Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on January 12, 2019, 10:43:44 am
https://qz.com/1516804/physics-explains-why-time-passes-faster-as-you-age/?utm_source=parAO
Quote
... time as we experience it represents perceived changes in mental stimuli. It’s related to what we see. As physical mental-image processing time and the rapidity of images we take in changes, so does our perception of time. And in some sense, each of us has our own “mind time” unrelated to the passing of hours, days, and years on clocks and calendars, which is affected by the amount of rest we get and other factors.
Post by: James Clark on January 12, 2019, 11:11:12 am
Post by: usathyan on January 12, 2019, 11:35:02 am
Post by: Ivophoto on January 12, 2019, 12:14:06 pm
It is often said that LuLa is made of old farts, by old farts, for old farts (well, until recently at least), you might find the following article interesting, a scientific explanation:
https://qz.com/1516804/physics-explains-why-time-passes-faster-as-you-age/?utm_source=parAO
Well, since my oldest son surprised me at Christmas Eve with a pair of slippers embroidered with “Grandfather” I’m growing into my place here at Lula.
Post by: JayWPage on January 12, 2019, 12:26:13 pm
See: https://www.amazon.com/Order-Time-Carlo-Rovelli/dp/073521610X
Post by: Rob C on January 12, 2019, 01:21:35 pm
:-)
Post by: John R on January 12, 2019, 02:22:44 pm
Slobodan, how do you find time for this stuff?I was thinking the same thing. I really enjoyed the article.
:-)
I was also thinking that every time I make an excuse as to why I can't be bothered with setting up the tripod or changing a lens to get a picture, I regret it for quite some time, and that time grates on me ever so slowly.
JR
Post by: Telecaster on January 12, 2019, 04:42:17 pm
Time in physics is a mind-bender. It might not exist at all except as a way of noting that the relationships amongst things in the world (and the broader universe) change, and do so in a continuous and directional manner. In this view each configuration of relationships is real as is its connection to other, "nearby" configurations. But each configuration is itself static. Existence as a series of still frames in a movie. I imagine Rovelli's book, which I own but haven't yet read, covers the "block universe" concept, which is related to this. OTOH other physicists suspect time is a fundamental feature of the world.
-Dave-
Post by: Rob C on January 12, 2019, 04:57:30 pm
One thing I discovered early in my "retirement" was that unless I varied my daily schedule the days would soon start blending into each other. The more of your life that you allow to become routine, the less attention you pay to it and the faster it seems to pass by. So it's critical to keep looking for and experiencing new things.
Time in physics is a mind-bender. It might not exist at all except as a way of noting that the relationships amongst things in the world (and the broader universe) change, and do so in a continuous and directional manner. In this view each configuration of relationships is real as is its connection to other, "nearby" configurations. But each configuration is itself static. Existence as a series of still frames in a movie. I imagine Rovelli's book, which I own but haven't yet read, covers the "block universe" concept, which is related to this. OTOH other physicists suspect time is a fundamental feature of the world.
-Dave-
Time is money's alter ego: you can make it, spend it, waste it and lose it.
It's the perfect relationship: when you run out of money you've run out of time.
Rob
Post by: Rand47 on January 12, 2019, 08:54:10 pm
Now that I’m 71, a year represents a much smaller “slice” of my total life experience, and a much smaller “hunk” than that same year was at 10 years old. Very simple (minded, I’m certain!).
I can remember sitting on my front porch in the morning when I was about 10, and wondering what I was going to do “all day long” until evening. Seemed like an eternity. Nowadays, I blink and another year is down the scuppers. ;D
Rand
Post by: texshooter on January 13, 2019, 12:50:57 am
My immediate thought was: Yeah right, you keep telling yourself that, sweetie.
Everybody will say time flies by fast, but nobody seems to realize how little time they have left. Everybody working so hard to get somewhere or be somebody, just to drop dead quickly thereafter.
The irony.
(https://img.maximummedia.ie/joe_co_uk/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvbWVkaWEtam9lY291ay5tYXhpbXVtbWVkaWEuaWUuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbVxcXC93cC1jb250ZW50XFxcL3VwbG9hZHNcXFwvMjAxOFxcXC8wOFxcXC8wMzEzNTc0OFxcXC9pU3RvY2stNjI3MDA4ODcyLTEwMjR4NzA2LmpwZ1wiLFwid2lkdGhcIjoyNDEsXCJoZWlnaHRcIjoxNTIsXCJkZWZhdWx0XCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5qb2UuY28udWtcXFwvYXNzZXRzXFxcL2ltYWdlc1xcXC9qb2Vjb3VrXFxcL25vLWltYWdlLnBuZz92PTVcIn0iLCJoYXNoIjoiNzZkOTBhMDI2YzYyMDMwMDljYjg5NGNlMTNjMjgyMGM3Mzk0YTA0ZCJ9/istock-627008872-1024x706.jpg)
Post by: Martin Kristiansen on January 13, 2019, 12:59:20 am
I was listening to a Buddhist podcast when the teacher said it’s best not to live in the future. By that he was referring to the standard Buddhist teaching of rather living in the moment but he had a take on it I had never heard before. He said the future is the place you go to die.
Post by: Rob C on January 13, 2019, 04:58:32 am
I'm not sure if I believe in reincarnation or not - I sometimes feel it's the only logical reason for a good marriage: the result of an earlier set of trial runs.
If not reincarnation, then I think it's possible that we move to another parallel level of existence. I don't see any other reason for being here. A flash in the pan is otherwise pointless, so I doubt nature would have allowed it.
Either way, if there is nothing out there, then we shall never be aware of it, so no harm in having a more positive outlook during the time that we are aware...
Post by: 32BT on January 13, 2019, 05:25:43 am
I'm not sure if I believe in reincarnation or not - I sometimes feel it's the only logical reason for a good marriage: the result of an earlier set of trial runs.
The novelist in me had an interesting idea for a sizeable novel about reincarnation. During the story, spanning several generations and different lives (for obvious reasons), the reader gradually becomes aware that reincarnation actually happens backwards: i.e. you are not reset into a new, future life, but instead into a life from times past.
Unfortunately, that novelist in me is very evidently the most lazy part of me. No doubt as a result of some future riches found in some quick and easy business deal surrounding an AI startup perhaps, killing itself on substance abuse as a result of lack thereof (substance, not abuse), and thus passed on to me from whence (<-- see what I did there?) to the here and now...
Post by: Rob C on January 13, 2019, 06:44:09 am
The novelist in me had an interesting idea for a sizeable novel about reincarnation. During the story, spanning several generations and different lives (for obvious reasons), the reader gradually becomes aware that reincarnation actually happens backwards: i.e. you are not reset into a new, future life, but instead into a life from times past.
Unfortunately, that novelist in me is very evidently the most lazy part of me. No doubt as a result of some future riches found in some quick and easy business deal surrounding an AI startup perhaps, killing itself on substance abuse as a result of lack thereof (substance, not abuse), and thus passed on to me from whence (<-- see what I did there?) to the here and now...
Harold Robbins would have taken to that like a duck to water!
Rob
Post by: KLaban on January 13, 2019, 07:46:47 am
The novelist in me had an interesting idea for a sizeable novel about reincarnation. During the story, spanning several generations and different lives (for obvious reasons), the reader gradually becomes aware that reincarnation actually happens backwards: i.e. you are not reset into a new, future life, but instead into a life from times past.
Unfortunately, that novelist in me is very evidently the most lazy part of me. No doubt as a result of some future riches found in some quick and easy business deal surrounding an AI startup perhaps, killing itself on substance abuse as a result of lack thereof (substance, not abuse), and thus passed on to me from whence (<-- see what I did there?) to the here and now...
Oscar, you'd have a least one sale.
;-)
Post by: Ray on January 17, 2019, 06:06:08 pm
One thing I discovered early in my "retirement" was that unless I varied my daily schedule the days would soon start blending into each other. The more of your life that you allow to become routine, the less attention you pay to it and the faster it seems to pass by. So it's critical to keep looking for and experiencing new things.
I can believe that. It's not just ageing that seems to speed up the passage of time but the nature of the activities of each individual.
Whilst reading this thread and the linked article I was reminded of a comment from that remarkable English lady who spent 12 years living in a cave in the Himalayas as a Buddhist nun. (Diane Perry, now known as Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo.)
In 1976 Tenzin Palmo, at the age of 33, commenced living in a cave in the Himalayas, measuring 10 feet wide and six feet deep, and remained there for 12 years.
In accordance with protocol, she never lay down, sleeping in a traditional wooden meditation box in a meditative posture for just three hours a night. The last three years were spent in complete isolation. She survived temperatures of below −30° Fahrenheit (−35°C) and snow for six to eight months of the year.
A book titled 'Cave in the Snow' was written, describing her experiences. From this book, or possibly from an interview with Tenzin Palmo, I recall the following comment which suggests that a lack of varying activities can speed up the passage of time enormously, even if one is quite young.
“The whole thing appeared very dream-like. It seemed almost impossible that I actually spent all that time in seclusion. It seemed more like three months. Of course, when one has been in solitude for such a long time, one’s mind becomes extremely clear. And that clarity reflects in the ability to be able to see the underlying confusion of the people around one. Then, of course, great compassion arises toward others as well as toward one’s own confusion.”
I'm getting fairly advanced in years myself, but I haven't felt that time is speeding up. The last time I visited Nepal, trekking and taking photos, was a bit over 5 years ago. It doesn't feel like a shorter period than that. In fact, before doing a calculation involving the actual months and years, I would not have been surprised if it had been 6 or 7 years ago, probably because since that time I've been engaged in lots of different activities and travels.
Post by: Martin Kristiansen on January 17, 2019, 09:27:01 pm
Post by: Alan Klein on January 17, 2019, 10:11:29 pm
I think about the younger people who exercise all the time to be healthier so they can increase their longevity. Then they find out that those extra years come at the end when you're drooling and impotent rather than some other time when the extra years would be more profitable. Maybe they should stop exercising and go out an get an ice cream with chocolate syrup, nuts and whip cream. With a cherry on top.
Post by: LesPalenik on January 17, 2019, 11:59:19 pm
Getting old I'm feeling time is rushing by faster. Just when I need more of it.
I think about the younger people who exercise all the time to be healthier so they can increase their longevity. Then they find out that those extra years come at the end when you're drooling and impotent rather than some other time when the extra years would be more profitable. Maybe they should stop exercising and go out an get an ice cream with chocolate syrup, nuts and whip cream. With a cherry on top.
Heavy breathing might be the cause.
Try meditation and think of something pleasurable, for instance ice cream. You'll find that time will slow down.
Post by: Rob C on January 18, 2019, 04:34:32 am
Getting old I'm feeling time is rushing by faster. Just when I need more of it.
I think about the younger people who exercise all the time to be healthier so they can increase their longevity. Then they find out that those extra years come at the end when you're drooling and impotent rather than some other time when the extra years would be more profitable. Maybe they should stop exercising and go out an get an ice cream with chocolate syrup, nuts and whip cream. With a cherry on top.
Yes, I find it speeding faster...
I think it is because of my past lifestyle. When you have appointments to keep, people to see, things that have to be done to a deadline, your mind is always active and alive; you have a real conception of time, how fast it moves and how fast you have to move to keep up with it. When you had no plan for yesterday, none for today and even less idea about tomorrow, of course everything merges into one. Then, I guess that it comes down to how you feel about your now. If it's good, time ceases and if bad in a physical way, say pain you can't dope away, it stretches out its agony, making you feel time is too damned slow.
When there's not a lot going on, there are no signposts in your time scale; as a consequence, when something does crop up that gets your attention, lifts you from your stupor, all you remember is the last time something important happened, and the space in-between, being a relative vacuum, seems not to have existed at all, so your two big events are seen through that compressed perspective, the actual calendar making it seem that some huge acceleration took place.
I guess that time speeding up is a measure of our slowing down. Relativity, yet again. Would knowing (understanding) the equation help us in our daily life? A little prayer to Albert?
Post by: RSL on January 18, 2019, 07:56:00 am
Post by: petermfiore on January 18, 2019, 08:06:41 am
Take it from me: you eventually reach flank speed.
And then it stops.......... ;~ (
Peter
Post by: Patricia Sheley on January 18, 2019, 08:35:17 am
Love that term Russ. As long as you remember to give it a rest time.
Post by: HSakols on January 18, 2019, 09:15:29 am
A version of this story that was written for children is Guns for General Washington by Semour Reit. I have read this with my 10 year old students. It is a fun way to get them interested in our country's history. Yes, every year in the classroom goes by faster and faster. That is until the last six weeks which can last forever.
https://www.amazon.com/Houghton-Mifflin-Reading-Paperbacks-Above-Level/dp/0618062637/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1547820343&sr=8-2&keywords=Guns+for+General+Washington
Post by: Patricia Sheley on January 18, 2019, 09:30:27 am
Post by: RSL on January 18, 2019, 11:18:34 am
Post by: Alan Klein on January 18, 2019, 03:40:45 pm
Post by: Ray on January 18, 2019, 05:53:59 pm
Les, I'm looking forward to visiting the combo chocolate and vanilla ice cream in the freezer later tonight. There's also an apple cider sugar coated donut friend standing by as well. Fortunately, my diabetes test isn't until next week.
You look a bit overweight in your photo, Alan. Too much ice cream and not enough exercise?? ;)
Try fasting. It can also cure diabetes. If it speeds up time, never mind. ;)
Post by: Alan Klein on January 18, 2019, 10:26:30 pm
You look a bit overweight in your photo, Alan. Too much ice cream and not enough exercise?? ;)Well it's hard deciding on either ice cream or longevity.
Try fasting. It can also cure diabetes. If it speeds up time, never mind. ;)
Post by: Alan Klein on January 18, 2019, 10:28:01 pm
Post by: Alan Klein on January 18, 2019, 10:31:27 pm
Rob, You've hit a good point. I don;t want to give up retirement but a consultant job of about three days a week would be nice. There's a lot to be said for stimulating your mind and facing stress that keeps your blood red.
Yes, I find it speeding faster...
I think it is because of my past lifestyle. When you have appointments to keep, people to see, things that have to be done to a deadline, your mind is always active and alive; you have a real conception of time, how fast it moves and how fast you have to move to keep up with it. When you had no plan for yesterday, none for today and even less idea about tomorrow, of course everything merge into one. Then, I guess that it comes down to how you feel about your now. If it's good, time ceases and if bad in a physical way, say pain you can't dope away, it stretches out its agony, making you feel time is too damned slow.
When there's not a lot going on, there are no signposts in your time scale; as a consequence, when something does crop up that gets your attention, lifts you from your stupor, all you remember is the last time something important happened, and the space in-between, being a relative vacuum, seems not to have existed at all, so your two big events are seen through that compressed perspective, the actual calendar making it seem that some huge acceleration took place.
I guess that time speeding up is a measure of our slowing down. Relativity, yet again. Would knowing (understanding) the equation help us in our daily life? A little prayer to Albert?
Post by: degrub on January 18, 2019, 11:49:06 pm
Post by: Ray on January 19, 2019, 10:56:32 pm
Rob, You've hit a good point. I don;t want to give up retirement but a consultant job of about three days a week would be nice. There's a lot to be said for stimulating your mind and facing stress that keeps your blood red.
Very true. I've always considered retirement as an opportunity to continue to work, doing projects which are more meaningful than one's regular job, although without pay.
My retirement coincided with the rapid development of computer systems and digital photography in the 1990's. After retirement from my regular job in the Public Service, I spent a lot of time learning how to use the computer. I even learned how to build my own computer from individual parts, in order to save on expenses.
During my adult life, I'd accumulated several hundred negatives and slides depicting scenes in foreign countries from the 1960's onward. Scanning all those slides and negatives, and learning how to get the best results, and re-scanning when affordable scanners in the market improved, has been a major project.
I first joined this site in the 1990's, not to have interminable discussions about cameras and the artistic merits of photos, but simply to get help in producing a print on my Epson printer which matched the colour and contrast that I saw on my computer monitor. I'd complained to the Epson technical department that I was having great difficulty in getting a print that matched what I saw on my computer screen. They advised me the situation was complicated and that I should try to get help from a specialized photographic site such as Luminous Landscape, which I did, and I learned about the concepts of colour and monitor calibration.
20 years later I've accumulated almost 10,000 posts on LL, and possibly more because the very early posts were not always carried forward when the LL system was upgraded. Since many of my posts have been quite long, this represents more than a 1,000 page book, such as Bertrand Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy'. Perhaps even a couple of them. ;)
My renewed interest in Photography after retirement, and the pleasure of viewing old photos in high resolution after scanning, inspired me to revisit some of those countries I'd photographed in the 1960's, such as Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal, and take yet more photos with my digital cameras. I was also inspired to travel to new countries I hadn't visited before.
I've now accumulated a huge number of digital photos in RAW mode. Organising them all, and backing them up on external hard drives is a continuing project.
However, I also have other interests in my retirement. I have a 5 acre property in the country side, which is now a sort of 'weekend retreat', but was initially a Permaculture Project. I found that I simply didn't have enough time to manage all the projects I was interested in, which also included playing the piano, so I stopped playing the piano (probably after realising I wasn't particularly talented ;) ), and stopped maintaining my permaculture garden, letting whatever I'd planted thrive or die in accordance with Darwin's theory of evolution. Remarkably, Papayas and Lady Finger bananas have thrived without any maintenance.
However, some degree of maintenance of the property is required. I've spent a lot of time in recent years cutting down trees which would be in danger of collapsing on my house during a storm. Just recently, a few weeks ago, there was a storm which brought down the overhead power line to my property, due to trees falling over the power line. Refer attached photos of the damage.
Before getting the power line reconnected, I decided to cut down other trees in the vicinity which could disrupt the power supply during a future storm. All the fallen trees will be cut up by me in order to create a Hugelkultur mound. Yet another project.
https://permaculturenews.org/2012/01/04/hugelkultur-composting-whole-trees-with-ease/
I've got so many projects, including taking care of my ex-wife, time is not speeding up for me at all.
Oops! I'm also interested in Buddhism, and I've just realised I might be contradicting Buddhist principles by boasting. ;)
Post by: KLaban on January 20, 2019, 05:08:56 am
;-)
Post by: Rob C on January 20, 2019, 05:38:02 am
The curse or joy of being an artist or photographer is you never really retire.
;-)
Maybe curse and joy?
It sometimes feels that it would be such blessed relief to wake up one day and realise one never wanted to think about photography ever again, look at any more photographic websites, and just find something calming and useful to do with the time left...
Post by: 32BT on January 20, 2019, 06:11:26 am
Maybe curse and joy?
It sometimes feels that it would be such blessed relief to wake up one day and realise one never wanted to think about photography ever again, look at any more photographic websites, and just find something calming and useful to do with the time left...
Dude, you promised us an epic roadtrip. What steps will you be taking today to get there?
* I used "dude" to make you feel younger. Did it help?
Post by: KLaban on January 20, 2019, 06:58:00 am
Maybe curse and joy?
It sometimes feels that it would be such blessed relief to wake up one day and realise one never wanted to think about photography ever again, look at any more photographic websites, and just find something calming and useful to do with the time left...
...and then I look at the people I know who have no consuming passion and realise I am blessed.
Post by: petermfiore on January 20, 2019, 07:53:18 am
The curse or joy of being an artist or photographer is you never really retire.
;-)
I was once asked by an Aunt. " Peter, you have doing art for quite sometime, when do you think you will retire? My response. "To do what? Everybody I meet want to paint." I have been retired in a way, since I was 16...
Peter
Post by: 32BT on January 20, 2019, 08:04:12 am
I was once asked by an Aunt. " Peter, you have doing art for quite sometime, when do you think you will retire? My response. "To do what? Everybody I meet want to paint." I have been retired in a way, since I was 16...
Peter
Perhaps it was a subtle comment on your paintings!? =:-/
Post by: Rob C on January 20, 2019, 09:18:33 am
Dude, you promised us an epic roadtrip. What steps will you be taking today to get there?
* I used "dude" to make you feel younger. Did it help?
Road trip depends on two factors: the sale of the property; health not going any further down the slope. The trip would be the slow drive back to the UK.
Both remain clouded in doubt, the sale because no Brit in his right mind would buy until Brexit is out of the equation - Brits were the main buyers here - and on the health issue, call me dude or anything else and I don't feel one iota better; if anything, I felt a damned sight better in summer than now. Maybe it's the price I have to pay for my French restaurant being closed until at least mid- or late February. I have lost weight I can't afford to lose, and the Italian place that opened recently and produced the gnocchi I used to make has told me it's going on holiday, too. That anything remains open in winter is ever more in doubt; you can't get direct flights from Scotland or Newcastle-on-Tyne to Mallorca at this time of year, and my neighbour had to fly to Valencia, I think, and then on to Palma, making a short flight a day trip.
I remember shooting pix for winter holiday brochures for the Balearics. Who imagined it would vanish?
Rob
Post by: RogTallbloke on January 27, 2019, 05:59:19 pm
Time is money's alter ego: you can make it, spend it, waste it and lose it.
It's the perfect relationship: when you run out of money you've run out of time.
Rob
When my girlfriend and I hitch-hiked round Europe as twenty somethings, we found that it was when we ran out of money that life really started to happen, things got very real, and time stretched in the present.
Teaming up with a mad Dutch fire eater to make money juggling firebrands outside pavement restaurants on the Cote D'azure.
Camped on the mountain opposite the Aiguilles du Midi above Chamonix, eking out the last bag of rice and scraps of food from our packs.
Camped in the Gorge du Verdon watching eagles float by - waiting for the grape harvest to start.
One day I'll find the negatives from the rolls of film I shot with my Ricoh 35mm compact...
Post by: Rob C on January 28, 2019, 09:58:38 am
When my girlfriend and I hitch-hiked round Europe as twenty somethings, we found that it was when we ran out of money that life really started to happen, things got very real, and time stretched in the present.
Teaming up with a mad Dutch fire eater to make money juggling firebrands outside pavement restaurants on the Cote D'azure.
Camped on the mountain opposite the Aiguilles du Midi above Chamonix, eking out the last bag of rice and scraps of food from our packs.
Camped in the Gorge du Verdon watching eagles float by - waiting for the grape harvest to start.
One day I'll find the negatives from the rolls of film I shot with my Ricoh 35mm compact...
Rog, it was much more pleasurable doing it by car and card.
Enjoyng snails in Payrac to the horrified amusement of an American and the appreciation and disbelief of a waiter who'd spent years living in England and spoke English at least as well as some Brits; having a G&T in the bar of a hotel as an elderly Englishman wandered over, sn¡ffed the air, and said how sophisticated; you two must be British?
Yes, travel is a pleasure if it goes well. And for me, that excludes trains and 'planes. The only way I eventually wanted to do it was in the car. And within the European/Mediterranean area. I hate the very idea of roughing it; I'd rather avoid it (the trip) altogether. I hated my professional safari stops in Kenya, and the best thing about Singapore was the prawns and Chinese Chablis; the greatest laugh at the depth of touristic expectations was the obligatory sling at Raffles. It was a working group; it was unavoidable.
Yep, travel opens the eyes as wide as the wallet.
Rob
Post by: RogTallbloke on January 28, 2019, 10:27:34 am
Rog, it was much more pleasurable doing it by car and card.
Enjoyng snails in Payrac to the horrified amusement of an American and the appreciation and disbelief of a waiter who'd spent years living in England and spoke English at least as well as some Brits; having a G&T in the bar of a hotel as an elderly Englishman wandered over, sn¡ffed the air, and said how sophisticated; you two must be British?
Yes, travel is a pleasure if it goes well. And for me, that excludes trains and 'planes. The only way I eventually wanted to do it was in the car. And within the European/Mediterranean area. I hate the very idea of roughing it; I'd rather avoid it (the trip) altogether. I hated my professional safari stops in Kenya, and the best thing about Singapore was the prawns and Chinese Chablis; the greatest laugh at the depth of touristic expectations was the obligatory sling at Raffles. It was a working group; it was unavoidable.
Yep, travel opens the eyes as wide as the wallet.
Rob
Fair enough. It takes all sorts to photograph the world as it's experienced. I'll never forget waking up on a ledge under an overhanging cliff at 3000 feet where we'd taken shelter from a storm, to see dawn breaking over the Penon D'Iffac on the costa Blanca. Not a view you'd get from even the best hotel window no matter how wide you opened your wallet. :D
I can't locate the image just now, but this shot I found on the web gives an idea of the situation.
(https://imgs-akamai.mnstatic.com/82/fd/82fd5cfc9bd021bd9d016929ef847f38.jpg)
Post by: KLaban on January 28, 2019, 01:05:09 pm
When my girlfriend and I hitch-hiked round Europe as twenty somethings, we found that it was when we ran out of money that life really started to happen, things got very real, and time stretched in the present.
Teaming up with a mad Dutch fire eater to make money juggling firebrands outside pavement restaurants on the Cote D'azure.
Camped on the mountain opposite the Aiguilles du Midi above Chamonix, eking out the last bag of rice and scraps of food from our packs.
Camped in the Gorge du Verdon watching eagles float by - waiting for the grape harvest to start.
One day I'll find the negatives from the rolls of film I shot with my Ricoh 35mm compact...
The privilege of sanitised, international, 5 star luxury has never appealed.
As hand to mouth twenty somethings we dossed in crumbling cottages and churches and had the time of our lives. Now, with a little more comfort in mind and a little more money in pocket we seek and stay in riads, haveli and village houses which are of the place and equally importantly of the people and are still having the time of our lives: cameras in hand, in the thick of it.
It's a different kind of privilege.
Post by: RogTallbloke on January 28, 2019, 01:25:56 pm
Post by: Rob C on January 28, 2019, 01:26:16 pm
Fair enough. It takes all sorts to photograph the world as it's experienced. I'll never forget waking up on a ledge under an overhanging cliff at 3000 feet where we'd taken shelter from a storm, to see dawn breaking over the Penon D'Iffac on the costa Blanca. Not a view you'd get from even the best hotel window no matter how wide you opened your wallet. :D
I can't locate the image just now, but this shot I found on the web gives an idea of the situation.
(https://imgs-akamai.mnstatic.com/82/fd/82fd5cfc9bd021bd9d016929ef847f38.jpg)
Again, hold them horses! Who said anything about making photographs being part of the pleasure? My early French drives (from Spain up to Scotland) were originally to be present for the birth of our grandchildren; I wasted time on those many, subsequent trips shooting holiday atmospherics for a stock agency; what a waste of effort that was - the enjoyment, really, was off camera. I would never have allowed cameras to intrude on pleasure again, but health took that out of my hands anyway, and my wife refused to let me drive that distance and time anymore. Going by 'plane, though we did, wasn't much good: no way of bringing back French exotica for the tummy. Doing it when you can is the right idea.
My experiences of the Costs Brava are this: shooting hotels for a holiday brochure from the beach, holding up small OOF plastic flowers to hide the railway lines and road between hotels and beach; driving back from one of the Scotland trips in lashing evening rain along that nightmare three-lane road where overtaking is akin to suicide, especially when you are blinded by lights and windscreen water. Every other time after that initial one, we headed back to Barcelona and the ferry via the motorway. They didn't christen it the Costa Brava for nothing!
However, the very first tme we drove the distance was up through Andorra; we came out of the place onto a view above the clouds, looking down into distant France beyond the cloud layer. Magical; no, I didn't stop to snap.
Rob
Post by: Ray on January 30, 2019, 09:15:46 pm
Yes, travel is a pleasure if it goes well. And for me, that excludes trains and 'planes. The only way I eventually wanted to do it was in the car.
Rob,
The advantage of travelling by car is that you can usually stop if you notice something interesting at one side of the road that might be worth photographing, or perhaps notice a narrow lane winding up a hillside from where there could be an interesting view.
However, the disadvantage, if you are actually driving the car, is that for safety reasons you have to keep your eyes on the road and can often miss interesting subjects, byways and locations off the side of the road.
At least that's been my experience. I've sometimes driven back and forth along a stretch of highway for years before realizing I've been repeatedly passing by an interesting nature park, or conservation area with walking tracks.
Just recently, as a result of curiosity, slowing down and turning off the highway along a byroad that I'd passed a hundred times in the past 20 years, I came across an amazing camel farm (in Queensland, Australia) that I had no idea existed.
Refer attached photos. The camel with the impressive beard could be female, so give her a good kiss. :D
Post by: Rob C on January 31, 2019, 04:04:26 am
Indeed, driving does remove your eye - or should -from the distractions off piste. The way we did it, during those glorious years that Ann and I roamed France en route to Scotland, was that we'd check in at the hotel late evening and spend the next couple of days with the intention of getting a load of images to offer to our stock agent. That said, you can probably understand that there is - was! - a particular style of shot that had a chance of selling to tourist businesses etc. meaning, the unbiquitous travel atmospheric, a genre that tries to encapsulate the essence of a locality in a photograph. Paris has its tower, its art districts and so on. Nobody gave a fig about down-and-outs, the panhandlers in the streets and the Metro other than to try to pretend they didn't exist. You could see the challenge for Magnum, therein. ;-)
In the end, it turned out not worth the trouble and disruption to the trips; it was even worse regarding pix of Mallorca, where the agency eventually asked me not to send in more Med atmospherics because they, as with the other agencies, were drowning in that material. Frankly, it was an early warning sign of the collapse of the stock business model as it was, even before the advent of digital. That said, in retrospect, I can also detect that situation happening across the general, non-stock photographic industry back in the 80s, an era that seemed, on the face of it, to be thriving. Being a one-man-and-his-wife operation, it was natural to assume that slower times were one's own fault, and only looking back at the fact that many competitors were shutting the doors for the final time later indicated a general, not a particular malaise. At the time, you just see your own situation.
As mentioned in the past, later photography-free trips didn't happen: heart attacks convinced my wife it was too much driving stress for me, which was not the case: I enjoyed the driving; the heart problems were cholesetrol driven. There you go.
If this apartment sells, then yes, there will be one more, final, photographic French trip: back north from down here. (If my wife was right, what a way to go!) The snaps will not be for tourism, but for my website. Wish me well!
Rob
Post by: petermfiore on January 31, 2019, 07:18:56 am
Perhaps it was a subtle comment on your paintings!? =:-/I just saw your comment
My Sainted Aunt??? Never, couldn't be, impossible, not likely, Hmmmm???.....I hate her!!!
Peter
Post by: Peter McLennan on January 31, 2019, 11:48:58 am
Wish me well!
Rob
Always! :)
Post by: Rob C on January 31, 2019, 04:35:22 pm
Always! :)
:-)
Rob
Post by: Ray on January 31, 2019, 05:11:21 pm
If this apartment sells, then yes, there will be one more, final, photographic French trip: back north from down here. (If my wife was right, what a way to go!) The snaps will not be for tourism, but for my website. Wish me well!
Rob,
Do you intend to spend your final years back in the UK? Is this decision influenced by the Brexit chaos? Best of luck indeed! ;)
Post by: Rob C on February 01, 2019, 08:43:00 am
Rob,
Do you intend to spend your final years back in the UK? Is this decision influenced by the Brexit chaos? Best of luck indeed! ;)
Several influencing factors:
1. inheritance tax, which the kids would have to pay before they could "accept the inheritance" of the apartment, and go on to try and sell it or even keep it, which I don't think they'd want to do. On selling, they'd be hit with other taxes which I, at the moment, because of length of tenure and my own age, an exempt from facing under local island law;
2. Brexit, if a bad one, means I would no longer have access to the state health insurance, which I currently enjoy courtesy the mutual exchange agreements between European countries. We used to have a parallel private policy for many years, but after my heart attacks and Ann's cancer ops, the premium became unaffordable for us, so that's not an alternative anymore. Ironically, as of last month, pensioners no longer have to pay a proportion of their regular prescription charges, which is nice, or would be if the status quo continues for me;
3. I really would like to get back into a city with libraries, bookshops, museums and galleries. Not to mention model agencies...
Rob
Post by: enduser on February 08, 2019, 10:00:20 pm
Post by: Rob C on February 10, 2019, 05:33:22 pm
I believe the toilet roll example: when you pull four squares off it and it is a new roll, it rotates slowly. When the roll is nearly all gone, the taking off of another four squares makes it rotate much faster.
So that's what they meant when they said "there goes another life down the pan!".
It gets tougher by the day.
:-)