The end of 2009…
2010 is almost upon us. So it’s time to look back at the year that was and reflect. Or so I’m told.
I like that life is gently guided through cycles and stages by seasons, lunar cycles, calendar months, changing years….. I’ve always loved December in Australia. Didn’t mind it in Japan either, but it was never the same being COLD! December in Australia is full of that vibe – the shimmering potential of the summer holiday season and the coming new year. Heat, watermelon, mango’s, school summer holidays, parties, BBQ’s, going down the creek, secret santa gifts, surfing santa….. it’s a lot of fun.
Anyways, it’s been 10 months since my return to the Lucky Country, and yes, it’s been quite a trip (in every possible sense of the word). I am currently the healthiest and resultingly the happiest I’ve been in years, and (in an interesting juxtaposition), also the heaviest I have ever been. Ha.
So what’s been going on since my last editorial visit to Frangipani 2.0?
Well, Sigsy & Keisuke came for a visit from Tokyo and we got all arty in the park under a full moon….
and we visited a croc farm… AMAZING place.
We wandered around the lovely gorge on a DREAMTIME tour with a member of the KukuYalanji as he explained the rainforest to us.
We ground up ochre and painted ourselves…..
We visited beaches in other places and dined at great restaurants and soaked up the full moon some more.
When they left, I got back to work. I love being a photographer, so many unexpected experiences present themselves. One day I found out at 9 am that I would be going up in a microlight at 11 am to photograph another microlight. It was really quite special – once the initial fear wore off, and here I show you some of the unadjusted out-takes.
Interesting challenge, trying to photograph from one of these hang-gliding motorbikes… I couldn’t wear a helmet because the space was so constrictive I wouldn’t have been able to get to my viewfinder.
I have been getting some great photo work. Various magazines and whatnot. Below is a shot I took for a green mag in Sydney. There are some incredible properties around this region that specialise in rare and endangered tropical edible plants. This was a selection that a property owner gathered from around his rainforest that morning. Permaculture and plant/animal biodiversity-themed farming are in widespread practice here.
Been meeting some great people. I don’t get out much so it’s been slow-going in the meeting people stakes. This lovely fella is a multi-talented artist who recently opened his own cafe-gallery in the main street. I took this picture for the newspaper and he liked it so much that he is making me of of his funky signature bangles. Yay. I visit the cafe most days for some coffee and company. Tres chic, tres cool, tres oasis of inspiration and counter-pubculture-redneckism. Much needed in this part of the world.
Oh. And I turned 42. Loved the return to a SUMMERTIME birthday. We kept it simple. A late afternoon picnic in the park with family and a few friends, a dusk BBQ, barefoot cricket, kids, cake & candles and beer. Check out the view. Spesh. Truly.
Here are some of the new peeps in my life. The lovely Upasana and Kimmy. Me in the middle looking excited that anyone showed up at all.
Night fell. Candles were lit.
Kids were excited.
It was a lovely, lovely day.
I plan to spend Christmas with my bro’s family, then get up at 6 am the next morning for a big roadtrip south to attend the Woodford Folk Festival. After that I’ll float around Brisbane a bit, the fly to Adelaide for Tracey and Ash’s wedding (I’ll be photographing), then FINALLY visit the Melbourne crew for a few days before flying back to Brisbane, jumping back in the car and driving north again. Hopefully when I return I will have formulated an exit strategy.
Folks, I hope that all is well with you and yours, and I wish you an awesome Christmas and a fantastic New Year. 2010, bring it on.
Oh, and go and see AVATAR 3D. Tomorrow. Seriously.
The new life.
282/365. April 11. Time for a more regular old-skool post.
I took this photo this morning at the Combined Club where I was having a work meeting while the clouds rolled in and the boats passed by. My little Lumix is a lovely camera, though I get frustrated at not having more control. But dem’s the breaks when you choose to carry a nice light point and shoot around instead of the big SLR kit. Anyways….
Almost 2 months since I left Tokyo. Feels like a lifetime ago already. People have been asking me just what I’ve been up to, how I’m really enjoying it. I’m happy to report that I *am* happy here.
I’ve been getting up early and going for longs walks/runs – first around the mountains near my bro’s place, then the beach and headland once I moved closer to town. The weather has been incredible – magical, the kind of blue skies so blue that resort photographers don’t need to retouch their pictures, and often not more than about 30 by day and cool enough for light summer blankets at night. All this nature, big wide skies….. It makes a jaded Tokyo girls heart sing, I tell ya. It’s been good getting on top of my health – turns out I have a pretty hefty Iron & B12 deficiency and it’s nice to work on all that in an English speaking environment so I can read the support material and ask the questions and understand the answers. So many things I am enjoying about NOT BEING in Japan anymore. And yet….
I see so many Asians around here (massive Asian population here, well, actually not here – but in Cairns an hour south), and I stare and stand close to listen to them in the hope they might be Japanese. Sometimes they are, and I stalk them with a wistful, nostalgic sensibility. Amusing how much I can understand, yet when I try to open my mouth to speak with them I usually have about 3 false starts. The Japanese food on offer here – even when made by Japanese staff – is different. The onegiri’s are not as fresh or tasty and the soba and udon is very average. The tempura is made using a strange batter, heavy and tasteless. I don’t understand why. It is so sad, I truly miss the flavours.
My work is pretty crazy. I am an event coordinator for the towns annual 10 day Carnivale, it’s full of politics and local characters and history and is way more work that the 20 hours a week I signed on for. I haven’t had a lot of time for photography – but I am getting some great work, nevertheless. I am a weekend photographer for the local newspaper – The Mossman & Port Douglas Gazette which is the weekly local newspaper, part of the News Ltd conglomerate. The editor there welcomed me with open arms and loves my photography and is throwing my name to anyone who needs photos, which is why I just did a food & portrait shoot for Vogue Entertaining & Travel Australia. Cool, huh. I am also getting real estate and the odd portrait job around the joint, did a young mum and her 3 week old baby yesterday – the pic’s are for the kids’ obasan who lives in Sendai. Yep, Daddy is half-nihonjin. I am working towards building the business so that once the Carnivale is over on May 31st, I can just jump straight into being a full time photographer (yeah, I know, I may be dreaming there). There is a lot of work here for photographers: hundreds of resorts and real estate agencies, and a massive wedding & events industry, there are not enough photographers to keep up with it all in the high season (which starts in May and runs till about November). Plus I’m helping my brother out with his real estate business, and once carnivale is over I’ll be his Media/PR person to help get the properties for sale out there for buyers.
The locals up here in the north are a funny bunch, they do take some getting used to and I do feel like a fish out of water at times. Or maybe like a rabbit trapped in headlights…. Big & loud & straight-shooting & blunt & super friendly, it took me aback initially, after living in Tokyo where eye-contact is to be avoided at all costs. I haven’t made a lot of friends here yet, but they are starting to come out of the woodwork. Getting used to epithets like darlin’, bub, sweetie, sugar, honeybunch etc from complete strangers – it initially made me chuckle, now it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I think I like it. And I’m pretty sure I’m going to like it here.
Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Port Douglas
Id, 1965 – 2009.
I took this blurry pic (ripped off Jackie’s facebook album) in the backyard of my first ever share-house, back in 1985. Walker Avenue, Teneriffe, Brisbane. I lived there with my best friends Jackie and Dwayne (they were a couple at that time – that’s Dwayne on the left) and various others who passed through…..
The cool cat in the black beret with the bongo’s and the fag hanging out out the corner of his mouth died last week.
His name was Id, and he and I and all our friends went to Griffith Uni together, back in the day when it was a hotbed of all things alternative and political. That place and those times set us all on the very distinctive paths were are all on now. We were all crazy about music, and spent all our free time going to see gigs, or – if you were musically inclined, playing in bands. Id was one of the founding members of the late, great Dementia 13 (myspace page) – go take a listen to hacksaw, admire Alex’s almighty scream. Id was also in a zillion other musical projects, both here and in London when he, Jackie, Russell, Alex and Stewart lived there for a few years.
Id came out to us all a few years after this, and became the editor of Queenslands only gay and lesbian magazine, PRIDE back in 2001. He always astonishingly good with words. And he also has a great talent for photography. His Flickr page is full of great photography – some of them covers for the mag.
I haven’t seen him that much over the past 10 – 15 years, but he came along to my 40th birthday party in Australia last year, and set up a little studio in my uncle’s living room to take real portraits of people. Here is that facebook gallery (not sure if you’ll be able to see these if you aren’t his “friend”).
Last week he collapsed and died at home, it was either a heart attack or a stroke, he was only 43. He was such a lovely man, a hugely creative force and a good friend. His funeral is this Wednesday, at the Mt Gravatt Crematorium. The same day that Neil Young plays Brisbane. Some of his friends are, of course, giving up their Neil Young tickets as they’d rather be at the wake. It is going to be an enormous event, no doubt oozing with debauchery as Id would have wanted it. I’ll be there in spirit.
Id, I’ll miss you dear boy.
Technorati Tags: friends, Life & death
Christmas Week
171/365: Dec 22 2008. Street performer in the park.
172/365: Dec 23 2008. The streets in my ‘hood.
173/365: Dec 24 2008. I will miss the superb presentation of Japanese products. This is a bottle of nihonshu my student Keiko gave me for my Christmas day nabe party.
174/365: Dec 25 2008. Christmas Day. Tonyu Nabe. Great people, great food, great sounds, a great day. You can see more pictures from my Christmas day at the facebook album.
175/365: Dec 26 2008. I was bored and listless, and decided it was time to try out some cool lighting tricks and do some self-portraits at the same time. I also edited the photos from this shoot in photoshop, something quite unusual for moi, I usually stay away from PS, just using Lightroom, but I am beginning to accept that there are some things that PS can do that LR can’t. And that is a good, fun thing.
176/365: Dec 27 2008. Love these little grass-chokers the trees wear in winter. They are trying to stop insects from crawling up into the upper parts of the tree and burrowing into the newer, softer parts. Or at least, that’s what I’ve heard….
177/365: Dec 28 2008. Kat & Jake came over to hang out for the afternoon. Jake quite enjoyed the hoop – not as much as his mum did though. 
Ho Ho Ho!
Christmas in Japan.
I’m off to the Ghibli Museum (my second time) with Tyler, Mihoko and 2 of their friends from Wisconsin via Korea….. then back here to my place for a nabe party with the local gang. We’re doing a secret santa, still haven’t got mine yet… crap, hope the Ghibli museum shop has something under ¬•500.
Anyways…. I just wanted to wish you all a happy christmas, and hope that you are with loved ones.
Thanks for still reading frangipani despite the serious slowdown in posts around here. I love my blog buddies, and I do try not to neglect frangipani too much but sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day, y’know. Plans are afoot (as they always are at this time of year) to overhaul all my web stuff – I’m contemplating merging my 3 sites: frangipani, martinecottonphotography and martinecotton,.com into one mega-magazine style site that brings the personal and the professional together. I know, I know, I’m really good at biting off more than I can chew, especially in the midst of an inter-continental move. I spend my days packing (when I’m not working) and my nights at the computer. It’s kind fun, actually. Anyway, I know that frangipani is looking tired and dated and it’s time for a facelift to match the new lifestyle rapidly approaching.
Once more, with feeeeeelin’: Happy Christmas! See ya on the flipside.
Technorati Tags: Christmas
Some fresh air
34/365: Aug 8, 2008. While the rest of the rest of the world geared up for the Olympics (or so I’m told), I spent a quiet day working. This picture was taken in a lane near the Tiger Office, in Shibuya’s fabulously tacky and exciting Love Hotel Hill district. These girls put their pic’s up with phone number and meet up with their clients in a local bar or coffee shop for a date before heading off to ..well, you know. Prostitution is rampant, and even school girls routinely suck/wank cocks so they can buy the latest [insert current hot consumer fad item of choice here]. Strange to me that that despite this kind of schoolgirl fantasy tomfoolery, and the commonplace reading of hard core porn manga/mag’s on the trains in full view of kids and the general public, and a thriving porn industry, Japan has the most sexless marriages in the world.
35/365: Aug 9 2008. This, my friends, is Chris Lynch, one of the adventurers at fourcornersofjapan.net - not that you’d recognise him straight up since he’s lost 12 kilo’s since he left Tokyo back in March. We met at the Indian restaurant opposite Nikko Train Station, in Tochigi Prefecture – about 3 hours north of Tokyo. I was waiting outside with my camera ready to get a kind of action shot. We devoured lunch then wandered about 4 km’s out of NIkko to a camping ground that was a kind of 4-star settlement of rolling hills, forests, lakes, toilet blocks and cooking areas. Cost 2500 yen just to set the tent up there. We spent the sunset sitting in a hut looking out at the mountains and hills and clouds and lightning still snaking through the skies after the afternoons storms, drinking beer and whisky and having delightfully rewarding philosophical discussions about all manner of things. Later, we cooked dinner over a petrol camp stove and played word games and philosophised some more. I have a bunch more great photos from this trip, I will be posting them somewhere soon.
36/365: Aug 10 2008. We walked 16 km’s to the town of Kinugawa Onsen after breaking camp at the very civilised hour of 9-ish. I had slept really badly – it was freezing up there in the mountains and I hadn’t thought to bring a sleeping bag. Chris loaned me his jacket which helped but really, sleeping on a yoga mat in a tent in the mountains in a jacket and summer pants and no blanket is really stupid. And then there was the problem with …. dare I mention it…. the.. (how shall I say it?)… interesting aroma’s [ok, foul stench] that linger in a tent that has been slept in by a feral dharma bum for 3 months, and packed away every day – wet or dry – with no chance to air… *whoa!. Breathing was difficult. even in cold air. Sorry Chris. Had to be mentioned, it was a highlight of the trip for me. Or should I say a lowsmell….? Bwa ha ha ha. Anyway, we walked. And walked. And walked. Stopped at convenience stores for food and drink and toilet breaks, and stopped after lunch in a lovely grassy forest and dozed for an hour and a half. We mostly used the footpaths beside the major highways, but as we got out of the towns, the views were spectacular. Mountains, rice fields, rivers, bridges… and we got to walk through a 900 ft (i think?) tunnel. That was a pretty disorienting experience actually, I had to run my hand along the wall to keep balance as the sounds and lights were so altered. Chris had some horror stories about tunnel passes he’s made. We were lucky to have a footpath. Anyway, we got to the town and headed to the train station where we had a last cuppa and chat and then I made my sleepy-arsed way back to Kichijoji where I met up with Christian for dinner.
37/365: Aug 11 2008. Gertrude, my 5 year old red eared slider turtle had quite a growth spurt this spring. I bought this kiddy-paddling pool at Seiyu for ¥900 and set it up in the garden for her. She loves it. She spends most of her time climbing up on top of her mountain then leaping off it. I love this turtle. She is such a character.
38/365: Aug 12 2008. My litle bro turned 38 today. When we spoke he was just on his way back from Cairns where his wife, Elissa had taken him for a movie date while the kids were in school. Things have been full of change for him lately – he is officially starting up a new real estate agency of his own in Port Douglas. Exciting stuff. Anyway, the photo for today is one of the reasons why I live where I do. Where else in Tokyo are you gonna find kids paddling around in a leafy stream in a big lovely park? Kichijoji. The most liveable city in Tokyo. I passed this scene on the walk into Inokashira Koen where I spent the afternoon drinking coffee, taking photo’s and just sitting and thinking about stuff. I’ve been a little distracted by silly things lately and wandered off the photography path but I’m back on track now. It’s hard juggling 3 jobs at the same time but I have to find the balance to make it work.
39/365: August 13 2008. My kitchen fridge. The fridge polaroid project keeps my kitchen noisy and full of life and good times, even when there is no-one else home (Greg is away scuba diving in Izu this week). One of these days I’ll scan them all for posterity and put them up on the web, facebook probably.
The house behind us is being knocked down this week, and I just received a visit from an old man who had something to do with the house. He told me that there would be a lot of dust and noise and he was deeply sorry for the trouble that it would cause us, and then handed me his name card should I need to complain, and then an elegantly wrapped gift box, offered with three deep bows and as many yoroshiku onegaishimasu’s.
Sometimes I forget that it’s Japan outside.
Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Japan, Photography
It’s 35 degrees and I just ate a frozen mango over the kitchen sink.
28/365: August 2. Jon and I spent a sunny Saturday working on Tiger Music/Biz NItes stuff at the Juice Office in Shibuya.
29/365: August 3. My old friend Michelle was in town from Melbourne for a few days. She comes every year to attend the Matsumoto Suzuki Violin Summer Session. I’ve been out of Japan during August for the past couple of years so this was the first time we’ve hung out since 2005. Last time she came, she brought her violin down to the park and played wild gypsy songs at midnight for Kat, Darin, Tyler and me as we drank beer and let our souls soar as it should when listening to live wild gypsy songs in a park at midnight.
30/365: Aug 4. My turtle Gertrude has had something of a growth spurt and her tank is too small for her now. I put her in the bathtub as a special treat – she loved it.
31/365: Aug 5. Actually, this is another cheat shot. I took this on the morning of Aug 6. On Aug 5th, we hosted Music Biz – a huge event in Roppongi organised in collaboration with the UK Embassy. No chance to even scratch my nose let alone pull my camera out. I woke up the next morning, exhausted and feeling battered, bruised, uptight and late for my first English lesson of the day, and snapped this pic before slowly pouring myself out of bed and into the shower.
32/265: Aug 6. My room mate, Greg the Canadian geneticist micro-biologist brought some pictures of his own home from work. He thinks they are way cooler than mine. I think he’s right. He did explain what these were but not being particularly sound of mind at the time, I can’t remember…. I know they were taken using a massively powerful microscope and that they are little bits of bacteria that have been soaked in formaldahyde and that the spirally ones are completely mutated from the experiments he’s been doing on them in the name of alternative fuel options. Did that make me sound intelligent? I hope so.
33/365: Aug 7. As part of a concerted mental health push, I spent the day chilling round the local ‘hood in Kichijoji with Kat and Jake – lunching, drinking coffee, shopping and hanging out in the park. Jake is so damn cute. Look at that smile wouldya. ADORABLE! Also caught up with Tyler and Mihoko who just got back from the States where they had their 2nd wedding party, complete with yodelling cowboys. Damn, wish I had gone to that one.
I’m off to Tochigi tomorrow to go hiking for a few days with Chris. Cannot wait to hit the mountains and escape this goddamn city. Tonight, Deanne is organising something for world hoop day in Yoyogi, gonna go along and help her raise some money and be somewhere where I have no responsibilities whatsoever. And probably drink a beer or 3 with Christian and Yuiko who are also coming along. Yay.
Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Japan, Photography, Tokyo
1/365: the beginning of the photo a day project
1/365: Sunday, July 6, 2008.
As I mentioned earlier, I am worried that my work at Tiger Music will slow down my photography so I have started carrying my camera with me every day.
I’m really impressed with the work my buddy Tyler Ensrude has been doing on a similar challenge using film. He’s been shooting a roll of 24 every week, and will do so for a year. The results are great.
Anyway, this particular day has already been mentioned briefly below: I took Sandi, Jeff and their kids to Differ Ariake for the Muay Thai championships on Sunday July 6th. It was my first time at a Muay Thai fight, despite repeated (thwarted) attempts in Thailand to get to some fights. It was exhilarating and we had a lot of fun. The blond guy in the photo above was FIERCE. I knew he’d win the moment he stepped into the ring. Tough, mean, scary, disciplined and hot. I took a lot of photos, I couldn’t look away. In this shot, he had just punched the guy to the ground – I got a shot of the poor fella flying through the air but I preferred the look on blondie’s face in this one. You can see the determination.
And so we begin the adventure of A PHOTO A DAY.
Technorati Tags: differ ariake, Japan, photo a day, Photography, Tokyo
And then bang! Suddenly everything was different…
A frail old woman wearing a pretty dress, holding a walking stick got on my busy train today, and stood looking, a little wobbly, for a seat. Of course, no-one near her offered her one so I stood up to offer her mine, down the far end of the section. She graciously accepted with a smile, while I stood in front of her fuming that I was, once again, the *only one* to stand up for the old and frail or pregnant. When the man seated next to her got up a few stations down the line, she quickly patted the space with her hand and tilted her head up at me with a righteous grin. Nodding, I took the spot and felt better about the world coz, you know, I had made a nice connection with this little lady next to me.
A few stations on, an old man got on, clearly deeply upset by something. Every so often his face contorted up like he was about to cry, and he was wringing his hands constantly, occasionally forming a fist to punch the palm of his other hand and every so often his furious internal dialogue spilled out unintentionally vocally and he would get embarrassed and look down. He wasn’t crazy, I’m pretty sure. Just really upset about something.
A few stations on, a young mother wheeled her little girl in a stroller on. The toddler was a pretty little thing, and as she swept into the carriage she busted out an enormous smile at me and Grandma, and well, hell, it was infectious, we both grinned back at her like a pair of doting fools. As time passed, my attention wandered and when I looked back, I saw a beautiful thing. This little angel had fixed her little beam of joy on the unhappy old man, who was gazing back at her, with red-rimmed, tearful eyes and a soft smile. He got off at the next stop, but not without gently touching her cheek on the way and looking infinitely calmer than he had been when he got on. Ah, Tokyo’s trains. Always something to be observed, and entertained or appalled by.
Keiko and I stood outside the cafe where we had just spent the past hour. We have been meeting every week for about 3 years now, and have become very fond of each other. For a 60 year old, she’s pretty awesome – lotsa fun and very open minded. She reached out and affectionately traced the lines of the tattoo on my shoulder. “It’s really very pretty, isn’t it”. I laughed aloud and shook my head at her – she is such an extraordinary woman. There are not a lot of Japanese women her age who would ever think or say such a thing. Heading back to the station, I was confronted, again, by a wall of posters currently doing the rounds at all the stations. It reads “Be your best” in block letters and it packs quite a punch with me as those were the last lucid words my mother said to me. It recently occurred to me that this December is the 10th anniversary of her death. I wonder if she would have thought my tattoos were “pretty”, and what she would think of my life now. I know one thing for sure: I do work every day to heed her advice. Not always successfully.
Anyways…. I have digressed, as I am often wont to do. I have news to share. Cool news.
I hope the next couple of months will be as interesting as the past few weeks have been.
Life is good. I now wear 3 hats in any one week.
My English teachers hat, looking a little frayed and tired at the edges still cops a beating most days. I’m about ready to throw it into Inokashira Pond but it basically pays the rent so that’s not an option right now.
My photographers hat sits comfortably at a rakish tilt a few days a week. Jobs most weeks, and a book in the works.
And my old event managers hat, pulled out of retirement all covered in cobwebs and mothballs has suddenly been given a healthy new lease on life with a fairly daily dose of action since I met this man…..
my new boss, Jon Lynch. A lovely English fella with a good heart and ADD (a suspicion I have based on the fact that the guy never stops doing, thinking, talking. Never.)
I’m giving him and his startup side company, Tiger Music, a hand to get his vision off the ground. I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew since the man thinks big, but it’s certainly a fun ride and the potential for success is definitely there. It’s an events/PR company, and with all the contacts that Jon has based on his 10 years of publishing music mag’s in Japan (which, incidentally, he is still doing), it seems he knows pretty much everyone across the music/fashion/ad/corporate world in Tokyo, and has an incredibly creative outlook on ways to tie-up all his connections. The main focus at the moment is a monthly Networking event for the creative industries (both Japanese and foreign) called Biz Nite and there are a ton of spin-offs from that, all of them exciting.
And so, I think I may be in Tokyo a little longer than I thought I’d be.
Technorati Tags: Japan, Photography shoots, Tiger Music, Tokyo
The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Photo: Getty Images
“The best presentations, the best speeches, the best advice are usually about what people learned from their failures. Steve Jobs’ legendary Stanford commencement address lifted so many hearts because he talked about his failures.”
Actually, I lifted large chunks of his speech to use as public speaking exercises with my advanced class in the high school last year – exceptionally inspirational words that helped my shy teenaged students speak out confidently and hopefully gave them hope.
Recently, J.K. Rowling gave a commencement speech at Harvard that also emphasized the power of failure and the importance of imagination. It is a powerfully impressive speech (watch or listen) and something that added an extra inch or 2 to my stride this morning.
The fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure….
I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.
Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
Source: KK
In other news: Last nights Photobiz was a fun event, great to catch up with photographer friends like Alfie, Ben, Thong and meet a bunch of new folk: Mark Oxley, Ryan Bruss, Will Robb, Yariv Revah from Nippon News to name but a few. Books were handed around, hands were shaken, tattoos compared…. ha, a fun, if shambolic event indeed. Looking forward to the next (better organised) one. Thanks to Jon Lynch for being so ambitious in trying to bring such a huge event together. Apparently 200 people turned up.
Oh, and I am so excited that my phone carrier, Softbank, has been chosen to carry the iphone when it launches here in Japan next month [JULY 11]. My crappy phone’s been playing up a lot lately and I have been on the verge of throwing it under a frikken train going in to get a new one for a month now. Gonna wait till next month now…. Hope it survives the distance.
Technorati Tags: inspiration, video
What is my “visual integrity”?
I’ve been working on building a number of portfolios for a while but keep getting stuck. I need to write a positioning statement. I know I want to do primarily portraits (I think that’s where my strength lies) and events mostly, with some travel, street and live performance photography on the side.
But I’m stuck. I need help. I need YOUR help. I’m too close to it all, and I can’t step back to get a broader perspective.
Please consider these questions, and respond in the comments. Please be gentle folks – keep it constructive and positive.
Do I have a well defined vision? If so, what do you perceive are the common elements in my photography?
What words, phrases, feelings would you use to describe my photography?
If you have the time, please tell me which do you think are my 3 best photos? And why?
Technorati Tags: portfolio, visual integrity
Annual massacre of a garden
So, last weekend I did a great shoot with Sandi. We spent some daylight hours in my beloved, lush, flowery spring garden. This is one of the photos. The following day, the rains returned as this is, indeed, the wet season. Tokyo is SOGGY as hell in May/June. And then…
I came on on Tuesday afternoon to this devastating scene. It is an annual event. I hate it more each time. My beloved garden gets gutted beyond recognition over a 2 day period. All I could do is sit inside with my camera and record the evil event. Drink coffee. Frown a lot. Listen to really sad music. Mourn my garden.
Do plants cry? I think I can hear them wailing in this picture.
Leechblock, my lifesaver.
The roof of Kinkakuji, Kyoto on a gloom day.
Frustrated at how slowly things have been moving, I’ve been a little dark lately. Either a symptom or a cause (or both?), one of the big problems has been time wasted on internet sites like facebook, flickr, asoboo, bloglines, google news, etc….
Today I feel a whole lot lighter. I found the perfect fix to my internet addiction: a firefox add-on called Leechblock. Lifehacker has a nice overview of it here.
Basically I have banned myself from facebook, twitter, asoboo between the hours of 9 – 12.30, 1.30 – 6 and 7.30 – 10. And then I put a time limit of 30 minutes every 6 hours on google news and bloglines. I couldn’t bear to block flickr. But we’ll see how it goes. You can check a box that forbids you from making any changes to the settings during the times that the blocks/limits are imposed to make it impossible for your resolve to be compromised.
You wasting too much time on the net? Get this add-on. Suspect I may actually start blogging more regularly again now…..
I built a home for you, for me.
Kawaguchiko yabusame. Taken back in April, when I did the anniversary pics with Sigsy & Kei. I’m a Sagittarius and am quite drawn to horseback archery. Magnificent stuff. Especially out there at Kawaguchiko, without all the stupid crowds of Tokyo. It’s my 3rd time at this festival. I doubt I’ll ever tire of it.
I used Blurb to make a book for Christian’s 30th birthday. Yuiko and I compiled messages and photos from his rather large circle of friends and family bothe here and in Australia, and edited them into this big, beautiful book. It was all a surprise, and I gave it to him at Araku (Yui-chan had to work till 3 am so couldn’t be there!), the night before he flew back to Brisbane to surprise his friends and family for his birthday. Ha, surprises all round. The folks back home had no idea what the book would actually look like, and they were all so impressed that they’ve ordered copies of their own! Blurb is fabulous and I will definitely be using them to get my first photo books out there.
Jeff (Sandi’s hubby) celebrated his 38th (oh, sorry – ni-ju-ROCK-sai) in fine style at Red Shoes, a cool but pricey club in Aoyama. This great band, The Darkside Mirrors played, 2 hot chicks in the band made them quite photogenic. I missed the best band of the night though, so I’m told, coz i went home early as I am wont to do these days. Anyway, Sandi wrote all about it here.
My old teaching colleague, Lisa is getting married in August and asked me to take some engagement pics for them. We spent a gorgeous day out at one of my fave parks, Showa Kinen Koen and took a ton of lovely pic’s. This is my fave but they both screamed hazakashii (how embarrassing!) when they saw it. Too intimate for Japanese tastes, I think.
The 4th Wednesday of every month at the Pink Cow you can find me shooting sexy models and talented sketchers drawing afore-mentioned sexy models at the now-global live burlesque drawing class DrSketchy’s anti art school. Fabulous fun, this month being no exception.
At the end of each night, we gather the remaining sketchers and crew for a group pic. Actually, we need to start taking this group pic earlier in the night as people tend to head home before the end…. This pic is just of the stayers…..
And here is the Dr Sketchy’s crew: this months model, Svetlana, Pawel, Deanne, Rebekka (Bon Voyage!) and the hostess with the funniest and mostest, Lady Elle.
Meant to post this months ago but…. This is Chris, Ian and I just before we parted ways back in March – me for Nagasaki and Tylers wedding, The Mountain Goat (Ian) for an ill-fated walk across Hokkaido and Chris to Irojima, way down in Sthn Japan.
Mountain Goat shows his ability to read maps.
Mountain Goat counting the hours, minutes, seconds till that plane takes him outta Japan. He abandoned his walk across Japan at the beginning of this week, and arrived at my place early in the morning after an all night bus from Shikoku. He was quite shattered. But is venting his … whatever it is…. in his brilliant literary style at his new blog, The Goat that Wrote. Go add him to your RSS feeds now, he’s an excellent writer. In the mean time, Chris is still braving the trial, and will be updating the Four Corners of Japan blog regularly. He is also a brilliant writer and it’s a fascinating read, these adventures of his.
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Greg, the Canadian geneticist roomie, is off in the States for some conferences and to pay a quick trip to his home town. Hate being left in the house by myself. Especially now that it’s where I spend most days, working. I tend to get irrationally lonely and emotional and wonder what the f*ck I’m doing with my life that, at the age of 40, I have not managed to build a home of my own, with a man and kids and a menagerie of pets and visitors. And then wonder what the hell I’m thinking, calling myself a photographer, when I’m still such a novice! Fortunately, I’ve had a healthy stream of guests to stave off the worst of it. And some great photo shoots to help keep the creative spirit flowing. Can’t wait to share some of the pics from this weekends shoot with Sandi. Amazing stuff, that woman really knows how to work it for the camera. She also knows her way around a scrabble board, the biyotch beat me by 50 points tonight. Helen arrives tomorrow to stay for the week (she has work here in Kichijoji this week), so happy there’ll be someone here at night.
Technorati Tags: friends, Japan, Photography, Tokyo
April (and a new enterprise) begins…
Hello again! I know, I know, it’s been quiet around here, but that always just means I’ve been busy. I got back from an awesome 12 day photo-jaunt to Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Onomichi, Kurashiki, Nara and Kyoto last week and have been buried up to my eyeballs in catch-ups, backups and meta-overhauls of all things (and a little cherry-blossom madness, too).
I’m in the process of eliminating all unnecessary things from my wardrobe, my house, my computer and my lifestyle. Running and doing yoga on alternate days and have actually – foolishly? – signed up for the TELL annual charity marathon in May, where I plan to run 5 kms (need to get pledges so friends, be warned, I’ll be hitting you up for pledge support). I can hear my parents laughing uproariously all the way from heaven – I come from a long line of hedonists for whom the concept of scheduled exercise was ridiculed over an endless supply of rum and cokes and cigarettes….
I’ve also entered the “college of home-study” in the area of “Starting up a photography business from scratch”. It’s utterly terrifying not having a wage anymore. It’s also deliriously exciting. (Don’t panic, I have a weekly cash income from my private students so I am able to pay the rent and bills – but I foresee no more travel or dinners out for some time….)
I keep getting asked “But what exactly are you doing?”… well, here it is:
I’m spending my time overhauling my organisational file structures and backup systems, tagging everything and overhauling metadata stuff. Once all that is done, I’ll start work on the final edit of a portfolio (and make a couple of portfolio books as well as an online portfolio gallery). I want to seriously tweak martinecotton.com and get my photoshelter stock stuff sorted out and then start putting my name out there in the ring. First impressions count and I want to be totally ready before I step fully into the commercial fray. Eventually, I plan to have an online store that features not only stock photography but also cards, postcards, calendars and *oh, so exciting!* photobooks.
My main target here in Tokyo for basic bread-and-butter cash flow will be portraits, events, weddings and family shoots. But I mostly want to develop a great creative portfolio to get in to magazine work and since I already have some photos featured in a 2 page spread in a glossy mag here (coming out this month, based on this shoot) I’m off to a good start there.
There’s been some buzz around the intarwebs lately about the 1000 true fans theory. If you haven’t read the article already, and are an artist/photographer/musician/writer or developing some new project, you should go and read it. NOW! (and make sure you read the comments too). It makes a lot of sense. Here’s the basic gist:
One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.
The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.
I’ve been receiving some unexpected and lovely gifts from you awesome readers (thanks so much -you know who you are!), and it made me realise that, after doing this blog for over 5 years, I already have my own supportive community – maybe not yet numbering 1000, but at least – well – certainly at least 4 (and I have the gifted books to prove it)! If you want to (and are able to) help me in any way, (in the spirit of the 1000 true fans concept), please drop by my amazon wishlist and buy any one of the books listed there. Most of these books are text books or the kinds of books you would expect to find in a photography course and include topics like legal guides, photo history, technical stuff, software guides and so on.
Alternatively, if you don’t much care for books and would rather see me buying new gear like strobes, filters, studio equipment, etc – you could try donating money through paypal (all donations will be used for the express purpose of photography related expenses):
In return, you will be added to a private mailing list which will receive monthly updates on what’s going on in my photo world, and also receive special offers such as postcards, calendars and …eventually.. reduced rates on the photo books I plan to start producing (at the repeated behests of my family and friends). You will need to email me directly (martinecotton@gmail.com) if you go through Amazon as the gift system there doesn’t include email addresses, just postal addresses.
It’s an interesting experiment and I have always enjoyed going down the road less travelled.
Photos from the wedding and my trip should start surfacing soon…
The Crystal Ball
I spent quite a lot of my holiday time back in Australia rummaging through the mountains of crap in my storage shed in West End. Boxes and boxes of memories. I threw half of them out, I was ruthless. I can’t believe the stuff I thought was important enough to save. Boxes of paperwork – old contracts, invoices, PR releases, emails, demo CD’S and so on – from a life long ago.
Where *does* the time go?
So much to do, so few hours in a day. Had hoped to have more pics and stories from Oz ready for show but been busy with a lot of other exciting stuff. So no pics today, sorry, just this lovely video of Sufjan doing Chicago live. Off to see the troubadour hisself on Tuesday and I’m pretty excited. Love this mans music.
It’s going to be a busy week, my schedule is back to capacity with all my private students finally back in the swing on top of my regular school stuff, and I’m off to the Roppongi Grand Hyatt on Friday night, be-frocked and be-heeled (much to my chagrin! I’m always uncomfortable in fancy getup, and I really hate high heels and goddammit I’m gonna have to put some lippy on, as I run from my last class of the day), to attend the Australia Day Ball.
No, I’m not a particularly nationalistic person and neither am I an attender of balls as a rule. But this one is different. I’ll be the one running around with the camera and getting paid to do it. Nice. Despite my carry-on, I’m really excited about this job and meeting a bunch of new people. Hopefully they won’t all be bankers and wankers.
Other cool live shows on the Tokyo horizon:
Spoon are playing at Unit on Feb 6, deets here. Love this band, hope I can get to this show.
The very mighty & rather naughty Bog Log III is playing at Shibuya O-Nest on Mon Feb 11, deets here.
And on the same night (aw shit!), Arcade Fire at Studio Coast – February 11. Deets here.
The lovely Album Leaf are back in town on Feb 28th. Deets here.
Broken Social Scene & Stars at the Liquid Room on March 6, deets here. They were great when I saw them there a couple of years ago, this should be a great show.
The awesome Jimmy Eat World at Shibuya Ax on March 17 & 18. Deets here.
Animal Collective and some guy from Mum are playing at the Liquid room on March 18. Deets here.
John Butler plays at Club Quattro on April 1 & 2. Deets here.
Modest Mouse at Duo Music Exchange on April 9 & 10. Deets here.
Jack Johnson at Akarenga Park in Yokohama on April 12 & 13. Deets here.
Foo Fighters in Tokyo somewhere on April 13. Deets here.
Mondo Diao at Club Quattro on April 16. Deets here.
Do Make Say Think are on at DUO Music Exchange on April 26. Deets here.
Now, if only I had the time to go see them all.
Sorry things will continue to remain quiet around here as I work on some exciting new stuff like applying for grants and entering competitions and making new websites. This is the year I become a more serious photographer….
I’m 40. Is that old?
I’m 40. Is that old? I don’t think so. I’m quite excited about it actually. Having the best birthday week of my life, seriously. I hereby give thanks to everyone and everything in my life. I luv youzall.
This is a picture of me with my dad and brother in Rabaul, New Guinea where we grew up. It was part of a slideshow so excuse the horrible black frame. No time to edit it.
5 years on….
It’s cold and wet in Tokyo today and I wish I was back on Gili Air, Indonesia instead of nursing a rather nasty hangover and being stressed about the exhibition and confused about the coming changes (aka The Leap). I took the above photo on one of my many wanders around the island in August and messed around with it in Lightroom to get the bright night look… This is one of the large prints I’ve included in the exhibition opening tonight. Anyways, more on that later.
A mid week post!
On Sunday I had a little adventure, heading out to Hakone for a day in the mountains for a little hike and an onsen with Kenta. We visited these massive grassfields at Sengoku Kogen, and went hiking through long grass and mud for a couple of hours (something you just don’t do in Australia for fear of snakes, spiders, toads, etc). Sounds kinda horrid but actually it was great fun and there is definitely something about long grass that brings out the little kid in us all… lots of hide & seek and slipping and sliding and falling over and laughing! Kenta is something of a bush-tucker man, and kept stopping at different plants to explain which ones were edible or useful in some way, useful stuff. He was sketching lots and I was photographing lots though I must say – it’s kinda challenging to make grass look interesting. I did my best. Anyway, check the Flickr Gallery.
After a visit to Tenzan Onsen, and a delicious vegetable tempura dinner, we headed back into Tokyo and went to a party where Jyo-san paid out on Kenta for not doing the drawing of him that he asked him to do ages ago. Then Kenta complained that Jyo never brought him a picture to draw from so I took the picture above to settle the mock aggro. Jyo is a very flirty Thai fella, married to a Japanese woman, and has won the hearts of dozens of local women who visit his kitchen night after night to flirt. He has an impressively accurate memory for customers needs and preferences and I really like him. I really like this picture, too. Jyo laughs a lot.
I have the day off from the Elementary School today which means I get a nice laid back mid-week morning. Went over to Kat and Darin’s last night to watch Heroes (man, what an excellent episode that one was! [S02E04]) – still no signs of baby Dudley – he’s now 4 days overdue and I don’t think Kat’s belly could grow another cm! He’s a big boy. I can’t wait to meet him, every time the phone goes I wonder if it’s *the* call/message to announce his arrival.
That’s all.
The Canadian-Microbiologist
As I stumbled in through the front door in a post-jog breathless, sweaty mess to collapse on the hallway floor, Greg the Canadian Microbiologist called out Okaeri, the pancakes and cappuccino’ll be ready in about 15 minutes.
I love my new room mate.
He comes fully equipped with excellent cooking and cleaning skills, gorgeous crockery and glassware, a cappuccino maker and guitar skills. He bought new strings for my guitar and re-strung it for me without asking. He likes to stay home and eat dinner with me. He enjoys a drink. He’s fit and healthy and offers great advice to help me on this health-kick I’m on at the moment. He’s handy around the house. He plays lovely acoustic guitar for hours. He’s completely laid back and relaxed and loves nag-champa incense.
I’ve been so lucky on the room mate front. 3 good ones in a row. I think this one may be the best one of all…. he’s actually going to settle in and make this place his home. Something I haven’t seen for many years.
Fuku-chan
I think it was 2004 when Fuku moved in to the big, chaotic, dirty share-house in Komaba Todaimae, where I lived with Timbo-the-punk-rock-pimp, Big-Gay-Dave (his home-town nickname, OK!), Seth the gloomy Jewish spanker, Dave the SF granola whinger, Gabe the boy-voted-most-likely-to-be-taken-home-to-Mum-Floridian, and Takako the girl who was never home.
The 10 laws of simplicity
Continuing my philosophical slant this long weekend, my friend Shen sent me a link to a video presentation by John Maeda at the always inspirational TED.com. Maeda-san is head of the MIT Media Arts Centre and his big “thang” is simplicity. He wrote a book. These are his 10 laws of simplicity. Nice reading for a 3 day weekend…
Law 1: REDUCE.
The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Law 2: ORGANIZE
Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
Law 3: TIME
Savings in time feel like simplicity.
Law 4: LEARN
Knowledge makes everything simpler.
Law 5: DIFFERENCES
Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Law 6: CONTEXT
What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Law 7: EMOTION
More emotions are better than less.
Law 8: TRUST
In simplicity we trust.
Law 9: FAILURE
Some things can never be made simple.
Law 10: THE ONE
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
Living out of a mid-sized backpack and small daypack for 2 months, and seeing how simply people live in places like Lombok and Rajasthan has really impressed upon me the ridiculous bloating in western culture. I wanna slash and burn my life into zen-like simplicity. Will I ever equal the rucksack guy’s 101 essential possessions list? Do I even want to? Is this just a passing phase? We’ll see. Ha. All I know is, I want to live better: healthier, happier, more peacefully and to do all things better than I have been. You know, quality vs quantity.
Heroes starts again tonight in the States, which means it’ll be on my screen sometime tomorrow…. Soooo excited. Ah, yes, it’s the little things in life…
