it is. Ergo, there’s not much point to saying that.
So anyway, I’m now lying on the ground but instead of doing that for a while, which I had planned to do so, I’m just going to crawl into bed to take care of a bunch of things that involve resting and more resting as there is a lot of rest to be had and I am just one person in this container known as a house. I will have all the rest and leave none for anyone else and so therefore I will be the most rested of all time and forevermore.
So today is a series of thoughts and more unpacking. Slowly no longer living in the boxes. Slowly revealing a life hidden away and a life that needs peeling back. Slowly it all comes to clarity and slowly that clarity reveals things that I knew not of, or at least forgot were the case and so things about myself are gradually revealed to me, but nothing overly impactful as it’s all just life stuff and life stuff comes in small waves and large waves and this is just small stuff, but unlike the waves I can cast a lot of this aside and pass it into someone else who might make better use of it, and the memories associated will be filed somewhere to be forgotten about until they are remembered once more, and hopefully with a fondness.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:25:20
I think this has a bit of fatigue in it, but it was really fun to write so I don’t care much.
Written at home.
This is one of the last photos I took of the place I recently moved out of.
I was taking final photos and decided to take some involving reflection such as this one.
This is my submission into the two hundred-and-fifty-fifth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Telling a Story“.
I won’t get into the story this image relates to right now as it’s sort of long, sort of short and I need to sleep. However, it will come in a few days.
The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:
Week 1 – Tina
Week 2 – Patti
Week 3 – Ann-Christine aka Leya
Week 4 – Amy
Week 5 – John Steiner
Week 6 – Sofia Alves
Week 7 – Anne Sandler
Week 8 – Donna
Week 9 – Guest host
Patti is curating this one. July will be guest-curated and the themes have been announced in advance:
July 1: Ritva Sillanmaki with “Inspiration Found in the Kitchen”.
July 8: Philo of Philosophy Through Photography with “Simplicity”.
July 15: Dawn Miller of The Day After with “Fences”.
July 22: Dan Fenner of Departing in 5 Minutes with “Unbound Summer”.
July 29: Janet Webb of This That and The Other Thing with “Overlooked”.
I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.
I hope you enjoy.
Stupidity Hole 