I love kowhai – I’d plant them everywhere if I could. I love the dappled shade caused by the lacy foliage, the seed pods, and the yellow seeds. But most of all, I love the spring-ness of them. They flower in early Spring.

My Mum used to talk about the ‘Kowhai Floods’ – as a child the area she lived in was prone to flooding in late Winter / early Spring, as a result of the heavy rains in the short, sharp slopes of the Tararuas. Mum’s observations became part of the tradition for us to plant potatoes after the ‘Kowhai Floods’ – probably after the last frost.

Manifesto
36. Every day be still. Connect to your inner being. Listen and be guided by it.
42. Every day celebrate. Who you are. What you have achieved. Things that matter to you.
49. Every day is a good day.

Oh, and the Big Banana? Check out the yellow sleeping bag outfit stage right. Perfect for dealing with the nippy Wellington breeze.

Manifesto
29. Every day eat, drink, rest, work, exercise, play, love, create for your own good. And the good of others.
30. Every day use all your senses. Touch. Smell. Taste. Hear. See.
32. Every day have a laugh.

I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavour that lasts. — Graham Kerr

There’s nothing better for me than something I can really get my teeth into. There’s probably a million things, issues, interests, blah-blah out there, every day, to attract my attention – advertising this, crisis that, cause the other. They’re overwhelming. As far as possible, I try to filter them, to ignore them. There’s just too much for me to give my full attention to – it’s kind of like an entire meal composed of dessert. It sounds great, but ultimately leaves me feeling unfulfilled.

This year I’ve been making a major effort to really pick my battles. It’s not easy for me, there’s a temptation to dig into almost any distracting thing that takes my attention. That’s not just my battle these days – traditional media fails because people just don’t have, or don’t take, the time to give full attention. It’s a high stakes battle for our minds.

If it’s that important I really should pay more attention. Except I’m just reminding myself to concentrate on the here and now, digging in to what’s right at my fingertips. Make a better photo. Write a better sentence. That’s enough for me.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
22. Every day refine, clarify and simplify.
35. Every day focus on what matters to you.

I don’t believe there’s some enormous cosmic (or comic) plan, some conspiracy or other force at play – I just think that behind the sadness and frustration there’s nothing. I refuse to reinforce the sense of loss by giving it a meaning or interpretation. It’s just loss. I find no comfort in peppy pop psych quotes about how “change is good” and “change is the only constant”. Believe me, when the lights go out, the old fears are just a heartbeat away.

What’s proven far more valuable to me is to work with the sense of gain with gratitude for those things that continue to work and those people who are still here.

I got to spend a few precious moments with my father-in-law Mate (say: Marty) this afternoon. There’s never enough time. We talked about photography and how the technology had changed. I enjoy his company very much. He’s generous with his stories, with his heart, and with his laughter – and I love that very much – but I sometimes I feel helpless about what I feel he isn’t telling and I feel sad at the untold story. It’s like the silence between the words weighs more – there should be more, more – something. There’s an unspoken meaning, something I’m missing, misunderstanding. I fall back in the chair and we carry on. Working with what we’ve got. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you. That’s enough.

Happy Father’s Day Mate.

Manifesto
20. Every day say thank you.
21. Every day seek the support of others. You are not alone.
42. Every day celebrate. Who you are. What you have achieved. Things that matter to you.

My office overlooks our city’s Civic Square. It is the most spectacular view. Every day as I look out any of the numerous windows that line the walls I always take the time to soak in the moment and feel grateful. These windows are living picture frames. The natural, every day art works enclosed within these rectangles always move me in some way. I am forever grabbing my camera to try and capture the memory of what I see before me but none of these photos ever truly do justice to the experience of what I see and feel.

Today as I was working away one of my colleagues told me to look out the window. I saw an older couple walking across the square holding hands. They seemed so in tune and connected with one another. They looked like they loved and cared for one another. I found myself smiling as I watched them walk.

“That’s what you and Lynsey will be like,” my colleague said to me.

As I reflected on this scene I remembered a poem Lynsey and I read to each other on our wedding day – Let’s grow old together.

Let’s grow old together …
beginning with today.
Let’s work slowly with each other and build a relationship that we can both enjoy being a part of.
Let’s share love and understand that neither of us is perfect; we are both subject to human frailties.
Let’s hold each other close and whisper though the night – pledging our love, honouring our commitment.
Let’s encourage each other to pursue our dreams, even when we’re weary from trying.
Let’s expect the best that we both have to give and still love when we fall short of our expectations.
Let’s be friends and respect each other’s individual personality and give one another room to grow.
Let’s be candid with each other and point out strengths and weaknesses.
Let’s understand each other’s personal philosophy, even if we don’t agree.
Let’s lie awake long into the night sharing our innermost secrets.
Let’s be friends as well as lovers.
Let’s laugh at time and plan with each other and wonder how we ever got along without this love we’ve found.
Let’s never take for granted these moments that we’ve shared, but always be reminded of how intensely we have learned to live, how completely we have learned to love.
Let’s grow old together…
and look back on life and smile.
- Braxton Brown and Peggy Smith

Manifesto
03. Every day is an opportunity to reflect on the past.
04. Every day is an opportunity to cultivate the promise of the future.
05. Every day is now. The present moment.

I wonder about the people in their cars – are they set on going home because there’s something special awaiting them there, or will it be the same-old same-old, food where form follows function, and a grope for the remote control. After a day at the office what more could you ask for?

I begin to feel uncomfortable about the time I’m spending on the shoot. Don’t I have to be somewhere else, doing something else, somehow more important? Interesting thought. After some reflection (and a few more shots) I decided that no, right here, right now was the somewhere, something, and somehow that was important. I could ease a gap into my time somewhere else. Or forget about it. The ultimate outcome will remain the same, for all of us.

The photographs I make, and the writing that I do, is what I have to say. What is it that you have to say, and how do you say it? I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently. What is our/my time here all about, and how will this be expressed when we go? It’s easy to get involved in a huge slice of busy-work – get to the office, get to the game, deliver the kids, make the meal, mow the lawn, watch this do that be this be that…

The time is gone,
the song is over,
thought I’d something more to say — Pink Floyd – Time from Dark Side of the Moon

I’ve realised that for me, it’s not the individual photograph, or selected collection of words that defines me; any more than a cook is defined by a specific meal, a hunter by a certain kill, or a preacher by a specific sermon. Rather it is the coherent body of work – the portfolio – driven by, and built over time, more often than not created unconsciously, that describes us at a higher level that provides the lasting definition.

Our individual decisions and acts provide the polish on the faces of the gem of our life.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
07. Every day making no choice is a choice.
25. Every day your light shines for others to see.

Dad parked up and rushed out of the rain.

He asks this palangi, “Is this a smoking zone? Oh, no, it’s not, there’s the sign.”

He’s running to get out of the rain, he wants a smoke, we’re parked in the No Waiting space. Dad doesn’t want to pay for a park. Mum says no smoking in the car.

The palangi grins and points down the way.

Dad giggles and pulls out a smoke and bends over to light it.

The palangi grins at me and I grin back and I hide down, sneaking a look out the back window. I laugh at Dad hunched up against the rain, trying to keep the smoke dry. I hate them. They stink.

I wish Aunty Sefi would hurry up.

Hope we still have the barbecue tonight. Everybody’s coming.

The palangi wanders off.

Manifesto
10. Every day connect with somebody.
21. Every day seek the support of others. You are not alone.
49. Every day is a good day.

Many writers have opted for the lyrical approach – that nature is somehow getting revenge or there’s an evil master plan. I think that’s just some fluffy, infantile effort to put humans at the centre of the universe. And then there’s the act of god people, and I think that’s just as fluffy. And finally the news casters – the best I’ve seen was the young Japanese lad giving his English translation of the television broadcasts, seemingly from a studio set up in his bedroom – contrasting the local interviewers who, desperate to get a story (amidst the story of their life) kept asking people what did they do immediately after the person had just explained what had happened and what they had just done. Yapping like a puppy. Anything to fill the silence.

I think that what has made the real difference in these events, the untold story, is far too intimate to be caught by broadcast. Far too human.

It is in the countless tiny, simple stories that are played out everywhere, every day, all around the world.

I have my friend, my loved one, once again. I see. I touch. I hear them, taste them, smell them. I know that they are ok.

After the silence that rings deafeningly, I have them back, and I breathe, and I can hear my breathing.

For some, however, the silence still continues to ring.

Manifesto
06. Every day you make choices.
10. Every day connect with somebody.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.

While making the shot I wondered about the apple – to me, a food as well as a concept or an idea that resonates in so many ways of ‘home’. I could call up many memories in which apples had a role. Ubiquitous, but anything but common. Humble yet noble, the everyman (or woman) fruit.

If I was travelling to a far-off place what would I take? I decided that like the Victorians, yes, I think I probably would take an apple tree or two with me – for the fruit, the wood, for the love, for home, and for my new home. Across the globe, across the years.

Manifesto
04. Every day is an opportunity to cultivate the promise of the future.
14. Every day the ordinary can be the extraordinary.
30. Every day use all your senses. Touch. Smell. Taste. Hear. See.

All I can say to the kids is if you’ve a problem in fishing or life, if you talk to an older person, you’re gonna end up alright, because nine times out of 10, they’ve been through the same thing. — Rex Hunt

A beautiful day to be fishing.

Grandparents, kids, school holidays, sunshine, fresh air sweet sea fragrances. The thrill of a fish on the line. I don’t think there is a more pleasant way of building memories or learning some new skills. Time spent with the people you love doing the things you love to do. Magic.

Again, I opted for the mature adult approach and went back to my desk. At least refreshed by my walk in the sun, and the thought that life goes in a circle.

Manifesto
04. Every day is an opportunity to cultivate the promise of the future.
18. Every day express love. Some people need to hear it. Most people need to see it. Don’t take it for granted.
45. Every day you are a different person.