Stewart playing with his relatively new DSLR

Max taking photos of Colca Canyon

Amantani Island

Machu Picchu

Wendell and his folks.

Slanty headstand with Machu Picchu, bitches.

A big shout out to our tour guide for the Inca Trail, Alfredo Fisher. I highly recommend him after he dealt with my swearing and general unfit state. He knew everything and anything, from Inca culture to my decoy to catch my breath; “Hey, what’s that plant?”. He even ran to catch me when I fell on my ass in the dark. Hoorah for bruises.

In Brazil now, you have no idea how much I’m enjoying sea level ground.

I’ve joined the IPS group for a portrait session and entered one of their monthly competitions. The photo below of Alyanna was one of the photos chosen for the exhibit so I got it printed and matted, very exciting stuff, especially when the printing was done by National Geographic. I floated with glee into the underbelly of the Nat Geo building.

The IPS is a great group of people. One of their photographers, Dirk Mevis, is absolutely amazing and cleaned up the awards. You should check him out.

Sexy high tech iPhone photos, right?

© Michelangelo

I always thought you had to be like the exotic Yoko Ono to be classified as an artist. But then I remembered that painters like Goya, Da Vinci and Michalangelo, that had to make portraits to get by, and would even charge extra to paint hands and now they’re considered timeless.

In my mind, up until recently, you had to be a painter, sculpture or writer to be an artist. Musicians, photographers, designers and software developers didn’t even come into it.

Now I think everyone creates art. We have to, it keeps alive that part in our brain that despises repetition, doesn’t think in a straight line and keeps alive our imagination. You create art when you put in a bit of effort into how you present food, when you plant in your garden and when you take on a personal project at work, for the fun of it.

The whole concept of art is a completely human element. It doesn’t ensure that we live longer, eat better or keep warmer. It makes the world prettier. Our relatively large brain and our concept of time allows us to predict our own death, we will die, it’s just a matter of when. And our fear, our instinct, copes with this by creating things that will remind our predecessors of us. Building the pyramids didn’t make the Pharoahs immortal through the number of objects they carried into the afterlife, it made them immortal through the sheer size and artistry of their tombs. Thousands of years later, we remember them.

That’s what every artist tries to accomplish. All we really want is not to be forgotten by the next generation, and maybe, just maybe, the next thousand years.

What do you think? Do you create for fun, for timelessness or for both?

Claude Monet took two years to complete thirty paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. Keep that in mind the next time you’re feeling stuck. Two years, thirty paintings.

See some of them: http://www.learn.columbia.edu/monet/swf/

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
   Held the wheel pose in yoga, got my shirts laundered, discovered interesting places through thousands of photographs for my job, smiled at a child under the age of five, counted the different derivates of corn syrup in a food product, made a budget for the next year, actually, generally looking ahead to the next couple of years.
   
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
   I can’t really remember last year’s resolution, to be honest but I’m sure it included lots of yoga, photo-making and getting a regular gig. So I kept it. For this year, see above.
   
   
3. What countries did you visit?
   Does the States count? If so: San Fran, Chicago, New York, Arizona, Las Vegas, Outer Banks of North Carolina, a small town in Pennsylvania. Canada: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. Aruba. 
   
4. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
   Extreme motivation, to the point of ignoring things like social media and food.
   
5. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
   Getting my LensBaby for my birthday and the consequent fun. Changing visas in July, always memorable and complicated but at least I got to try poutine. Eating crème brûlée at the Bellagio and veal-I-don’t-want-to-admit-to-but-was-so-good at the Phoenician. Times with W. that I can’t really share here but was definitely memorable. I’m not that good with dates, food and good times more so.
6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   Really nailing down what I want to do with my life and being ok with where I am right now.
   
7. What was your biggest failure?
   French fries. Seriously, they have a special place in the addictions part of my brain.
   
8. Did you suffer illness or injury?
   Oh yeah, got a really bad virus and had to get an IV, forgot about that. 
   
9. What was the best thing you bought?
   Them Crooked Vultures album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer: the book, everything else was gifts.
   
10. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
    All the bloggers that I love: they have backbone, an opinion and the figurative balls to put themselves out there. You know who you are. 
    
11. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
    No one. It takes too much effort to get appalled or depressed. Oh, I know, I get down cause sometimes I feel like I haven’t done enough for my age. But I’ve felt that way since I was 16.
    
12. Where did most of your money go?
    Travel, savings and rent.
    
13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    Photographers. Food. Travel. Spending time with W. Awh, how cute.
    
14. What song will always remind you of 2009?
    Can I do artists? Björk, the Presets, Coldplay, Bat for Lashes, Kings of Leon, Them Crooked Vultures. Metallica, always, Metallica.
    
15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

    Happier or sadder:
    Happier.
    
    Thinner or fatter:
    I have no idea. Same.
    
    Richer or poorer:
    Richer.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    Organising photography projects. 
    
17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Cooking. I spend far too much time thinking of and composing meals. That quiet time at the end of a yoga class? Yeah, I spend that mentally going through my fridge and seeing what I can cook for the next week.
    
18. How will you be spending Christmas?
    Spent it in Toronto with absolutely awesome family and my little sister.
    
19. Did you fall in love in 2009?
    In three month intervals as in any long term relationship.
    
20. What was your favourite TV programme?
    I’m currently in the midst of The Office marathon. Just started session three. Flight of the Conchords.
    
21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
    Fuck no.
    
22. What was the best book you read?
    Sex, Time and Power: How women’s sexuality shaped human evolution. By Leonard Shlain. Although the Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond changed my way of thinking.
    
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    If you don’t know by now, you’re a noob.
    
24. What did you want and got?
    Everything I really wanted. 
    
25. What did you want and not got?
    Peking duck pancakes, we’re working on it.
26. What was your favourite film of this year?
    Watchmen followed closely by Wall-e and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It should be noted that I haven’t seen Fantastic Mr. Fox as of yet.
27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    Good food, brew and company. 23.
28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    A warmer winter.
29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
    Seriously? Not to flash my underwear.
30. What kept you sane?
    My family, mates and W.
31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    You don’t want to see that list, there’s a lot of wtfs.
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
    Healthcare in the States, gay rights.
33. Who did you miss?
    Family and friends in Australia. Australia as a country.
    
34. Who was the best new person you met?
    Blogger friends. Random drunken conversations. 
    
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009
    Organisation. Regular yoga. Things to aim for.
36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
    The triumph of a heart that gives all
    That gives all – Björk, Triumph of a Heart

I loved this post card sent into Post Secrets. Looking at a Reuters article is never going to be the same for me after this.

This is what makes you unique.

- Mary Virginia Swanson

Really sit down and think about what you want to put out into the world before you die. Have it crystal clear in your mind so if someone is curious, you could coherently portray your great idea when you’re half drunk and shouting over the music. Don’t ever underestimate the way you come across, you don’t know who’ll be important to you later on.

I’m attending a lot of fotoweekDC events over the next number of days, if you’re in D.C and want to be inspired, head on down.