A clump of water

Yesterday I commented about photos of clumps of things. Well, this a a photo of a clump of water, if that is possible? Taken at the Blue Pools near Wanaka, I was fascinated by the intricate ripples on the water – that made it almost mosaic like. So, I just took a random shot of a section of the pool. It has no boundary so I guess it meets my definition of a clump.

Driftwood by the Lake

You may have noticed but I like taking photos of clumps of things: paths, walls, stones, grass – anything that has no natural boundary or can be defined as a “unitary” object. Every part of the picture is part of the picture. In this case it is a clump of driftwood on the shore of Lake Wanaka.  Around the world there are billions of options for taking photos of clumps of driftwood, but once the photo is taken the clump is unique as defined by the borders of the picture. There can never be another picture exactly the same. From the picture patterns emerge, in fact everyone who looks at the photo will see different forms and patterns. Clumps take their own form and change every time you look at them. For me clumps are one of the ways photography can get close to what the impressionist and post-modern painters were trying to achieve. A picture that is a picture in its own right, not a representation of something “out there”. And clumps make great wallpaper for computers.

At the blue pool

One of my favourite photos. It provides a feeling of being around for a long time yet the cairn suggests people have been here recently. Where does human interference impact on the natural course of events? The small piece of “person” tinkering is in focus in the foreground; nature trundles on in the slightly hazy background. It’s a hot lazy day as these two aspects of the world happily co-exist.

Family Home

The newly painted family home sparkles in the Dunedin summer. The special thing about this house is that it was designed and pre-fabricated in America in the mid 1800’s and then shipped to New Zealand where it was assembled on this property around 1863. The house has been added to and repaired at various times, but this front section is pretty much original. It would have been great to have a similar photo taken when the house was built to compare with this photo, but when the house was fabricated cameras were still quite rare, and certainly did not take colour shots.

Havelock North House

This photo is full of family history. It is taken in Havelock North, New Zealand. The house was built by my grandfather, Green Hall, and was the first home for my mother. It is now part of a camping ground, hence the sign. The apricot trees were planted by my grandfather as he attempted to start an orchard. Unfortunately the orchard was not successful and my grandfather sold the house and property and moved on to a new career as a Methodist minister. Standing in front of the property is Green’s great great grandson, Aiden.

Paris Bistros

The La Rotonde, a typical bistro in Paris. I found the Bistros to be amazing places. First, they had been around for a very long time. Second, they had been frequented by the artists, and other influential people of their time, who began to pave the way for our modern world. Inside the buildings photos of Picasso, Hemmingway, Matisse and so on show the vibrant community of “thinking” people who have lived in this part of Paris. To be able to go back and feel part of that world was very special and made me realise even more that each person is a thread that makes up the fabric of human progress. No where else have I experienced the past and present being so intertwined as in this part of Paris.

building an island’s economy

While holidaying in Rarotonga in 2010 I was impressed by the effort many young people were making to build the economy of the island, primarily within the tourist industry. These young people had often been educated in other countries, such as New Zealand, and were bringing back what they had learned to try and move the country ahead. In particular they were trying to implement innovative ideas, building on the natural and historic resources of the islands, that matched the type of tourist experiences people might have in other countries. Really interesting things don’t happen only in Silicon Valley!

Tuscany

The hills of Tuscany; a much photographed area, and my photo here is no different from most other shots people have taken. The main impression I wanted to capture from my photos of this area was how similar it was to parts of New Zealand. In fact whenever I could get a shot of the country side that didn’t  include a medieval village, or tower, or wall and so on I was sure that if I showed the photo to someone in New Zealand and said it was a photo of somewhere in , say Hawke’s Bay, they would believe me. The feeling that I had of an affinity with this country side was quite special and made me realise that there is in fact more communality in the geography of the world than divergence.

Boeing factory Seattle

Another highlight of being in Seattle was a visit to the Boeing factory. This was quite special for me given that I had spent many years, as an aircraft engineer, working on Boeing aircraft – mainly 737s. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit the actual factory because of worker strike action, but it was great to be in the place that had produced the planes I spent so many years working on (although this wasn’t the part of the Boeing network where 737s were produced!). We did get to see the Boeing history and display section which had several mock ups of parts of the 787; definitely worth seeing.

stretcher frame with cross bars Roy Lichtenstein

Bernadette standing beside Roy Lichtenstein’s “Stretcher Frame with Cross Bars”. The reason I like this photo is that it is an example of where I used search technology to find the title and painter of the picture. I searched a range of possible  titles using Google images (such as “pop art windows”, “window picture”, – names of some artist such as Warhol, Lichtenstein) and eventually found a matching image. It wasn’t easy as there are some look a likes, and the title, of course, does not include “window” in it.

Bill Gates Home

 

Somewhere amongst these trees is the Bill Gates residence. It may seem a small thing but Bill Gates is one of my “up there” heroes, and to be in proximity of where he lives, in Seattle, was really exciting. I think people on the tour bus thought I was a bit “nutty” as I raced from window to window trying to get in a good shot. But for me it was a “psychological” connection that signalled “Bill is a real person”;  not just someone who lives in “computer land”. Wow !

Denys with early computer set up

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This is me, a much younger me, sitting at my desk with one of my first computer set ups. We were early adopters in the use of computer technology, compared to other special education offices in the country. Not only did we have a computer on each desk, but they were also networked. This allowed me to start developing a client management system, long before anyone thought this would be possible. This has evolved into a comprehensive web based system. In many ways if I compare what we had back then with what we have now, it mirrors the rapid development of computing technology over the past two decades. I suspect that we will have similar levels of change over the next twenty or so years. It is important to document the change that has occurred so far and used this to inform future directions; we have learnt a lot about developing robust and workable systems and this will lead to even better systems in the future.