Blue on Gold

Another blat up my favourite track today
Blue and Gold are Otago Colours. Otago is the province that we live in in Wanaka but The Boss is not really a sports follower and in fact lived longer in Canterbury which was Red and Black country. Long before I was a wag in my Fathers tail he was in a store in Christchurch buying a new Lawnmower prior to moving to Wanaka. They had a special on and you could buy lawnmowers in support colours for Canterbury or Otago. He chose Canterbury ‘Cos that was where he was living then and promptly upped and moved South. So he arrived in Otago with Canterbury colours but it didn’t really matter as the “special” of the day was just a stick on label and these days the lawnmower just looks like an old lawnmower. Sport is a funny business.

The Boss came across a statement today that he wanted to share. He was moved by it and maybe you will be too. Woof?

I am a photographer. I make photographs. I do not take them, shoot them, capture them or snap them. I do what I do to see the world differently and to show others what I see and feel, and yes, it really did look like that when seen through my eyes, mind and heart. The tools of my craft are a camera and lens, but the tools of my art are my passion and vision, film or digital, it’s not how we make our photographs that matters but that we make them. The gear I have is good enough. My camera doesn’t have to be made recently for me to photograph the present moment. The Brand of my camera is irrelevant to the pursuit of beauty and authenticity in my work. Megapixels are no way to measure a photograph. I want deeper photographs; honest photographs that are alive, not merely big or really sharp. I hope the legacy I create with my work will be judged not by how many photographs I made in this lifetime, but what those few magic frames do in the hearts and minds of others. Comparing myself to others, or them to me, is a waste of my creative efforts and makes it harder to see the light, chase the wonder, and do my work. There is too much to see and create to waste these too few moments. Art is not a competition but a gift. I believe photographs can change the world because they have done so for me. I believe photography opens my eyes to a deeper life. One that recognises moments and lives them deeper for being present in them.
To be an amateur means to be a lover. Professional or not I want to do this, for the rest of my life as an amateur.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE PHOTOGRAPH Martin Bailey Tokyo 2014

Oh and that's Mt Gold below the blue.

More Blue?