Tiger

Go ahead, be a tiger.

Brought Ava out for a drive this morning. It was a really fine morning for driving around with the top down. Dad joined me for the ride and after going some way, he wanted to have a go at driving Ava. After a series of stalls and honking from cars behind, not to mention a backward slide on a slope which I thought would mark the end of my time on earth, he finally got the hang of it. He got the hang of it so much that he insisted on driving all the way home, via the scenic route. I guess after shaking off the laziness that modern cars have cultivated, there is really no beating a stick shifter.

Emptiness

Sorrow is to be
separated from the one
which brings happiness.

Flower

Happiness is a
flower and dappled sunlight
or a distraction

Framed

Hands, with the ability to give form to ideas and dreams.

She said 'Boys don't like to read instructions right...'
And all I could do was grin.

Read

黑色幽默

we see with our eyes
and also with our mind but
sometimes with our heart

Places

In between

In between my two monitors, on the wall behind my desk, is a photo of a small Iranian village; the hometown of a friend of mine. The little village lies in between two snow capped mountain ranges. I am told that a river carrying freshly melted snow runs down from one of the mountain ranges though I am not sure which one. The water is cold and crisps even on a hot summer's day and on such days all the children of the village head to the river in droves. My friend gave me this photograph and made me promise that I will visit his village. He told me that this was the only photo he had of his village, taken from this view which is on a foothill of the mountain range. Sadly, now that he is working and studying in Esfahan, he hardly returns home; Only on festive occasions or for a funeral or wedding. He has left his lovely little village and works long hours after class in return for the hope of a better life. As my eyes shuttle between the monitor screens, it occasionally pauses at this photograph and I can't help but think that I am no different from my friend, working long hours in return for the hope of a better life; perhaps forgetting that it is the places in between that sometimes matters most.

Museums

Together in Electric Dreams.

Look

Ambiguity.
A moment is captured, but partially obscured;
Like life itself, an elusive gesture or look;
The story not fully told.

Walter

Spot the rabbit.

It was really nice walking about with my camera, looking for images. Its been so long since I've gone out for a shoot and although I would have preferred shooting with film, the walkabout was satisfying in itself. Besides, one cannot always have everything his way or at least that's what I've been told.

356

Wish I had one.

Brought Ava down to the workshop today to sort out a rough idling problem and to have the new seals that finally arrived fixed. Of all the cars I have driven, Ava is the one that I enjoy driving the most. She's not fast nor sexy but she is a complete driving experience. No power steering, 5 speed manual, no ABS, no bullshit. Cars these days are far too clinical and perhaps that is a reflection of the manufacturing process. Robotic arms and machines have replaced the Fritz, Hans or Jens that lovingly assembled cars like this Porsche 356; the welding may not have been that precise but it was a labor of love that imbued the object with a character of its own. Perhaps that is why cars like the 356 will always tug at the heart strings. But I think this point permeates modern society, things these days are put together quickly and hence disposed of quickly too. The modernized and mechanized production line is concerned with churning out the newest and latest but not the most lasting. We may not realize but there may be deeper repercussions to this age of mass consumerism.

"Our exertions generally find no enduring physical correlatives. We are diluted in gigantic intangible collective projects, which leaves us wondering what we did last year and, more profoundly, where we have gone and quite what we have amounted to... How different everything is for the craftsman who transform a part of the world with his own hands, who can see his work as emanating from his being and can step back at the end of a day or lifetime and point to an object and see it as a stable repository of his skills and an accurate record of his years, and hence feel collected together in one place, rather than strung out across projects which long ago evaporated into nothing one could hold or see."
~ Alan de Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.

Tulip

Soft and only. You. Lost and lonely.

Show me, show me, show me, how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said
And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise you that
I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"
~ The Cure, Just like Heaven

Sunset

The living room and an unusual setting.

Its really unusual to experience the sun set on a Monday, let alone from home. It seems so long since I last watched the shadows of the coral tree in the garden dance across the living room; changing the complexion of the room. Its amazing how light seems to change everything. Its not good to be kept in the dark.

Clouds

也许是那朵白云
天空才蓝得美丽
因为短暂
因为无意
却难忘记

2005

More questions than answers;
In need of a brain that can explain any feeling.

Berlin

Written on your ticket to remind you where to stop

Coming and going. That's what trains do. There will be times when you find yourself on the wrong train, heading the wrong way. Its then that you need to stop, get off, cross the platform and head back in the opposite direction. Its not a sin to lose your way.

Cat

What does it mean
to meet the person
you are thinking of
at the lift lobby or
the next traffic light;
Luck or coincidence?