http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evelyne-politanoff/tim-walker-story-teller-photos_b_1970997.html?utm_hp_ref=style&ir=Style
With an imagination that knows no bounds, Tim Walker turns fashion shoots
into fairytales or, in his own words, "daydreams into photographs."
-Evelyn Politanoff
I haven't read this book or seen this exhibition, nor am I really familiar with Tim Walker's work, but I love that phrase, turning "daydreams into photographs." It's magical, isn't it? Not to sound like a five-year-old (or maybe to bring out the five-year-old in you, too, so we can once again recognize magic), but well, isn't it magical? Turning a little bit of nothing into something...fluff into something more concrete. Dreams into reality, a little bit, anyway.
"Sometimes when you're taking a picture an extraordinary sense of luck
and chance takes over and propels you to make pictures that you could't
in your wildest dreams have imagined. This is the magic of photography."
-Tim Walker
I'm not much of a photographer, but I think I know what he's talking about when he discusses making something "that you could[n]'t in your wildest dreams have imagined," don't you?
To turning dreams into reality and creating what we can't (even in our wildest dreams) imagine. To magic.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood"
Why yes, Jolabokaflod is a word. (It's new to me, too. And no, I'm not sure of how to pronounce it.)
Sometimes it seems like there's nothing but bad news being reported. So in the spirit of the holidays (Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever you may celebrate), here's a little something cheerful from a news outlet:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood
Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what's really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November. It's a national tradition, and it has a name: Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood."
"If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you're lucky," Bjarnason says. "It's much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year."
(Honestly, I probably only bought five to ten books this year...I like going to the library. Yes, I am one of the dinosaurs who still go to the library. You should, too.)
To books and reading and, of course, Jolabokaflod.
Sometimes it seems like there's nothing but bad news being reported. So in the spirit of the holidays (Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/whatever you may celebrate), here's a little something cheerful from a news outlet:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/167537939/literary-iceland-revels-in-its-annual-christmas-book-flood
Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what's really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November. It's a national tradition, and it has a name: Jolabokaflod, or the "Christmas Book Flood."
"If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you're lucky," Bjarnason says. "It's much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year."
(Honestly, I probably only bought five to ten books this year...I like going to the library. Yes, I am one of the dinosaurs who still go to the library. You should, too.)
To books and reading and, of course, Jolabokaflod.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Wright's Law, Or, The Purpose
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/laws-of-physics-cant-trump-the-bonds-of-love/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121225
I'm not really much of a physics kind of girl (and believe me, that is such an understatement). But the guy profiled in this documentary...well, he transcends being a physics teacher. He gets right into the heart of being human. If you have 10 or 15 minutes, watch the video and read the accompanying article.
A few highlights:
“There is something a lot greater than energy. There’s something a lot greater than entropy. What’s the greatest thing?”
“Love,” his students whisper.
Okay, so that probably sounds a tad cliche, veering into after-school special territory. But it can be true, don't you think?
“That’s what makes the why of what we exist,” Mr. Wright tells the spellbound students. “In this great big universe, we have all those stars. Who cares? Well, somebody cares. Somebody cares about you a lot. As long as we care about each other, that’s where we go from here.”
So we don't know why the stars are there (or if you do, please enlighten me), or why we're here or if there's a why at all. But we do know that we're here, right? And caring about each other and being kind - well, that's one purpose.
“When you look at physics, it’s all about laws and how the world works,” he told me. “But if you don’t tie those laws into a much bigger purpose, the purpose in your heart, then they are going to sit there and ask the question ‘Who cares?’
To the purpose in our hearts.
I'm not really much of a physics kind of girl (and believe me, that is such an understatement). But the guy profiled in this documentary...well, he transcends being a physics teacher. He gets right into the heart of being human. If you have 10 or 15 minutes, watch the video and read the accompanying article.
A few highlights:
“There is something a lot greater than energy. There’s something a lot greater than entropy. What’s the greatest thing?”
“Love,” his students whisper.
Okay, so that probably sounds a tad cliche, veering into after-school special territory. But it can be true, don't you think?
“That’s what makes the why of what we exist,” Mr. Wright tells the spellbound students. “In this great big universe, we have all those stars. Who cares? Well, somebody cares. Somebody cares about you a lot. As long as we care about each other, that’s where we go from here.”
So we don't know why the stars are there (or if you do, please enlighten me), or why we're here or if there's a why at all. But we do know that we're here, right? And caring about each other and being kind - well, that's one purpose.
“When you look at physics, it’s all about laws and how the world works,” he told me. “But if you don’t tie those laws into a much bigger purpose, the purpose in your heart, then they are going to sit there and ask the question ‘Who cares?’
To the purpose in our hearts.
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