Ultimo Warehouse

Skyline Darling Harbour

Extraordinary Drummer

This amazing young percussionist was playing in Pitt Street Mall on Sunday afternoon. His skill and stamina are remarkable! His instruments are two drum-sticks, a collection of white plastic buckets and the paved ground on which he was seated. Bravo! - applause for this passionate and creative soul!

Here's a YouTube link - the first one is a video I took today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS5aDcdRyW4

And this one is by another YouTube-er:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urUQLENbwUQ&feature=related

Stepping Out - Art Exhibition

Quick-pic snapped at the
Cocatoo Island Ferry
Biennale Show

Beach Ballet

Stary Stary Night

Rozelle Bay by Night

Loving Laundry Day

There's a Buddhist practice that says that rather than wasting time getting bored with everyday chores, we could approach each action with an even heart and find joy in each small action. Below is a close-up of my laundry bag:

"Before Enlightenment,
chop Wood, fetch Water.

After Enlightenment,
chop Wood, fetch Water..."

Taking my clinic wash to the laundromat is a weekly ritual where I also have the opportunity to practice my (at the moment very basic) Vietnamese conversational skills with the lovely owners of the laundry.

"Xin Chao" - Hello!
and the Vietnamese expression of thanks - Cam On - which requires a little squeeze of the bottom of the diaphragm, to make the right sound: “Cam errrhn!”
It feels like a small massage of the heart each time I say it:

“Cam errrhn” - Thank you.

Misty Mountains

On the way to North Head from Longreef.

Viva La Bicycle! (haiku)

What's the collective
noun for a group of cyclists?
"A Revolution"?

Cyclist in the Mist

Pelicans at Longreef (haiku)

sunrise at Longreef
a perambulation of
pelicans gathered

Walking Hickson Rd (haiku)

textured sandstone wall
on Hickson Rd - a backdrop
asking for actors

City Sunroof (haiku)

Gazing upwards through
the sun-roof driving towards
The Rocks in Sydney.

Crossing Anzac Bridge at Sunrise (haiku)

centre lane driving
north as the sun rose above
a lightening sky

Sunset Dog (haiku)

long legged shadows
Blackwattle Bay cycle-path
late afternoon sun

Bicycle Sunset (haiku)

cycling round the bay,
the setting sun threw shadows
long across the path

Flight Path (haiku)

Adventure: someone
going somewhere in search of
something exciting...

Waning Moon (haiku)

An afternoon moon
sitting high in a blue sky
is unexpected.

Australian Native Flora (haiku)

here's a wax-flower:
Eriostemon "Stardust"
in Barbara's garden.

Clovelly Sunset

Looking North to Bronte

The view from headland at Clovelly, looking north towards Bronte beach.

Seagull (haiku)

an overcast day
did not divert the seagulls'
hopes for fish and chips

Little Lion / Pampered Pooch (haiku)

walking on the pier
the little dog's slight body
holds a lion's heart

Lap Dog (haiku) - At Breakfast...

the well-behaved dog
sat, but his eyes longingly
followed the bacon

Banners... click pics for full-size images.

After making the banner for my friend Jeremy's blog,




I thought I should do the same for Photo-Ventura.




Funny how it goes in the choice of images... how do you chose your five most representative images? Three of the ones in my new banner were taken on the same day - a cold wintry afternoon last year, down at Shell-Harbour near Wollongong, NSW, on the way to the Buddhist Temple. My photographer-friend Richard and I had gone on one of our 'outings' - to-see-what-we-can-see - but the weather had turned and we were freezing our butts off, not sure if there was anything 'there' to photograph. Just goes to show, the most evocative images don't always come on a 'perfect day'...

In the end, I chose 5 images that evoked a sense of journey and ad-venture-a!

The boat? Boats in general connote journeys past and journeys yet to come and the orange buoy echoed the red of the heading-text very well;

The heart-shaped rope-bollard represents the 'heart' of courage and inspiration necessary for a journey: an anchor, a place to connect to, a safe harbour;

The blurry incense smoke is evocative of the spirit and mysticism inherent in every journey - the parallel story that runs alongside every inspiration to travel through space and time, the narrative of the inner journey meshing with the outer;

The bright green graphic-like palm frond brings Wood energy to the page: venturing forth, sprouting, growth, renewal;

And the duck...? Have you seen that image somewhere before?... Besides being a good colour resonance with the hues of the other pics, it is an oblique reference to the Direction-Finding-Duck in Michael Leunig's 'Voyage of Vasco Pyjama'.

Here's Leunig's quote - it is from his book The Curly Pyjama Letters, in which Mr Curly and Vasco Pyjama correspond with each other from the perspectives of their two worlds. Mr Curly is at home at Curly Flat and Vasco is travelling the world in the company of his direction finding duck.

Mr Curly writes to Vasco:

"... In response to your question,
'What is worth doing
and what is worth having?'

I would like to say simply this:
It is worth doing nothing
and having a rest...."

More Shell Harbour, South Coast NSW.

Following on from the Banner Pics of Shell Harbour, here are some more images from that winters day.