Casa Nova's house

While in Venice you can also float past Casa Nova's house. Not that I know a lot about Casa Nova and his history, but I didn't know that he lived on a canal. Venice is a city with many unexpected twists and turns.

Interesting sights in Venice

Some of the more interesting sights in Venice are not what you would expect. For example, where else would you find garages for boats rather than cars? Cruising around the canals we came across a number of these types of constructions. Generally Venice is a triumph of how people can learn to live in a totally different environment, in this case on a large boggy lagoon. Everywhere there are adaptations, from the thousands of wooden piles the city is built on, steps that lead directly to water, small gardens that fit on edges of the canals, water rather than land transport and or course garages for boats.

Screwed up Faces

When we were in Amsterdam we went to an exhibition where a photographer had worked his way around the middle east taking pictures of people with screwed up faces. Essentially he asked them to contort their face as much as they could then he took the shot. There were some amazing photographs and some evidence that the "fun" of the activity relaxed some of the tensions amongst the people involved in what was a pretty tense time in the area. I had to have a go myself; I guess I was not as good at screwing my face up as some of the people shown in the exhibition, but I gave it a good go.

Wedding photographers

I took this photo at a wedding I was at recently. The pervasiveness of digital photography is everywhere; for many people at an event they are actually viewing it through the screen of a digital camera - or at least they are viewing a significant part of the activity through a screen. Maybe being at the "real thing" gives a feeling for the atmosphere of the event irrespective of how it is actually viewed.

The Thinker

One day while in Paris Sally and I were wandering down from the Eiffel Tower towards our hotel when we came across the Musée Rodin.

It was one of those "stumble across something you weren't expecting" experiences; Even with my knowledge of art I hadn't been aware that there was a Rodin gallery in Paris, or that he had been so influential in the development of the art scene in Paris and Europe.

The sculptures are amazing, and after half a days exposure to diversity of form Rodin produced it is not hard to see why he was able to have such an impact of the art scene. He essentially was beginning to do what the painters were doing, transforming sculpture from an attempt to represent something "real" to a form that has it's own existence.

It was humbling to be able to walk amongst these transformational sculptures and feel the history of modern art all around us.

My First Home

Over my lifetime I have lived in many houses at several locations in New Zealand. In fact the longest period of time I have lived in any house is the house I currently live in - around 14 years. Overall I estimate I have lived in about 17 different houses at six locations.

This photo is of the house I first lived in. Guppy Road Greenmeadows clearly provided a lot of scope for landscaping, and my father is at the front of the house giving it a good go. I was to young to remember anything about living in this house, but it was a starting point.

Each house I have lived in has had it's own character and history. They have become markers for different stages of my life. I wonder if that would have happened if I had lived in one or two houses over the course of my lifetime?

If only they knew

This is a photo of my father heading off on his honeymoon. Nothing fancy, a car, a tent and two people beginning to share the future together. Who would have thought back then that one day this photo would be included in a system called the world wide web, with almost anyone in the world being able to look at it. Also, would they have realised that the photo could be included in an integrated family history that will live on in the digital future? Increasingly we have the opportunity to become digital archivists and to include everything we can about people from the past world as well as the current world. In a sense my parents are still part of the future, a future they could never have imagined they would be involved in. Journeys can be strange things!

Face to face with a black bear

This photo is the location of my most profound wildlife experience: finding my self face to face with a black bear. The place is Vancouver Island. Early in the morning I opened the door of the Backpackers hostel we were staying in and, there right in front of me was a sizable black bear. Black bears are not large bears, but to me it was fairly enormous. In New Zealand the largest mammals you might come across in the wild are goats or deer; they of course will run off, probably  before you even see them. As the bear and I looked at each other I found I wasn't afraid, even though I could have let a dozen stories of how dangerous bears could be run through my mind. Instead I felt calm and enjoyed my brief moment with the bear until it sniffed the air around it and ambled off to find more rubbish bins to forage in. Then it was gone. But, the image of that experience has never left my mind and I realised that enjoying the moment was far more important than racing back into the hostel to find a camera to try and photograph it. In the time it would have taken me to get my camera it would have probably moved on anyway. So, I guess that's why I only have a photo of where the bear and I met; not of the actual meeting.

Manet painting

Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet was a painting that had a significant impact on my interest in art, particularly modern art. I studied this painting when I was at the School of Education in Hamilton - and was really excited when, many years later, I stood in front of the actual picture in a Gallery in Paris. The painting was real! I was able to appreciate how far I had come from those early days of College art classes in terms of my understanding of art and how this had impacted on my life. A loop had been closed.

Esmeralda the goat

I took this photo at the Picasso museum in Paris. One of the amazing things about most galleries in Europe is that it is OK to photograph art works (providing you don't use flash of course). People photographed art, they painted their own picture of the art, they viewed and absorbed the works. When I thought about it I realised that of course Picasso would have approved. For Picasso, and the other painters of his era, once a work of art had been produced it was a thing in its own right. It existed as a tree or house or any other object and therefore could be treated as such. This would include it being photographed. Once I had this thought I snapped away (without flash) with the best of them.

Styles of blogging by people with life threatening illnesses

http://www.butdoctorihatepink.com/



Ann Silberman's blog helped me to realise that there are many people talking about their illness on the web, and almost everyone has a different style.



Some people talk about what their illness means for them, some talk about how they cope with their situation others talk about experiences at different stages of treatment and so on. This puts together a rich mix of experiences and personal knowledge of what it means for anyone to be in the situation of living with a life threatening illness. For example, consider Ann Silberman's recent blog on Kevin MD:



http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/12/person-cancer.html



I thought this was a good blog from someone who has obviously thought about the way people approach her and what that might mean for her and for others in a similar situation.



By reading through these blogs people in similar (does not have to be exactly the same) situations can:

• Gain some reassurance that their situation is not totally different from experiences other people have had

• Get ideas from other people regarding how to deal with specific day to day living situations

• Be more prepared to deal with the health system which becomes an increasing part of day to day life for people with a life threatening illness

• Come to realise that it is OK to talk about yourself and that this can be therapeutic and helpful to others

• Obtain specific information that might help decision making around treatment options

• come to realise, that even with a life threatening illness, life goes on.

Aerobatics

There was always something special about doing aerobatics in the high country area of the South Island. Here my plane waits for another session of loops and rolls around the mountains.

Kite in the park

I took this photo early in 2011 at a park in Devonport, Auckland. For over an hour this, quite disabled, little girl worked with her father to get her kite flying. In the conditions flying a kite was not easy; trying to fly the kite from a wheel chair was even more of a challenge. She didn't give up, and eventually she got the kite flying. It may not seem like a big thing, but from the perspective of this girl this was a major achievement. It reminded me that often we do not celebrate the remarkable things that many disabled people achieve. Unfortunately, we are more likely to take note of non-disabled  people achieving (in our minds) extraordinary things, rather than disabled people achieving ordinary things. Yet, the effort and determination required to achieve the goal may be similar!



Denys Yeo

upi:dyd-dgyeo





Burano Houses

The Island of Burano, Venice Italy, has an amazing assortment of colourful houses and an assortment of leaning towers. Well worth a visit, particularly on a sparkling Italian summers day.

Salt water Crocs

When I visited Australia Zoo one of the most amazing things that happened was a demonstration (for want of a better term) of feeding salt water crocodiles. I guess these are one of the most dangerous reptiles in the world, but by developing an understanding of how these creatures function the zoo handlers were able to control what happened in the show to a remarkable degree. For example, at the start of the show the crocs swam slowly up the long canals to the feeding area and then lounged around in a pond waiting for their food. One clambered out of the pond and the handler demonstrated how close you can get to one of these crocs without it leaping and grabbing you in its enormous jaws. Then a handler stood on the platform and the crocs leapt up to grab their food like a well trained dolphin. Unbelievable, but it did suggest to me that if you understand well enough how something works you can sometimes use that knowledge to make extraordinary things happen.

Where Romans walked

These stones form part of a path from the Forum to the Colosseum  in Rome. As I walked down the path I knew I was stepping on stones that Caesar may have walked on. History does not only exist in the big things, the small components that make up the big picture are also important. That's why many of the photographs I have taken while travelling overseas have been of paths and walls and the more obscure parts of buildings. Then I can say "where the Romans have been I have also been".