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?

Water - a minor obsession - on photographing the clean, clear water of New Zealand's South island

Add caption

Clean, clear, beautiful mountain water in lakes and burns.

I can't stop photographing it.

Here are a few recent captures.

Not much to say.......

River Dart

Almost metallic on the surface.

Route burn

Seaweed, Ulva Island

long white cloud on the southern ocean

suns rays at Glenorchy

wave motion and sunlight

trees, Glenorchy lagoon

natural oil on water in the bog at Glenorchy

oil on water, nature's way

willow tree reflections

clean water and sunlight

I can only stand and stare......

bridge over the Route burn

Never work with children or crows - on the wildlife of southern India

Indian house crow

I am recently returned from southern India, where my senses were battered and bruised.

Noise, poverty, heat and dirt.

Difficult to reconcile with my life back at home. So many mixed emotions about what I have, that others have not.

A challenge to photograph for one who normally escapes to quiet, remote places where the only sounds are lapping water, wind in the trees and birds in the sky.

I have many images to sort, and plan a book. But for now I'll start with some birds and animals, for they were one of the most striking things about the streets of Chennai, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram.

Here in suburbia I don't bump into cows and goats in the street.

cows graze on the streets in town

Cows wander at random. They cause many accidents on the roads as people strive to avoid hitting them.

Goats also roam freely

Cows also enjoy the beach

Dogs are everywhere.

Dogs are everywhere

and they mostly all look very similar

best not to mention the rats in the canal at Pondicherry

Better to focus on the crows, for they were everywhere. The Indian equivalent of the seagull.

crows in Pondicherry

Down at the beach they were having a ball.

They particularly enjoyed the infinity pool.

crows enjoy the pool

my attempts to make them look graceful in flight spectacularly unsuccessful

almost graceful. 

I am never going to make a wild life photographer.

never work with children or crows

I find zebras much more co-operative

Zebra, Pondicherry

Owls too.

owl, Pondicherry

I need more patience.

nature, time and patience are three great physicians

I need more time.

And I definitely need a regular dose of nature.

Birds and trees will do it.

Crows or otherwise.

I wouldn't be without them.

Birds and trees are all I need.

Except maybe this crow, who doesn't know when enough is enough. I think I was invading his territory.