Strung

Dirty linen in public

Although I like clean aesthetics, clutter always catches my attention. Perhaps it is so diametrically opposed to my preference that I find it somewhat alluring. And I am sure such an inkling extends way beyond photography. Sometimes it is hard to see through the clutter, especially if it flutters and obscures, but look hard and long enough and you might find doors opening. Even cracks and crevices begin to offer new apertures for exploration. There is no shame in stringing up dirty linen. After all, dirty is always subjective and such taboos are no more than social constructs. We only break away from taboos by questioning its basis. But how can one question without even stringing up the issue for discussion. Wittgenstein said that "We feel that even if all possible scientific questions be answered, the problems of life have still not been touched at all. But of course there is no question left, and that is the answer."

Snapshot

I want to capture his soul
Because his story has to be told

Often I wonder if buildings have an ability to absorb personality. Like how the ancient walls of Hue, which have weathered hails of bullets and rain in silence, seem to reflect the soul of my guide as he looked out onto his city. I remember this moment. As I inched closer towards him, he snapped out of his daze and pointed out his home to me, a home I would visit the next day on our way to the imperial tombs. A home that made me realise.
Last week, The Economist ran a 14 page special report on Vietnam branding Vietnam as Asia's other miracle. A miracle indeed; paid for in full with blood and sweat.

Laughs

We're off to the chapel and we're gonna get married.

Weddings are really stressful. I think this was the only time I saw the couple laugh yesterday! I am so glad that I turned around at the traffic junction to snap this shot. I was also very glad that none of the cars behind honked when the lights turned green. Although it was a stressful day for Marc and Jac it was also a very special day for them and I am glad to be part of it. It is not everyday that I get to be part of a new beginning. Congratulations Marc and Jac!

Running

No turning back.

How does one run with cold feet?
That doesn't matter anymore.
You just turn up the heat;
Run down the corridor.

The Altar's this way, my friend!

Homeless

Art, Discard

Its always interesting to see what people throw out; but most definitely not in this sense. Often I wonder if there is a set criteria for declaring something to be trash. Is it trash when it is no longer functional? When it has lost its aesthetic value? When we are simply bored of it? Junking stuff comes with the inherent risk of throwing away potential. And far too often we write things off too early; a waste indeed. If only we were a little more patient. Give it time.

Lock

Gate on a Lock.

To believe in science and logic is to believe in universal laws. Yet the very concept of universal laws implies an established order and that we are its prisoners. So we all serve our time, until one of us discovers the Gap. The next step is to make the break.

Gated

Through the gate, beyond the debris, Lux Lucis

When I was 16, I only cared for Today. Ten years later, I only care that Today ends. The end seems to loom overhead even though there is barely a beginning. Let me slip through the gate and reach for the light; the light at the end.

Discarded

This way, makes light, of the Truth

The order that our mind seeks is like a ladder, built to attain something. But afterwards you must throw the ladder away, because you discover that even if it was useful, it was meaningless. Perhaps the only truths that are useful, are instruments to be thrown away. Then why do we still fence in that which we should discard?

Letter

Bonjour C'est la Police!

In an age where it is so easy to fire off an email, one really appreciates the effort taken to send snail mail. Even a short line can evoke memories that a lengthy email could never accomplish. Last week's issue of The Economist carried a special report on wireless technology and how it purports to change the way we live or perhaps is already changing the way we live. Apart from the technological issues, the report also touched on the accompanying social problems such as a deterioration of inter personal relations. The irony of this is that as we become more connected we grow increasingly insular. I suspect the transition from Homo Sapien to Homo Mobilis will not be a smooth one.

Inquisitor

Crossed the threshold but going no further

Sometimes I wonder how the past will judge the way we live today. There are times when I wonder if it will be a judgment founded on disappointment or one of approval. In an age where we can discover so much more we shut ourselves off and surrender the power of reasoning and questioning. We do it largely out of fear; fear of an unknown that cannot be tamed possibly being unleashed upon us, upsetting the status quo. Medieval men had more courage and chivalry to face the unknown. To question and understand. To try and fail. To risk the flames of the stake. All because they had more faith. Faith in what they believed in. What do we believe in these days? Most certainly not in humanity. Umberto Eco wrote:

'What contradicts must not be destroyed, because only if we preserve it can it be contradicted in its turn by those who can do so and are so charged, in the ways and times that the Lord Chooses.'

Coming from a man who lost his faith reading Thomas Aquinas, one of the church's greatest theologians, it surely must mean something. Even if one is not religious, one can definitely appreciate the magnanimity and confidence of such writings. Just simply substitute the words 'the Lord' for 'your belief', be it another god or The Beatles.

Obscured

Obscured Sunset; Green light to go

This photo was snapped at a traffic light junction just as the lights turned green. For some strange reason it reminded me of the road trip that I did last year, of the numerous times I snapped a quick shot as we were driving, of the countless sunsets I savored. And like this photo, the memories of that trip still radiate although now obscured by a block of consciousness. I like road trips. One starts off with a purpose or a destination, and then one is free to do as he wishes as long as he achieves that purpose or reach that destination. In a way, life is like that, just that it begins without knowing the purpose. I guess that makes it more fun.

Chained

Kept under lock and key; seeing Red.

Food shortages, rising commodity prices and rocketing oil seems to place us on the verge of a Malthusian disaster. Shackled by our limited resources and locked up by our habits, we await an anti-Malthusian technological liberation. Yet even as a believer in technology , my faith has been shaken by the recent spikes. And then it all makes cents. Perhaps the high prices are a true reflection of value. After all, if you think about it, oil is under-priced relative to the cost of carbon emissions and key resources such as water are often provided free. A basic rule of economics is that the only value of an asset is what someone will pay for it, not some theoretical value derived from a complex computer model. But then the sub-prime fiasco has proven this theory wrong; that a "someone" is often deluded and possesses imperfect knowledge. Ah-hah. So maybe the key lies in knowledge. So in the search for value we should hunt for the truth, the all elusive evasive epiphany, that will put us either in the know or in the Red.

White

Is this the road traveled
or the road ahead?
I stop and wonder,
just like a dream, dislocated.
With Sisyphus for company,
I make this journey;
He bouldered as I stoned.