100 Years And Still As Stupid

010_CLARK_Rembrance100.jpg

By Derek Clark

The war to end all wars. Obviously, that was just a suggestion and not something to be taken too seriously, because it’s fair to say there have been a few wars since the first world war ended exactly a century ago on November 11th, 1918. I looked at the Google Machine to see how many wars there have been in the last hundred years, but it’s nearly impossible to get an accurate number. The number of deaths due to war in the 20th and 21st century is also hard to work out, but between 118 and 187 million, give or take.

It’s hard to figure us humans out as a species. We watch movies (for fun) that are mostly about killing each other. Lone gunmen shooting crowds of people are becoming the norm and each time it happens there’s an outrage (for a very short time at least), but we don’t bat an eye when thousands die every day on the other side of the world.

I went to the Remembrance Day parade in Glasgow on Sunday. It was busier than previous years obviously, due to the 100 anniversary of the end of WW1. It’s an emotional experience and an important event. I have so much respect for the men and women in the forces, but not so much for the powers that be, who send them to foreign soil based often on reasons far removed from those of World War II, but more to do with power or money.

We commemorate. But we don’t seem to learn.

Tokyo Mannequin

BY BERT STEPHANI

I’ve just spent 4 jet-lagged days in Japan, followed by 2 hours in a bus, 3 hours at the airport and 13 hours in an airplane seat that was designed for garden gnomes. My mind is still somewhere over Siberia so I’ll just put up the few pictures from the trip that I’ve managed to edit on the plane and I’ll follow up with more soon.

The Race That Stops A Nation

The Race That Stops A Nation

The first Tuesday in November is something of a sacred day, in Australia; it’s the Melbourne Cup. Offices close for the afternoon, staff hold betting pools, and nothing gets done while the nation watches.

Of course, things happen outside Australia too - but, with the date line, US elections land on a Wednesday for us; and for some of us, they get in the way of work even more than the horses did…

Rubicon

“A limit that when passed or exceeded permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment.”

By Patrick La Roque

I don’t understand anything anymore. How facts suddenly become fluid and the educated suspect. I don’t understand the hypocrisy, this failure of empathy, hellbent on the annihilation of others. I don’t understand the messianic appeal of an indecent, cruel and profoundly imbecilic buffoon on anyone, let alone millions of people. Not now. Not after almost two years of verifiable lies and daily obscenities. Not after bomb threats and the murder of innocents. And yet, enough Americans still stand and cheer at those “political rallies” to stoke the fires. Sparks to dry kindling. Hatred and vilification elevated to spectacle and bloodsport. Lock her up. Lock him up.

Lock everybody up.

Tomorrow the future will shift, one way or another. And if the pendulum doesn’t swing back towards decency, if unhinged anger, racism and conspiracies should win against truth, respect and civilized discourse...a new world order will be complete. Because unlike 2016, this time the choice will have been made with eyes wide open, with the full knowledge of what the man truly is—and what he stands for. This time, it will signal validation.

There’s a river ahead, red with blood, burning crosses lining the banks on the other side. Move away, please. Regardless of political leanings, help steer the ship back.

I still want to believe in humanity.

21 OCTOBER 2018 AT 08:46 AM (MALMESBURY, ENGLAND)

BY KEVIN MULLINS

So this is it, my friends.

Chronicle 90 is completed.

90 Days, 90 Posts and we did it.

It falls on me to wrap up this exercise in social photography and I have to say that I’m immensely proud to have been a part of it.

From my point of view, I found myself struggling to shoot for it or find images that I feel are remotely close to my colleagues here.

However, I guess, that’s the cathartic part of the exercise. For me, at least, it’s not been about perfectly edited images, but rather the mixed nature of seeing more, observing and forcing some kind of shooting situation.

I’ve found it hard on times and not always from a shooting point of view - sometimes from a logistical point of view, and even now, I’m writing this on somebody else’s kitchen table as we are technically homeless for three weeks whilst have some serious house renovations done.

My images today, as I say farewell to Chronicle (2018 - see what I did there? I’ve left the door open for a 2019 version, maybe…), are about people.

Simple people and different people - because for me, as much as I love the creativeness of photography, I’m only ever drawn to emotions and people. That’s the tick that makes my tock.

And so I’m summarising my journey through Chronicle with some images I shot that are very simple, but all shot within about 15 meters of each other. A study of the communion of races, the collection of souls all passing each other by and perhaps never even noticing the very breath in the bodies of the others.

The world is diverse, the world is beautiful and the people within it are the characters in the play that is eternally being performed.

Have a wonderful Sunday my friends.

,

20 October 2018 at 6:37 pm (Zaventem, Belgium)

,

BY BERT STEPHANI

This year we had the best summer I can remember but in the last few days fall has finally started to make itself felt. The days are still beautiful and warm but the nights and the mornings are chilly. The color palette is changing too in the leaves of the trees and in the sky. Until six or seven years ago, these signs indicated a period of staying indoors most of the time. But since I took up a photography project about hunting and eventually became a hunter myself, the signs of fall indicate a couple of months of being part of nature and spending days outside whatever the weather is.

The 15th of October is the official opening of the hunting season here in Belgium and today was the first hunting day for the little group that I usually hunt with. The fog, the rising sun and the chill in the air added to the anticipation of the first day in the field. We know that in our area the vegetation is still too dense at this time of year to have a lot of success. But for all of us it’s about being out there, enjoying the company and check if the work that we put in outside the season to improve the area for all wildlife has paid off. Despite of what a lot of people think, most hunters are not ruthless killers, we like to see nature doing well and we only harvest what’s sustainable. The areas our hunting group manages, do considerably better than some neighboring land managed by a nature conservation organisation.

We manage to flush a couple of pheasants and a fox but either there wasn’t a safe shot or our aim was a bit rusty. Then we here the calls of a skein of invasive Canadian geese. Suddenly the appear magically through the fog, shots ring out, the dogs do their work and real organic meat enters the food chain.

19 October 2018 at 19:15 pm (Belfast, Northern Ireland)

19 October 2018 at 19:15 pm (Belfast, Northern Ireland)

There’s more than a little irony at play when speaking and attempting to inspire at a photography conference hampers your capacity to actually take many photographs but that, dear reader, is the paradox I find myself in this week, having just returned from Northern Ireland late last night.

18 October 2018 at 5:32 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

18 October 2018 at 5:32 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

Really, photography is about the questions we ask ourselves as we’re deciding what to photograph.

My background’s in theatre; and the key questions I ask myself when I see a production (or decide to work on one) are these: “Why this? Why here? Why now?”

By which I mean, why this story, at this time, in this place - what particular, specific resonance does a show bring to an audience? We interpret everything in the context we experience it; so what is it, in particular, that makes the script relevant right now, to the people of this place? The answer isn’t always obvious; and, sometimes, the context arrives just as the show hits the stage…

October 17, 2018 at 11:50 pm (Tokyo, Japan)

Photography and words by Jonas Rask

Ending the study of capturing the mundane everyday.
Ending the stories that lie in everyday living.
Ending the narration.

In Japan. A place that for me is not mundane, nor everyday.
But for some it is indeed.
Mundane everyday
Everyday Living,

Ending the narration.

October 15, 2018 at 20:10 PM (Lake District, England)

By Derek Clark

I thought last weeks Chronicle90 post was my last, but it turns out I had one more to do (this one). I’m in the Lake District in England with very poor wifi, so this has been a challenge to get posted. We visited an aquarium today with various creatures, both in and out of water. The ants were by far the most fascinating and i could have watched them for hours.

Later on, I headed to Lake Windermere for a spot of long exposure photography. That went well until my X-T3 fell off the tripod while walking back to the car. Luckily the battery grip saved the camera from receiving any damage in the 5’ fall to the ground. I can’t say the same for the battery grip though. At least it’s still usable.