Photography connects us with the world

If you’re interested in photography and photojournalism, check out this TED talk by the photo director of National Geographic magazine (probably one of the coolest jobs in the world, apart from actually taking the photos, of course).

As an added bonus and keeping with the National Geographic theme, check out this guy trying to take the exact same picture he saw in an issue of NG magazine.

Filed under: blog, photos , photography, David Griffin, National Geographic, Animals, Culture, Entertainment, Global Issues

Reza Deghati

The Iranian photographer was interviewed by Al Jazeera English’s Riz Khan for the ‘One on One’ show.

Details (and later links to the online interview) are here.

I didn’t catch all of it, so once I have, I’ll update this post with some thoughts.

Filed under: blog, photos , reza deghati

Untitled Haiku

Uncertainty now;

The old man’s path is lonely.

Nirvana? Not yet.

Filed under: haiku

Doubt is better than certainty

When I was younger I would dream that I was one of the little people in the TV show “Land of the Giants” and the rest of my family were the giants who would inadvertently almost step on me.  There was a point in the dream where I’d be pushed back against the skirting board and it was usually at that point that I’d wake up.  I was reminded of these dreams yesterday, when for the first time in a long time, I woke up from a rather bad dream.

I wasn’t being pushed against a skirting board, falling from a great height, drowning or facing death in another manner.  No, I simply had doubts that my forthcoming trip was, quite possibly, a mistake.  To be exact,  I doubted whether it was a good move to take this trip simply because I have doubts about what will happen at the end of the trip.  Where will I live and what exactly will I do upon my return? Will I have enough cash left over to get myself settled and possibly experience a [hopefully] short period of unemployment? I don’t know the answers to these questions but maybe it’s better that I have these doubts because I find them motivating and that they keep me grounded and focused.

Milton Glaser, in his essay “10 Things I Have Learned” (from where the title of this entry is taken), writes:

Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience

I find that totally agreeable and I’m working with the doubts to shape my forthcoming experiences.

Filed under: blog

July is here, finally.

Seems like I’ve been waiting for July to come around since forever, mostly because six weeks from tomorrow I’ll be in Hong Kong and I really can’t wait. There is some apprehension but I like that feeling, I can work with it. I still have shitloads to do before I hit the road but I’m pretty calm when I think about it. My ongoing issues at work are another matter.

I practically flipped out last night when I discovered my employer left me a memo informing me I had to attend another brief training session (30mins long) on my day off. But then, I figured, at the end of next week I’ll be handing in my notice and four weeks later I’ll no longer be an employee for this company so what do I care? That and I decided not to attend the session. Screw it.

I had a lot more to say but I need more time to articulate it a little better than I did the drivel posted above.

Filed under: blog

This Doesn’t Look Good

The latest weather in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Hong Kong

Bangkok

Filed under: asia, blog

Made In Birmingham

Made In Birmingham

Originally uploaded by tanhussain

A photo from yesterday.

Filed under: photos

Yes, I am thinking “WTF?!”

Sandnes

Originally uploaded by Photocritic.org

Filed under: photos

Chinese Class Review 11-05-09 #MandarinMonday

This week we reviewed the second block of chapters in the textbook around the theme of “城市与环境”. I’ll just repost the grammatical structures covered here, as per the review page of the textbook.

Filed under: chinese, chinese class review

Gampopa’s advice on Dharma practice

Gampopa was a Tibetan Buddhist master.  I found this extract in The Jewel Ornament if Liberation:

Filed under: buddhist , gampopa