I'm never sure whether this is a blog with photographs or a photoblog with commentary. Does "photoblog" even exist in the common lexicon anymore? Suffice to say I'm just a nobody, as much as anybody else is, with nothing to say, as much as anybody else does.
Should you wish to see more of my photowork, please follow the link in the sidebar. And if you happen to be intrigued by single malt whisky, take a peek at www.whiskydistilleries.blogspot.com...or not.

November 14, 2010

on beauty

Two things bring me to this post, the synergy of two separate interviews I hear on CBC Radio (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - a jewel in the crown of public broadcasting in my view).

Harvard history professor Jill Lepore talks about her book "The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle Over American History". The author comments that she can vehemently disagree with someone yet still like them as a person, unlike the state of affairs in the American political arena where disrespect runs rampant. Nasty confrontational politics is becoming the norm here in Canada as well, as it is everywhere else in the world I suppose.

Johnny Reid, a Canadian musician born in Scotland, talks about the genesis of his song "Today I'm Gonna Try and Change the World". One day he sees his son off to school bidding him to go and change the world, and gets to thinking it somewhat presumptuous when there are things in his own life which could be done to accomplish the same thing.

And I get to thinking about respect and changing the world...and maybe how it all relates to why I take photographs, or perhaps more appropriately the desire for others to see them. And it is "take" as opposed to "make", for the most part. I shoot what I see in the world around me, with post-processing attempting only to overcome the failings of the photographic medium, to bring the image closer in line with what and how my eyes have seen. Can the fostering of respect bring about positive change, can exposure to the beauty of the world around us germinate respect for that world and lead to the changing of that world for the better?
...Can't hurt.



three swimmers in Lamlash, Arran

 

heather on the Ard overlooking Port Ellen, Islay



the iconic lighthouse at Port Charlotte, Islay...and my dad


November 11, 2010

this is not mine, but apt for today...
War does not decide who is right, just who is left.