The furthest east I’ve been from where I was born is the Cyclades with my friend Andre back in 1999. I miss traveling, seeing completely unfamiliar places, listening to words I don’t understand.
Lately the East has been calling my name. I received inquiries about my lenses from Taiwan and comments on my Ricoh notes from Nevin Young in Hong Kong.
One of my favorite things about photography is its ability to communicate across cultures. This communication happens not only with photography as a visual art form, but also with photography as a common interest between people. Talking about the tools of photography can bring people together as much as talking about pictures.
Nevin writes about photography with compact cameras over at GX Garnerings. I like reading English written by non-native speakers. It has a charm all its own. We’ll meet in person some day, Nevin, whether in Rome, Hong Kong or somewhere in between!
JRB and KJT are planning a trip to Thailand. We’re almost certainly going to join them. Maybe we’ll meet Nicoletta in India on the way back, or go the other way around and meet Alison somewhere high in the Andes or deep in the South American jungle… I also miss California… And do want to see more of Africa and the Middle East… Maybe the call of Asia leads to the rest of the world, or at least to a beach, somewhere.
Having too many things—accumulation—whether physical or psychological, can lead to stress. I know this from looking at my home, my parents’ house, from the outside. Inside I couldn’t see it, and I was too young. Now I do see it, and am making a conscious decision to live with the least I need.
I do have doubts about this.
It is good to have a home to return to, to look through old things and feel the flash of memories. It does imply pursuing past pleasures, living in the past, does it not?
We live now, not yesterday, not tomorrow. But, I do enjoy those flashes and the inspirations they sometimes bring…maybe I could use some sort of storage…maybe I should photograph and digitize as many objects as I can…a photographic project…thinking out loud here.
I am thinking about opening comments on selected posts here soon, inspired by Karim, who I still think should get a camera and go traveling and forget about marketing for a long while.
I don’t want conversations with friends to disappear in the ‘social network cloud’ should it all come crashing down, which I think is bound to happen at some point. After all, one of the best things to find in dusty boxes is an old letter from a friend, is it not?
This will be my dusty box on the internet…
—Simon
