I believe in.....

This week I attended a talk by Matthew Burrows of ABC Projects Atelier.

A complicated name for what is an intensive 2 day artist development workshop.

Introducing his concept Matthew talked about what to expect on his workshop, and amongst other things mentioned that before attending you have to make some lists.

One of the lists was 'I believe in.....'

Which really got me thinking.

So much so, that I started to make an 'I believe in' list in my notebook.

Initially I remembered it as 'I believe', which gets very different answers to 'I believe in'.


My 'I believe' list started with 'I believe there are too many cones in the world'.

too many cones

I thought about this, and wondered how that relates to my artistic practice. I have almost managed to stop photographing cones recently.

But then I checked my notebook and saw that it is 'I believe in', which is a very different thing. I certainly don't believe in cones. And when I rephrase it to 'I believe there are too many cones in the world', it really doesn't sound that relevant or interesting.

So here goes with the 'I believe in ' list, which thankfully contains no mention ofthe aforementioned items.

The list gets longer every time I look at it.

At the top of the list

• nature

I can't manage without it. The wilder and more remote the better, but seeing goldfinches on my suburban lawn for the first time this morning made me jump for joy.

•  my family

Always top of the list. Wherever they are.

• picking up litter wherever I go

this obsession is probably more useful than photographing cones

single use cup and straw from the gutter outside my house

and along with that must go

• reducing my consumption of single use plastic, along with trying to persuade supermarkets to do the same. Shopping gets much more complicated if you try to avoid food and fruit wrappped in plastic containers. But if we all did it....... THINK WHAT THAT WOULD ACHIEVE!

• 

  potatoes don't need plastic bags

   

• walking

 Walking is the best way that I know for relaxation and thinking time. Great ideas come from walking, and almost all of my photography too.

The higher the better.

•  singing or dancing to music

Last week I attended a writing workshop, and we talked about music that makes us happy. Creating a 'happy' playlist is a great way to bring back memories from way, way back.

'Let's go fly a kite' is my current favourite. There are many happy memories associated with this one.

• listening to birdsong

It is hard to fathom how much pleasure comes from birdsong. I now have quite a collection of sounds. The blackbirds in my garden, the birds of New Zealand. July is a quiet time for garden birds, and we miss the morning songs.

Orokonui ecosanctuary, New Zealand a video should you have a few minutes to spare, and like birds.

• the smaller details in nature

Stones and pebbles, grasses and water. Bare earth and branches.

pebbles from the Rocky mountains

I call myself a landscape photographer, but my landscapes are getting smaller and smaller. Looking down more than at the wider view. What I call 'random acts' of nature.

winter grasses

more winter grasses

lancewood tree

Which leads on to...

• water

walking beside it, swimming in it, sunlight on it......

an endless fascination.

Rakiura dreaming © Caroline Fraser

Loch an Eilein © Caroline Fraser

To say that I am excited about a trip to Greenland next week to photograph icebergs in Disko Bay is an understatement.

• kindness

Something to strive for, always.

•  writing

I love the feel of pen on paper. I have found the perfect combination; a uniball micro pen and a seawhite travel journal go with me everywhere. Looking back through journals reminds me of ideas, unfinished projects and how much my mood changes from month to month.

• long summer days

10pm, Findhorn

I am a summer person. Daylight agrees with me.

• abstract art
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

 Postcards on my mantelpiece remind me of two of my influences - Agnes martin and Karl Blossfeldt

• time to play

Creativity comes from play. Outside, inside. It doesn't matter where.

And just in case you are wondering ( as one person did) whether this is a hot air balloon that I am about to release into the stratosphere, let me reassure you that it is a kite. Photographed by a good friend who also likes to play.

Where do we go from here?

Lunch.

And then some bookmaking.......

I almost forgot!

• making books

This should be near the top of the list.

So much more tangible than a blog. And a great way to bring together many of my beliefs into a single story.

hand made book

That's enough for now.

What will be on your list?

In which my other half gets a new name, and I discover the abstract art of Agnes Martin at the Tate Modern

It is confirmed.

There will be a return to New Zealand this year.

Life is good.


Next winter will become summer, and short days will become long.


All I have to do now is find a flight around the world that takes in eldest child in Vancouver, followed by South Island, New Zealand for work and photography, on to Canberra to visit photography friends, Perth for a meet-up with my other half (OH), who happens to have business to do there, and then home again.

Simple.

OH is temporarily renamed as FG ( flight guru). For it seems that he knows about flights more than those people that spend all day booking flights for people as a day job. This is a man who knows the leg length of all seats on all planes, which is the best seat to sit in, and even knows what type of plane he is on when he is on it...

As for myself, I can only tell you about the colour of the cones on the runway.

Enough said. He has been very helpful, and I am sure eventually the perfect scenario will present itself.

He has been so helpful that I might have to offer him a premium upgrade to a more appropriate term such as DB (dearly beloved). If he offers me some of his air miles, then its a done deal.



I popped up to London last week to see the Sonia Delauney exhibition at the Tate Modern.

But when I got there I got side tracked by a small poster for an exhibition by Agnes martin.

A painting.

Very geometric, simple and, to my eye, beautiful.

Agnes Martin

Friendship 1963

incised gold leaf and gesso on canvas

Museum of Modern Art, New York

So I changed my plan, and visited the Agnes Martin exhibition after a short sojourn admiring the afternoon light in the turbine hall.

turbine hall © caroline fraser

I am going to have a little moan about the policy of 'no photographs' in some art and photography exhibitions.

Photography is not allowed in the Agnes Martin Exhibition.

I decided to be obedient.

And felt faintly irritated as I watched others boldly taking photographs in the normal way that people always do in exhibitions where photography is not allowed.

between the artworks at the Tate Modern

So I cannot give you a sense of the size and impact of the large gold leaf covered canvas. Or the simplicity of the hanging in the light filled rooms. Ethereal in places.

Words don't do the job.

I am, however, allowed to share this video about her abstract paintings.

Agnes talks about her abstract work developing over 20 years, and in a film showing at the exhibition says of her abstract technique  ' it took 20 years.... every day I moved closer....'

She worked until she died at the age of 94. It was poignant to see her last big painting, with a lack of the precision of previous works; paint dripping down the canvas.

You can read more about her here

Agnes Martin
On A Clear Day, 1973

She talks about 'innocent moments' in which she stops thinking and stops responding. 'Innocent cells on a grid'.


She has commented in the past about her work;

'Its not about facts, its about feelings. It's about remembering feelings and happiness. A definition of art is that it makes concrete our most subtle emotions. I think the highest form of art is music. It is the most abstract of all art expression'


and

'I hope I have made it clear that the work is about perfection as we are aware of it in our minds but that the paintings are very far from being perfect — completely removed in fact — even as we ourselves are'.

In the absence of any photographs I made do with a couple of postcards.

postcards 

And made my way home.

indulging my obsession with hazard warnings and the like on the way

Sometimes I feel that my images need more content. More of a narrative. More people even.


Having been to see Agnes Martin at the Tate, and reading a bit about her work processes, I  feel it is OK to carry on doing whatever feels right on the day.

Some days are definitely more abstract than others.

“Beauty is in the mind, not the eye.”

(Agnes Martin)

I'd rather have a pebble than a diamond.............precious things and photographic influences

I am preparing a talk about abstract landscape photography.

I would love to tell some amusing anecdotes or jokes on the subject to lighten up the presentation. Google doesn't have any on this topic. Possibly because it really isn't a very amusing topic. I may have to  find something deep and meaningful to say instead. Or most probably not. I can't do 'art-speak'.

But I do know what I like even if I struggle to say "why". The emotional impact of an image is  a lot to do with the 'why'. How it makes you feel. Where it takes you in your mind. The memories that it evokes. The senses that are stimulated; touch, sound, smell. Art  is easier to sell if it stimulates all the senses in some way and takes the viewer on a journey to another place within their head.

I have been asked to list the  photographers who have most influenced me as part of my recent learning.

That was easy, and the list was long, so I'll stick to my top three.


Number one has to be Paul Kenny who creates other-worldy abstracts from objects on the seashore and sea water.

I am not one for jewels, but see his works as precious in the same way that others might see a Faberge egg or a diamond. I would rather have one of his prints than any gold or silver.

Second must be Chris Friel for his multiple exposure portraits that pack emotional punch, and his abstracted landscapes that use colour and minimalism to perfection.

His work is always surprising, and ever changing. A master of experimentation and persistence.



 Thirdly I would choose Susan Derges for her camera-less images of moonlight taken from a river bed;

This bears an uncanny similarity of tones and shapes to Paul Kenny's "Blue Moon" above, despite being produce by completely different processes. There is something very satisfying about circles, and calming about the colour blue. Flowing water and luminous landscapes without a waterfall in sight. Cool and refreshing.

I would dive in if it weren't for the toad spawn.........

A trip to Stewart Island - Rakiura

Stewart Island

Before any more time passes, I must tell you about my weekend trip to Stewart Island, as despite rather grey skies it was, to use a Kiwi phrase 'awesome'.

I opted to fly, not being one for high seas.

The flight leaves from Invercargill airport, famous only for its car hire company and twin palms.

Rent a Dent, Invercargill

Departures and arrivals bench, Invercargill airport 

We were delayed for 90 minutes due to a band of rain passing through. For it is a very small plane, and easily affected by weather .

the cockpit

the pilot

The cockpit looked old. The pilot looked far too young to be responsible for my life and that of the 7 other passengers. he advised us that we could escape by pulling the window out if necessary, but requested that we save this for emergencies as it is 'very hard to put them back again'. When we arrived he morphed into a baggage handler and bus driver, delivering us to town.

Town being Oban. It is not possible to escape Scotland in New Zealand.

Oban township

Oban is the hub, where the ferry arrives to, and the tourist trips depart from.

fishing co-op and ferry terminal, Oban

Visitors are not allowed to bring cars, and most travel is by boat.

I travelled to Ulva Island; one of the highlights of my trip down under thus far.

Ulva island ferry; one of several small operators

Ulva island ferry ticket

Muttonbush leaves were legal post here until the 1970's, being plentiful and easy to write on.

Muttonbush

Why is Ulva Island so wonderful?

Because there are no predators there; rats and possums have been eradicated and a careful watch is kept for new invaders arriving by boat or by swimming.

And no predators means wonderful bird life.

check yourself

I duly checked myself for rats on arrival.

near here lies a rat trap

a rat trap

The vegetation had me in heaven again.

The absence of a tripod was an issue however.

vegetation, Ulva Island

more greenery, Ulva island

A Tui bird

Kiwi's about

I didn't get to see a Kiwi, but did get a close encounter with a Weka, another flightless bird.

Weka

Mostly I just enjoyed the birdsong and the ferns and creepers.

And the beach at Sydney Cove

Sydney Cove

I wandered lonely as a tourist,

then back to reality after a fews hours for a slap-up lunch on the sea front, and some more sightseeing.

never say I am not good at recycling……… 

Dundee Street

the petrol pump. If you want diesel, its on the tanker

Kiwi aversion training for dogs

The bowling club; surreal in my view.

The phone 'box' - trunk calls only

A memorable trip, thanks to Stewart Island flights and the ferry operators to Ulva Island.

heading back home

the plane 

Not a weekend for major photographic achievements, but certainly one for good memories.


 I like this quote that I found on the Stewart Island website in regard of Ulva Island.

Have a care for this island. Sanctuaries such as these are imperative. There is no song of Bellbird or Tui on the moon.

Olga Sansom, 1970

Past Curator, Southland Museum and Stewart Islander

You can listen to the bellbird song in my previous post; it really is uplifting.

For now 'over and out'   ( OH will spot the deliberate mistake here….. )

I'm off out again to look for something to photograph.

some sand from Sydney Cove

abstract from a boat