I Dreamt Of Trees

'Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.' Lao Tzu

We all have to take responsibility for the health of our earth, of the nature that nourishes us, that allows us to breath our life giving breath. Small steps through the consumerist jungle can make a difference, switch off any power that isn't being used, recycle everything you can, stop using plastic bags as much as possible, cut that nice hot shower down by just a few minutes, think about what you really need and what you don't, what it is that truly makes you happy, you might find that its not in a sparkling shopping centre, and take time out to go hug a tree.

huuuuuug huuuuuug huuuuuuuuuuuug awhhhhhhph I can't get my arms round this one, huuuuuuuuuuuuug.

"I am especially encouraged to see that thinking of consumerism as an end itself seems to be giving way to an appreciation that we humans must conserve the earths resources." His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

No blogging from me for the next few weeks, I am off camping to hug lots and lots of trees!!

Images made in Malawi, Africa and are part of the series, 'Sanctum.'

Electric Butterfly

With every beat of its wings, it changed the direction of the air.
Sometimes every beat came easily with grace, and there were times when every beat was a struggle.
We can all be hero's
be kind
find compassion in your heart
open your heart as the lotus flower blooms
surrendering to Mother Earth.

Images made in Mandalay; Myanmar and Bako National Park, Sarawak. And are part of the series 'Souvenirs.'

Send a thought.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's release on the 13th November is very welcome and a first step in the right direction. But this does not signify any political change in the country. There are still more than 2202 political prisoners in Myanmar (Burma.) and uncountable numbers of refugee's living and hiding along the borders and deep into neighbouring countries, further away from their home. None of the repressive laws allowing the dictatorship to detain people without trial and restrict freedom have been repealed following the election on 7th November.
Send a thought to the people of Myanmar, send a thought to the people struggling living as refugees, with no legal rights, in constant fear of detention, which could lead to fatal consequences.
Send a thought.

Image made in Bagan; Myanmar and is digital manipulated.

Threads

Threads
A new book by Nicola Zammit, containing 22 pages of black and white images and creativity. "When a wash of moonlight glides over the shady greens, in between longing and reuniting, we celebrate the wonder of the autumnal full moon."
completely hand made, only 1 edition. enquiries to info@nicolazammit.net Book completion November 2010.

Babylon Beach Mat

My Babylon beach mat, lies awaiting my soft body to melt into its warm arms. Gently sinking into pure bliss, listening to the breath itself, like waves of the ocean, never ending.
awakening
drifting

awakening.

Top image made in Langkawi, Malaysia
Bottom images made in Rabbit Island, Cambodia and Vientiane, Laos
Images come from the series souvenirs.

Human Kind

http://humankind.newyorkphotofestival.com/images/humankind_banner01_700.jpg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The New York Photo Festival is pleased to announce
the selection committee for the Juried Exhibition
HumanKind

Accepting submissions until November 28, 2010

The Jury

James Estrin - Co-Editor, [3]New York Times Lens Blog
Marc Prust - [4]Photography Consultant
Alfredo Cramerotti - Assistant Curator, [5]Format International Photography
Festival
Dr. Christos Lynteris - Social Anthropology Department, [6]University of St
Andrews
Sam Barzilay - Festival Director, [7]New York Photo Festival

About HumanKind

Throughout history, every generation of theorists, scientists and artists has
grappled with the ultimate quest: to understand and define the human condition.

Now our turn has come: We are looking for images that encompass the experiences
of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. Images that tell
the story of what it means to be part of HumanKind - the bad, the good, the
beautiful, the ugly, the exotic, the mundane, and everything in between.

Drawn from online submissions, 120 images will be selected and exhibited at The
powerHouse Arena in Dumbo, Brooklyn.
HumanKind - presented by the New York Photo Festival - will be on show from
December 17 to January 20.

[8]

The Rules
* All work submitted for consideration must have been produced after January
1, 2009
* Finalists will be notified by December 5 and will need to drop-off their
work at The powerHouse Arena no later than December 15, 2010
* All work must be dropped-off suitably mounted or framed and outfitted with
appropriate hanging gear or it will not be included in the show
* All work must be clearly labeled (on the back side) with the artist's name
and phone number
* All selected work must remain on show at The powerHouse Arena for the
duration of the exhibition. Substitutions will not be accepted
* Artists are responsible for all shipping costs to and from The powerHouse
Arena
* Artists are responsible for insuring their work. All work will be handled
by experienced personnel and the utmost care will be taken to guarantee the
safety of the work. However, the New York Photo Festival and The PowerHouse
Arena will not be responsible for any loss or damage to the work while on
display or in transit

Entry Fees

Each participating artist may submit 1-3 single images for a fee of $25 or 4-6
single images for a fee of $50.

[9]HumanKind
37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

For more information, please contact us at: [10]info@nyphotofestival.com

© Copyright 2010 New York Photo Festival LLC

home

Take refuge in the fact that 'home' is found in the journey.
images made in Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, Malaysia, and are part of the series 'Souvenirs.'

The magenta foundation is now taking submissions for its 2011 Flash Forward:

The Magenta Foundation is pleased to announce Year Seven of its Emerging Photographers exchange.

This is an open call for submissions.
All photographers in Canada, the UK and the US 34 years of age and under may submit.
All submission requirements and instructions are located here on our website
http://www.magentafoundation.org/submissions/submit.php?project=10

Wishing all you budding photographers every success with Flash Forward, I was honored to be mentioned as one of their winners from the UK in 2006, but am unfortunately now too old to enter again!!!!
best wishes to you all
Om shanti Nicola :-)

Elevated Dreams

Calming or stilling the mind is like trying to tame a wild tiger. Sitting in meditation, the mind jumps around all over the place, it is only with practice and more practice that we can try to elevate it and make it still. Practice everyday with sincerity, concentrating on the vital life source, concentrating on the breath. Inhalations and Exhalations are never ending, just like the waves of the ocean, one leading into the other, as I sit crossed leg on the floor, I enjoy the breath, this is my life, this is my love.

Images made in Langkawi 2010 and are part of the series 'Souvenirs'

Journey through the rain.

Images made in Genting, Malaysia, from the series 'Souvenirs'

Beginnings and Endings.

Beginnings and Endings, where do we start and where do we finish, is there a distinction between the two, or are we contained in ever decreasing circles, like ripples from raindrops falling gently on the water.

This image comes from a body of work titled 'Souvenirs.' I wanted to capture ‘spirit of place,’ or at least what I witnessed, how I have seen and felt it. I wanted to capture the details under the surface of a rapidly changing continent. To make permanent to that which is changing, before it becomes lost. Moments kept forever although maybe not to be seen again within the place, but to be seen within the photograph.
It’s about my desire for simplicity, something that is often forgotten or overlooked in our complex lives overloaded with images.
Placing images together as diptyches is an invitation to the narrative, to an even deeper meaning. In our world inundated by visual imagery, our ability to take in more than one image at a time has become innate; in fact our attention span demands it. The rapid response of our eyes and brains struggles to make sense of a spiralling modern world. These images create a visual dialogue of their own, a series of visual poems, riffs or a mood, place, light, landscape or gesture.
Still photographs resist that impulse of speed. They force the viewer to stop, look, think, meditate and hopefully question. They make us stop and isolate a slice of life, exploring its details.
I am striving to show the beauty in what I see, of what I have witnessed, and the visual noise I encounter everyday in an ever-changing landscape.

Images made in Kep: Cambodia and Hat Yai: Thailand. From the series "Souvenirs"

108 steps; the final concentration

Before I walked along this shore, my mind was on a trampoline; jumping. These 108 steps brought calm, I felt energized, I saw and heard things better, I became focused and concentrated. I felt I could just sit down here and stay, no returning to where I had come from. There was no-body else there apart from me and a few goats, but there was no loneliness as I laughed at myself.

"Reality lay on the other side of the visible. But now his eyes lingered on the visible and he saught his place in this world. He did not seek reality; his goal was not on any other side. The world was beautiful when looked at in this way- without seeking, so simple, so childlike. The moon and the stars were beautiful, the brook, the shore, the forest and rock, the goat and the golden beetle, the flower and the butterfly were beautiful." Hermenn Hesse; 'Siddhartha'

Then I wandered back to the place where I had come, to someone sat waiting for me.

Images made in Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia

108 steps; 4 meditations on.

Whenever I fall at your feet

i do so

in humble gratitude.

Images made in Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia.

fotovisura grants for grabs

108 steps

1 roll of film, 108 steps along the shoreline at Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia. 108 is the same number of beads on a japa mala, the string of beads that are used to aid in staying focused in deep meditation. The number 108 is meant to be held as the most auspicious number, the number one symbolizing beginnings and overcoming ignorance. Zero represents emptiness and the number 8 infinite energy. Also the numbers add up to 9, a number representing balance, one only has to think of a tripod, to imagine balance, three three's equals to nine giving supreme balance.
108 steps; to help remain focused on the vision of the ocean, stopping every few steps to make another image, 12 images made in all. My concentration was singled onto the ocean, the waves, the light on the water, how it would change in a matter of seconds. How it was ever changing but always there in front of me, partly gentle, partly roaring in the distance showing its manifested greatness and energy. A gloriously concentrated 108 steps, 12 images to hold forever those moments.
Here are the first four images.

Made in Kuta Lombok; Indonesia 2010.

one- the triangle

The Yogi sees life as a triangle, starting with birth, up one side of the triangle is growth to the top we reach youth, down the other side is change, into old age and decay, ending in death. Along the bottom edge is life hereafter, leading back again to birth. As the river begins from the rain clouds and returns to the rain clouds, do we also return again and again? Sometimes I wonder where a feeling came from, an impression in my subconscious mind, sometimes too vague and sometimes too strong to have been a recent feeling, a snippet of knowledge from the past reawakens within me. I feel the past is there, within the present moment.
"When man realizes that the immortal self is identical with the supreme self or God, what, then, is death and where is fear? The one theme of the Vedanta philosophy is the search after the unity of the individual self with the universal self or God. When this unity is achieved, no fear or death can remain." Swami Vishnu-devananda - the complete illustrated book of yoga.

The mind is like the river, turbulent, only when it is still, we can see clearly to the bottom, or to one's own true nature.

It is that time again that we call summer, a sense of freedom manifests, and I'm off again wandering, pack on back, camera in hand. Maybe to try to make the waves of my mind stiller! This year with my husband we are off to Lombok, Indonesia and the surrounding area, I want to continue my work of looking at the ocean and dwellings, a body of work that was started last year in Sulawesi- 'going back to the start.' You can view some of this work in a previous entry on this blog. Then back to the UK to spend some time with my Mum. So no blog posts for the next 6 weeks, I will indeed share on my return home to Malaysia.
For now, have wonderful summers, may the long time sun shine on one and all,
Om Shanti 'Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu' may all beings be peaceful.

image made at Cuckmere Haven UK, with appropriated image.

Hari Om Tat Sat- the truth

" True artists pick their own perspectives - they live and love their ways even if they must live and love alone. Praise and applause are not priorities of artists; what matters most is the fulfillment that comes with being oneself."
quote by Michael William Nebab.

Image made in Laos.

one= the overcomer of ignorance

A river has a constant ebb and flow of movement. It seems to trick us into believing that it is always there as we watch and yet at every moment it is new, giving rise to a great source of exploration and of discovery; a source of knowledge as it speaks.
The river fires my imagination as I follow it, walk in it, look under stones and drift my fingers within it. It gives me a strong sense of freedom.
From rain to the river, to the sea and back to rain.
When it rains I hear melodic drum beats and witness rebirth as the river forms once again from the source. Does everything always return, like leaves on the trees after winter?
It feels as if there are a thousand eyes looking out from the soul of the earth, existing only in the present and with a thousand different voices repeating the same mantra, 'one.' It is of water, of creature, of earth.
The source it seems is the beginning and the end, playing with time, the old becoming the new, the new disappearing into the old and yet only existing in the present.

top image made in Cuckmere Haven, UK
bottom image made in Check Republic

eka

"He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, each time he reawakened. The sun or moon shone, he was again self, swung into the life cycle, felt thirst, conquered thirst, felt new thirst." taken from 'Siddhartha' by Hermann Hesse.

images made in Kota Kinabalu and Perhentian Islands.

One

Your soul is the whole world.

Image made in Kota Kinabalu; Sabah

Nicola's 152-8-5 song

Slow down you move to fast, you've got to make the movement last
just hanging around in shoulderstand
looking for fun and feeling Yogi

feeling Yogi

Hello Swami Ji, what cha knowing, i've come to watch your flowers growing
aint ya got a mantra for me
do-ti-do do feeling Yogi

feeling Yogi

I've got no past to do, no future to keep
i'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
let the asna time drop all its petals on me
life i love you all is Yogi

for my Guru

Om tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pustivardhanam
urvarukamiva bandhananmrtyormuksiya ma mrtat
Om sarvesam swastirbavatu sarvesam santirbhavatu
sarve bhavantu sukhinah sarve santu niramayah
sarve bhadrani pasyantu ma kaschid-duhkhabhag-bhavet
asato ma sad-gamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya
Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate
purnasya purnamadaya purnamevavasisyate

Om Shanti shanti shanti

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Cages.

The body is considered illusionary; something that comes and goes. The body can be considered a temporary abode, a vehicle for our true selves. So what then is our true nature? It is the light that shines within us, it is difficult to contemplate that our bodies, our toes our fingers are not really us, and until we come to this realization we remain in a cage. Our ego traps us like a little bird waiting to be set free. When we use the term 'Namaste,' or 'Om Namah Sivaya,' there is a much deeper meaning than just a greeting. We bow the head and form the prayer position with our hands in front of our heart centre, bowing the head signifying humility, 'I am humble' the hands are like a lotus bud opening; a sign of balanced energy. We are saluting each other, or more so recognizing the divine in each and every being. You are all auspicious beings and I salute each and every one of you.
Unity of all beings is essential to free us from our cages, balance the world, balance each being. The planet is small, we have to live together, the time has come for only unity to exist.
Om Namah Sivaya
Om Shanti
Peace to all.

Bliss Absolute.

As a flute of incense smoke rises, it creates a veil on what lies beyond. Where do the origins of this mystic, sweet smelling, wafting and magical veil lie. In the hearts of a man sitting behind a wheel waiting for a fare, in the hearts of a man waiting for the rubbish van to come and collect disregarded bits of card, plastic and glass, in the whispers of this land, where the rain gently falls, cleansing, nourishing, carrying the souls of generations to the tinker of wind chimes.
Gently it floats up and up, in no rush, no need to hurry, like a deep meditative dance, twisting in rhymes, unchanged by the world in which it now belongs, unaffected by what lies beyond, it is deep within itself, with its true nature, bliss absolute.

Images made in Tawain.

For Mum

no words, just for her.

Going back to the dark.

The sun is the giver of life, it nourishes us, grows our food, keeps us warm, without the sun there is no life. It is our source of light in our daily lives, bringing that light into our hearts.
In yoga we turn to the sun for our salutations, in yogic terms it awakens the solar aspects of an individuals nature and releases this vital energy for the development of higher awareness. Sun worship was one of mans first and most natural forms of inner expression.
In photographic terms, light is what we paint with, photography meaning painting with light, we use that light to express our creativity, our world, ourselves and our opinions. Traditionally we also need the dark to create the light, as we need the sun we need the moon.
Traditionally we stand in complete darkness to load our films which have been exposed through the camera in various degrees to the light. I don't think Fox Talbot or Daguerre considered themselves as radicals when the invention of photography came about in the 1800's. I don't think they would have had any idea of where photography would go looking from today's point of view. But I do think they were aware of the power of the new medium they brought to the world. Today keeping these depths of practice alive is crucial, how can we continue to grow if we don't know where our roots are, or where the seed comes from?
Once again I am going back to the dark, returning to the darkroom, teaching secondary students the trials and tribulations of black and white photography and the joys of working in the dark! I am excited to start this course, to see eyes wide as the first image starts to appear in the development tray, it's magic! As I walked into the darkroom, the first time I had been in, to this one, it was like a return home, everything seemed familiar even the smell. I haven't printed in a darkroom for four years and as I turned the enlarger on, agitated the developer tray back and forth it was like I haven't been away, a homecoming.
As we stretch our bodies in our sun salutations, we fall into meditation, as go I back to the same old processes I learnt so many years ago, it is the same and it feels good.
The image above is titled 'Light house' and was made in 1999 whilst at Brighton University; Editorial Photography.
Classes are on Tuesdays at Garden International School, Kuala Lumpur.

Who am I?

Who am I, something that exists between space and time, living in 3 states, the waking state, dream state and deep sleep state. How do I find who I am, the quality of my body is birth and death, I only need look in the mirror to see my fingers, my toes, but who am I? To find the answer I have to find who is asking the question, I have to go deep within, like looking at a lake there are many factors to consider, there are waves, plants and fish. Only when the waves are still, the plants and fish and other matter has been removed can we see clearly to the bottom, to our true selves to find our true nature. Something that is absolute existence should have no beginning and no end, like a river whose water flows from its source to its end, but you can see water wherever you stand on the river. I have learnt so much in India over the last 5 weeks or so, I tried to soak up as much as I could like a sponge and now will try to work out a way to share all that I learnt. Now the hard work starts!
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti,
Peace to all.

1 Year On

Kali Yuga, is a project I began on the 17th of Feb 2009, this image was made on the 17th of Feb 2010 and in fact it was with this work that I began this blog on March 13th 2009. Please refer back to that blog post for other images and a description of the work in more detail, but in brief, Kali Yuga looks at the age of destruction and then a transition stage into Dwapara Yuga a time of greater understandings and peace. In our time we have destroyed so much, have been so obsessed with technologies and progressions, in fact sometimes I feel we choose to be blind to the destruction we cause. However with destruction comes creation, maybe we have to almost destroy ourselves before we will again open our eyes and become gentle.
Looking at the sky I see so much energy, so much boundlessness and with such intensity of light and dark represents creation and destruction perfectly. This work has been shot on none other than a mobile phone, hence destroying the depth of photography, however is printed beautifully on fine art rag paper with much care and attention spent on it, hence the creation. As I reflect over the past years work, I find I have made images that maybe have something, although this body is 118 images strong, now I wish I had made an image every single day. All images are titled with the date they were taken, on some days there were more than one made, especially with a rapidly changing sky throughout the day here in Malaysia. Should I continue, my heart is saying that I should.
And as I think about the work it makes me realize how much waiting is involved with photography, maybe the days I didn't manage to make an image represents that waiting. Waiting for the right moment, waiting for a project to take form and place, waiting for it to be good enough, people don't get to hear about the waiting part, or see it, but perhaps it is the most important part.
On Friday the 26th of Feb I am leaving home for India to embark on an intensive yoga course that lasts 31 days. I have been a practising yogi for the past 4 years, again waiting, waiting to be able to attempt a headstand, waiting for my fingers to be able to reach the floor without bending my knees, waiting for my body to be able to do what I would like it to do. But that is just it, we have to be mindful of our capabilities, bringing mind and body together, to be patient and to really take joy in the little progresses we make. It is a journey, a beautiful journey, both photography and yoga a look inward to ourselves and look outwards to the world around us, taking consideration and joy of what we find and trying to protect it.
You might be thinking how can one link yoga and photography, of that I'm not entirely sure myself, maybe India will enlighten me, but there are links in the things I have already mentioned, the waiting, the meditation and the process. But I do feel after a long time I am moving in the right direction and that is exciting to me.
I will have nowhere to use a computer at the Ashram I am going to, so this will be my last blog post for the next 5 weeks. In anticipation of all I will find and how much I will grow and we will see where this journey will take not only me but my photography also.
Om Shanti
Peace to all.

The Last Book

The last book is a project by and curated by Luis Camnitzer, firstly shown at the National Library of Argentina. I was proud that Luis chose my two images as above to be included in the book and always enjoy working on collaborative projects. This book is compiled with written as well as visual statements by artists from around the world in which the authors comment on society past and future, leaving a legacy for future generations. The last book makes a statement in itself about how technology has such an unavoidable impact on our daily lives, the book is printed and is alive 'in the flesh' so to speak, it was quite ironic when the National of Library of Spain offered to show this work but only on 'You tube,' being a complete contradiction to the purpose of the book. The Last book serves as a time-capsual and leaves a document and testament of our time from all sorts of artists from all sorts of places. Hmmmm a very good read!
The Last Book can be viewed at Zentral Bibliothek de Zurich, Switzerland from the 10th of March until the 31st July 2010.

The City and Photography.

"If landscape photography fed from earlier developments in landscape painting and aesthetics, then the photography of the city has its foundations in the way urban spaces were beginning to be viewed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We need to remember that photography established itself in a period when the growth of the city and industry had already provoked a formidable literature and art in response to the increasing influence of urban areas, especially such cities as London, Paris and New York. Photography takes its place in this process, but it does so in a consistently active sense, simultaneously responding to the variety and multiplicity of urban life and experience, and to the questions of how urban space was to be perceived and represented. In brief, its underlying response has always been in relation to the visual complexity of a city as both image and experience." Graham Clarke - The Photograph.

There have been so many photographers who have approached 'The City' with their camera's, Alfred Stieglitz; abandoning the street as an area of interest concentrating instead on perspectives of the New York sky line. Lewis Hine; gave us views of the city as a social and economic reality. Walker Evans who used concealed cameras beneath his coat giving us a candid view, Brassai gave us his vision of Paris maybe as more of a voyeur and someone who peeped. Too many photographers to mention here. Today we seem to find ourselves looking at images of cities, not such as London, Paris and New York, but of Beijing, Tokyo, Mumbai etc, cities with different implications and conditions. For me photographing a city makes me part of that city, blending with the walls, allowing the traffic to flow over me, spending hours walking the streets, to feel and see it. Using photography to come to understanding when we can ponder over an image made for minutes, days and weeks. These two images were made in the city of Kaoshan, Taiwan, a city of contrasts from that of huge modern buildings to the subtleties of history that fill in the gaps. Surrounded by water, an enigmatic harbour to a man singing karaoke on the beach.

Kaoshan thank you for having me and letting me get to know you a little.

Unification

When we retreat what is it that we do exactly? I think for many people it is different, a unique experience that is as individual as the person. A retreat could be anything from just closing your doors and turning off your phone, to traveling to a far away place and practising meditation, a healthy diet and having time for self-reflection. For me, this time in retreat is a time to become unified with the natural world around me, to feel breath and become uplifted, to feel that I can connect my own self conscious with that of the universe. Like a full glass, we perceive the space inside and outside the glass to be different, in a time of retreat is it possible to break the glass and the two spaces to become one?
Photography for me is also something that connects me to the world around me, opening my eyes to a new level of vision, a deeper vision so to speak, like a special awareness. It gives me the tools required to inquire into the nature of what is around me, what I belong to and also into ones own nature.
How wonderful a thing!

Mataian, Taiwan.

A Retreat.

Here in the midst of Taroko Gorge was our retreat, away from the coaches and the crowds that flock even in winter. This our little home for a few days, a place of privacy, safety, a refuge. A beat of a drum as the sun rises and then quiet, solitude and silence. We withdrew from society here, nourished ourselves in the peace and beauty of nature, thrived with the simplicity of our dwelling. The echoes of the Atayal people whirled around the gorge, their hunting tracks remain and maybe their ghosts with facial tattoos. Enjoying sitting and just being, with a cup of tea and nothing more, nothing less, just there. A home, a retreat.

Taroko Gorge, Taiwan.

Portrait of a Nation 2

Portrait of a Nation

An aquarium of gold fish
swimming for good luck
The family Dog dressed in tartan coat,
named Come Fortune.
Drinking tea for hours make the pot hot, pour with ancient ritual.
picking at sunflower seeds from an ornate wooden table.
Listening to the heavy sounds of a game of Mahjong
reach for the white flower oil to ease a stiffening back.
Steaming pots bubbling smoke rising past the tiles on the roof.
Smell the incense floating to the Gods
all the family under one roof
Grandmother and Grandfather shuffle to the sister-in-laws stove
rice pot full.
climbing stairs to a shrine
pay respects to family past.
This is Taiwan.

Wishing everyone a joyous and healthy new year full of dreams of beauty and wonder in a world we will cherish.
I wonder what the Tiger will bring?