Live In The Moment

PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY DEREK CLARK

“I’m a housefly called God and I don’t give a fuck...
...I’m the atomizer
I’m the vaporizer
I turn everything to crud
I like it here in your flesh and blood
I’m the elevator man don’t you see?”

— Nick Cave

Live in the now. Live in the moment. That's what I'm constantly telling myself these days. But that's not always easy when you have a cloud hanging over the future as you know it. But I'm trying hard.

We tend to blame the past and put too much expectation on the future. But the past is gone and can’t be changed, and the future is uncertain and might not even exist for some of us. The present is a gift that should not be squandered. It might even be possible that the present is as good as it will ever be.

My kids are ten and twelve and in a few years they will fly the nest and start their own family. We will see them less and less as they move forward in their lives. I'm conscious that this is just a stage in my life and it's by no means a long-term thing. I can keep thinking about the good and the bad things that lie ahead, or I can open my eyes and see everything that is perfect at this moment in time.

Beautiful Chaos

By Bert Stephani

As soon as we agreed to take "everyday life" as our theme for this issue, my mind started spinning with ideas and concepts. None of them worked, there was always something missing. And then it hit me: everyday life doesn't thrive within the confines of a concept. So I just let it rip. 

Since I discovered mirrorless cameras, I've pretty much always carried one with me. And lately I started wondering why I used to make tons of those real life intimate images and now I hardly ever make any. Are the kids too old for this now? Aren't their enough interesting things happening in my life? Or even worse ... did I loose my mojo? Although these reason may carry some validity, it's not that. You see, I was stilling carrying a camera everywhere, I just stopped using it to photograph every day life.

I revisited my archive from a couple of years ago to investigate how I made those great family pictures in the past. I definitely had more winners back then, but only because I took way more pictures. Quality should always be the goal for a photographer but sometimes quantity helps to achieve quality. It's rare when all the stars align in such unposed pictures: the perfect moment, great light, a good background, ... And when it happens, it only lasts for a split second. 

The say: "the best camera is the one you have with you". But that's not true ...

THE BEST CAMERA IS THE ONE YOU HAVE IN YOUR HANDS
(with a full battery, an empty card, without lens cap)

12 Hours

Photography & Text by Kevin Mullins:  Fujifilm X100F

“Monotony has nothing to do with a place; monotony, either in its sensation or its infliction, is simply the quality of a person. There are no dreary sights; there are only dreary sight seers.”

— G.K. Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions

In a world of seeming monotony, there is I suppose there is a story in everything.

This month, we decided to document our everyday life and I immediately knew that it would be kind of dull.  But also, perhaps, a bit cathartic.

You see, even though I believe I have one of the best jobs, I still have a daily grind. 

I have the same issues and worries today as I did five years ago and I still feel like I'm walking through treacle often.

In the end, it turned out to be around 12 hours to encompass this.

I wanted to give a viewpoint as to what I see.  Every day. 

Not a romanticized version of anything, but honest warts and all series of images.

These images are not pretty, and can't really be considered much more than snapshots, but they are true to the voyeuristic principles of photojournalism.  What was in front of me, I photographed without adornment.

Nothing is moved, nothing is cleaned and nothing is edited.

This is my daily life.

I'm very privileged to live in a beautiful market town, and once my day is done I get to walk through a gorgeous Cotswolds scene to our beautiful, but small and cramped, 400-year-old cottage.

I still need to change the water in my car, and I still find my daughters dolls terrifying.  

But I'm grateful for the monotony I have to endure if in fact, endure is the right verb to use.  

05.05 retrospect

Photography and words by Jonas Rask

Ever since I started shooting Fujifilm cameras back in 2011, I started carrying my camera with me everywhere I go. 
The store, concerts, recitals, family gatherings, the couch. You get the point. Everywhere. 

Whenever I give lectures on photography, it’s always my key point. - Always wear a camera. You never know what situations will present it self. 
This has a very desirable side effect. Most of my images are images of my everyday life. Life as it happens around me, in front of my lens. 

Maybe not exciting in present tense, but when viewed in retrospect, it becomes what photography is destined to be. Preservance of memories. Those fleeing moments that you want to hang on to forever. 

I dug into my library. 
I found one monochrome
I found one colour

6 years. 12 images. 1 date.

This is my everyday life. On May 5th. The past 6 years.

13

14

15

16

17

18

In seven days

By Patrick La Roque

On day one, it was my birthday.

I ate popcorn at the movies with Jacob
then Szechuan back home,
take-out—but good take-out.
My daughter baked a lovely cake too.

All week I dreamt odd dreams
a dying fish, a sacred mountain
a film actress, from old teenage galaxies;
long gone.
I gave a talk at a camera club;
tried my new hammock;
started a new book;
drank tea.

On Saturday I mowed the lawn
for the first time this year.
On Sunday we had barbecue
for the first time this year.

And our world turned
a fresh, cleansing green
shades of a hushed revolution
in seven days.

7x023

Bricked In
Derek Clark | X-Pro2, 35mm f1.4. 1/1600 sec at f1.4, ISO 200

Cockatoo Island
Robert Catto | X-H1, 18mm f/2. 1/60 at f/8, ISO 3200.

Just us, Sis
Jonas Rask | X-Pro2, XF50mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 200.

Lilith
Vincent Baldensperger | X-Pro2. | 56mm 1/125 at f/1.4, ISO 100.

Buds
Patrick La Roque | GFX 50S,  1/1250 at f/2, ISO 100.

Endurance
Kevin Mullins | X-T2 with XF16-55mm Lens at 55mm 1/550 @ ISO 200 F2.8

Juliette
Bert Stephani | GFX 50S, vintage Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 with Kipon adapter,  1/500 @ f/2, ISO 100

L'ÂME GRISE

BY VINCENT BALDENSPERGER

Maître de thé et artiste sensible aux multiples talents, Rizü Takahashi donne vie à la matière. Bercé depuis l'enfance par l'essence du wabi-sabi, il quitte un beau jour et par amour sa montagne de Mizunami et s’installe dans un petit village au cœur du sud-ouest de la France. Atelier, pavillon de thé et four traditionnel anagama, c’est un voyage au levant, une rencontre rare et inspirante, la découverte de l’Âme grise de la céramique japonaise…

Arthur's Seat

PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY DEREK CLARK

If you’ve watched the movie Trainspotting 2, you might have been wondering about the hill that characters Renton (Ewan McGregor) and Spud (Ewan Bremner) ran up. You know, the one with the spectacular view.

Arthur’s Seat overlooks Edinburgh but the view stretches out far and wide. It’s steep but doesn’t take that long to walk up and the rewards are plenty. The road and rail bridges crossing the River Forth, and beyond that the mountains surrounding Loch Lomond. Turn to the right and you can see the east coast of Scotland. Keep on turning and you will be looking out over the North Sea in the direction of Norway and Denmark (Not that you can see them).

So if you happen to visit Edinburgh in the near future, take a walk up Arthur’s seat. You will find it near the Scottish parliament building and although it might take a bit of effort, you won’t be disappointed.

And today we destroy familiarity

By Patrick La Roque

Because winter clings to existence and fragments persist
in being
the hidden structures and hushed voices

we know.

Because my eye is swollen and red
itching
covered in soapy film-like filter haze

light, burning in dark corners
sacrificing the whole to collages

no context or message.

Because it all happens
when we don’t look.