James in the street (London, 2005)

I recently watched Simon Sinek’s talk entitled ‘How great leaders inspire action’. Although I don’t agree with everything he’s saying, the base principal of reversing the typical what? how? why? sequence, to the why? how? what? sequence used by those we are all aiming to be…seems an interesting place to start the year from.

Food for thought.

And when you eventually stop and take it in, and actually ‘get it’ you wonder how on earth you had hadn’t known about it sooner? Maybe you missed the News that night, TV coverage or Tweet…or maybe you watched it, but in a blur of media channel hopping one night – it didn’t stick?

The ‘Pacific Garbage Patch is one of those things for me. I had heard of it, I had googled it, watched a few you tube clips, and thought to myself something really really must be done about this huge amount of garbage floating around the North Pacific. This especially, as I had spent almost a month in Hawaii a few years ago and couldn’t reconcile plastic with the remoteness and beauty of the Hawaiian Islands.

Then I guess like can happen to most of us, it slowly slipped off my agenda as I got busy again. That was until I randomly came across this article on the Environmental News Network entitled: Birds and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Enter the work of photographer Chris Jordan & his team at Midway.

Copyright Chris Jordan - Midway: Message from the Gyre

I followed up by researching some of Chris Jordan’s photographic work on the Midway Atoll and have to admit being deeply impacted on what I saw and read on the links below. I implore you to take 5 minutes read the text, look at the images and watch the movie clips. Hopefully it will impact you in the same way.

“On Midway Atoll, a remote cluster of islands more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent, the detritus of our mass consumption surfaces in an astonishing place: inside the stomachs of thousands of dead baby albatrosses. The nesting chicks are fed lethal quantities of plastic by their parents, who mistake the floating trash for food as they forage over the vast polluted Pacific Ocean.
For me, kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth. Like the albatross, we first-world humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.”
From Chris Jordan’s Website http://www.chrisjordan.com

See the Photographs: Message from the Gyre

Copyright Chris Jordan - Midway: Message from the Gyre

Copyright Chris Jordan - Midway: Message from the Gyre

Copyright Chris Jordan - Midway: Message from the Gyre

Chris’ short movie trailer that must be watched can be viewed here:Midway

MIDWAY : trailer : a film by Chris Jordan from Midway on Vimeo.

“In the Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who was cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity.
A beach cleanup on Midway Atoll made us feel just like Sisyphus.

There are millions of tons of plastics present in our oceans, and these are constantly fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces which are scattered throughout the water column and present, in different densities, throughout all the world’s oceans. Contrary to what many people believe, there are no visible islands of trash anywhere –even if some areas, the gyres, accumulate higher densities of plastic pollution. In actuality, what is happening is much more complex and scary: our oceans are becoming a planetary soup laced with plastic.

To make thing worse, these tiny pieces of plastic are extremely powerful chemical accumulators for organic persistent pollutants present in ambient sea water such as DDE’s and PCB’s. The whole food chain, from filtering invertebrates to marine mammals are eating plastic and /or other animals who have plastic in them. This means that we are. Like the albatrosses on Midway, we carry the garbage patch inside of us.

Cleaning up this mess is not feasible, technically or economically. Even if all the boats in the world were put to the task somehow, the cleanup would not only remove the plastics but also the plankton, which is the base of the food chain, and is responsible for capturing half of the CO2 of our atmosphere and generating half of the oxygen we need to breathe.

But even if this problem was solved too somehow, the amount of plastic that we could capture, at an immense cost, would be a drop in the bucket as compared to the amount that flows into the ocean every day. No matter how hard we push, in terms of technology or money, the boulder will be rolling back down the hill, throughout eternity, unless we stop putting more plastics into our environment.

The good news is that we can do this. We can do this now. We need to start a social movement that spreads virally and creates a critical mass of concerned citizens who pledge to move away from our disposable habits, and who raise their voice to reject and reverse a throwaway culture that might be profitable, but whose consequences are intolerable.”
From Manuel Maqueda.(Used with permission from this link: http://vimeo.com/8177268 )

I am left wondering; How on earth, can the world at large let this continue?

We need to be affected and moved to do something about this.

Having asked friends from Cape Town, London and New York if they had even heard about this, the response was unfortunately the same. NO.
So apart from the obvious action, to create awareness…blog, tweet, email, etc…to get the word out. We just have to stop buying and using disposable plastic.

(To quote Manuel in an email response to me): ‘Plastic pollution needs to be stopped at source, by refusing single use and disposable plastics.’

To make a small impact to an enormous problem, please visit and support the links below:

Chris Jordan’s website and contact info: www.ChrisJordan.com
Midway Project blog, team details, photos, videos: www.MidwayJourney.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Midway-Journey/117981432917
Donate: www.razoo.com/story/MidwayJourney

*Images and text are used with permission.

And finally for the sceptics…it’s not setup: http://vimeo.com/6640042

In my opinion, probably Johnny Cash’s most moving song, a cover version of “Hurt”
and the song below “Redemption” both just seem to flow on from the theme of last post;
The (Good) Book Of Eli.

For whatever unrelated or connected reasons take a listen.

Dear Lord, Thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path. And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost. Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way. Thank you for any good that I may have done, I’m so sorry about the bad. Thank you for the friend I made. Please watch over her as you watched over me. Thank you for finally allowing me to rest. I’m so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace. I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.

Photographically, dusty, desaturated, hyper-sepia, HDR esque, it’s a very interesting film by the Hughes Brothers and Director of Photography Don Burgess.

I have been a fan of Nick’s work for some time now but have never had the opportunity to see the prints in a gallery setting.

I was struck on many levels by the exhibition.

As a photographer interested in the commercial aspect (of the creation of fine art) I think Nick has created a body of work that is without question both beautiful, (and therefore appealing en-mass to the buyer) and financially lucrative (something to aspire to), with his consistent application of a unique technical approach re-enforcing the strength of his collection and therefore the value.

As a photographer too, I am struck by both his proximity to these animals and unique way in which he has photographed them. Having myself, on many occasions, been close to African wildlife in varying degrees of comfort or discomfort…the latter being charged, on foot, by an unhappy African Elephant in the Mana Pools Valley (Zimbabwe), I can attest to the fact that to take pictures like this is not something easily achieved.

As a ‘lover of the great outdoors’, Nick has made the beauty of Kenya accessible and most importantly (evolutionary debates aside) Nick has given his art and his work meaning in the creation and support of biglifeafrica.org.

The poaching of these magnificent animals is not only totally irresponsible and short-sighted but bordering on evil. The shadow that falls on this earth is indeed dark…

As I have found with many of the truly great photographers, their work has meaning beyond self glorification. Take James Natchwey or Yann Bertrand for example.

This is the arena where I believe you create a legacy and make a difference with the short time one is given on God’s Earth. Nick Brandt for what its worth I applaud your efforts and wish you immensely more success as you make a difference.

On This Earth A Shadow Falls

The exhibition closes on the 18th, make time to see it. Further details here. And if you cannot get there buy the signed book (see above), proceeds go to charity and it will be worth every cent.

Brilliant.

ANDREW MOORE: PHOTOGRAPHS Part 1

ANDREW MOORE: PHOTOGRAPHS Part 2

ANDREW MOORE: PHOTOGRAPHS Part 3

Originally seen on PIC’s Noticeboard. Thanks.

The aspect that sets Yann apart from many other photographers / people is the underlying importance of the message in his work.

The message from ‘HOME’ for me is a simple one concerning beauty (earth) and greed (humanity). I wasn’t really prepared for the impact ‘HOME’ would have and how it would subsequently keep playing on both my sub concious and my conscience.

Whoever you are, or wherever you live, this film is relevant to you…go and buy this film, or at very least watch it (for free) on-line:

Home Project

The photography is awe inspiring and deeply emotive, fantastically composed and inspirational. The message is sobering. Whether or not you have any kind of faith or ‘spiritual’ bent I find the movie intrinsicly linked to this statement from the Bible: ‘Each of us will have to give a personal account to God’. Romans 14:12 I am not here to give a sermon, but we are responsible for our planet and we have to take responsibility for our actions, and at very least make some part of our lives / work in some way help to save the planet.

As the movie describes, the lesson is there to learn from Easter Island, but it seems like we have not learned it.

To summarise, take Dubai, as illustrated in the film – a place so unnaturally focused on growth and development, pillaging and raping the earth to get to where it is, it then ships in all the essentials you need for daily life: food & water, etc..to the extent that the very essentials it needs to survive are not as important as the superfluous beast that it is…look in the mirror and I guess you will find there’s a little ‘Dubai’ in each of us.

See Yann’s Charities and find out more here: www.goodplanet.org

Watch the movie here: www.youtube.com/homeproject

This stage set is simply about visual impact.

Artificial light
Projection
Colour
Motion
(Noise)
and ultimately Experience…

…the announcement that U2 will be bringing the 360° Tour to Australia, reminded me to re-visit a few clips I took at the concert in London a year ago this time…(see a few more here)… I wasn’t there to video or photograph but just to savour the best around in terms of stadium concert visual impact…and for visual impact this concert has to rate right up there. I have certainly never seen anything like it in a live setting. To understand more about the concept design read:this.

Like most intelligent creative ideas, it’s the strength of an original concept, well executed and completed, which creates the best result. If you are interested in seeing this kind of creativity I can think of few better ways of spending an evening ‘soaking up’ some of the best ‘creative visual impact’ the world has on offer; whilst simultaneously, listening to (arguably) the best rock group on the planet.

I have never left a U2 concert feeling uninspired, photographically or otherwise.