Sheeple

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain

Humanity

"It is already becoming clear that a chapter which had a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in self-destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible for the human race to grow together in to a single family." Arnold Joseph Toynbee (British Historian)

Debt & those Damn Banks!

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised a monied (sic) aristocracy that has set the Government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. Thomas Jefferson

Killing Osama

"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr "Strength To Love", 1963

The Prophet's Way

He who helps in the saving of others, saves himself as well. Hartmann von Aue

The Lake District - England

My cool wife.

We were driving North to the Lake District in England (early August 08) - the weather of course was overcast and the sky (for photography) awesome as you can see. This picture was another one of those shots that turned-out better than I expected.

Aperture Priority @ 55mm.

The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1862), 1809

Ramblas Performer

I captured this gorgeous artist at around 10am last August on the Ramblas, Barcelona. Of the hundreds of pictures I recorded on this trip, this is one of my favourites!

Nikon D60 (aperture priority); Nikon 70-300mm VR @ 300mm; f5.6; exposure 1/320 , ISO 400.

Gregory Crewdson

You've probably not seen Gregory Crewdson's work before. I certainly hadn't until I stumbled across a book in a local bookstore a number of years ago.



Unique, powerful... maybe there's a 'part' of us in all of these stories?



A picture's meaning really can express a thousand words...

What happenned? Is she thinking twice about her decision? Is she scared or angry? Has she just broken up with her husband? Why is the cab parked across the street?

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

I just had to post one more of my Mumbai pictures. Of course it's of the famous Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I shot this image on the 27th of July last year and am reminded of the building's magnificence every time I look at this shot.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhatrapati_Shivaji_Terminus

Love

"There wasn't enough truth in me for that kind of sorrowing because my heart wouldn't believe him dead. I'd loved him too much, it seemed to me in that winter of war, for him to simply be gone, to be dead. If so much love could vanish into the earth and speak no more, smile no more, then love was nothing. And I wouldn't believe that. I was sure there had to be a pay-off, somehow, and I kept waiting for it. I didn't know then, as I do now, that love's a one-way street. Love, like respect, isn't something you get; it's something you give." A passage from 'Shantaram', page 759.

I was deeply moved and forever changed after reading the above - a potent and age-old message that's as true today as it has ever been.

Beautiful Mumbai

Following on from the pictures of Mumbai that I posted on May 9, I just had to share these three too.

The image (above) isn't as sharp as I would have liked, but the power of it is not lost. We were passing through a Mumbai slum when I shot this picture. It wasn't just the colour that struck me, but rather the palette from which it was drawn i.e., the love and pride of a proud father - a watchful mother, material poverty... yet abundant joy. I love it - I love it for all that it is and all that it is not. It represents all of us in a way - a part of us is them, and a part of them is us...



The smell, the vibrancy and of course the colour.



My gorgeous wife Dana with our Mumbai guide Raj. We met Raj by accident while strolling around the Gateway of India. Five minutes after meeting him he'd talked us into using his services. He was awesome - one of the loveliest people we've met and he showed us the real Mumbai. Thanks Raj!

Humanity's last great challenge

We have had our last chance. If we do not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.
Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964), September 2, 1945

Perspective...

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the [parasite] dies, or both die.
Gore Vidal, "Gods and Greens," Observer (London, 27.8.89)

de Lempicka - Self Portrait

What absolute style... 'Green Bugatti', 1925 (oil on wood)

More Art Deco

Tamara de Lempicka's 'Woman with Dove' (1931) - also known as ' Femme a Colombe'.

War

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
President and five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), April 16, 1953