What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more liveable.  –  Louise Nevelson (US photographer) 50mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f11. Sodium vapour light balance  

Artists are born kneeling; they fight to stand. Critics, by nature of the judgement seat, are born sitting.  –  Hortense Calisher (US novelist) [adapted] 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f16. Sodium vapour light balance

There is no such thing as the pursuit of happiness, but there is the discovery of joy.  –  Joyce Grenfell 28mm; ISO 2000. 192 seconds (over 3 mins) at f11

Those who wish to sing, always find a song.  –  Swedish proverb 50mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f8

Approaching city lights, Manawatu. 7.06 pm, 6 August 2012 Fall seven times, stand up eight! –  Japanese proverb 85mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f9. Incandescent light balance      

Whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away – Robert M. Hutchins 28mm; ISO 2000. 20 seconds at f5.6  

Nothing is ever the same twice because everything is always gone forever, and yet each moment has infinite photographic possibilities. – Michael Kenna  28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f5.6  

The illiteracy of the future will be ignorance not of reading or writing, but of photography. –      László Moholy-Nagy (Weimar photographer, 1926) Oh for a rising moon behind! But there was heavy overcast – and anyway, the moon was yet to rise. By the way, a big moon rising after dark is past […]

 I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.  –  Vincent van Gogh 28mm; ISO 2000. 66 seconds at f10

 At their best, photographs as symbols not only serve to help illuminate some of the darkness of the unknown, they also serve to lessen the fears that too often accompany the journeys from the known to the unknown. – Wynn Bullock 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11

I’ve had a lot of trouble in my life – most of which never happened.  –  Mark Twain 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f13. Flash

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.   Marcus Aurelius 28mm; ISO 2000. 15 seconds at f8. Flash

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.  –  Emily Dickinson 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f4  

 Seeking love keeps you from the awareness that you already are it.  –  Byron Katie 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 secs at f5.6. Mercury vapour light balance.      

Yet my moon always hung faithfully in the sky: constant companion, luminous and remote, gentle symbol of mystery, femininity and noctural wisdom.  –  Michael Leunig 85mm, ISO 2000. 10 secs at f8  

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. – Ursula K. Le Guin 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f7.1. Flash      

Live courageously, and produce.  –  Vincent van Gogh  28mm, ISO 2000. 3 secs at f8. Sodium vapour light balance

The world to me is a dream and the people in it are sleepers. I have known a few instances of intensity but that is all.  – Katherine Mansfield 28mm, ISO 2000. 6 secs at f2.8  

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.  –  Helen Keller 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f16

All living creatures are making a great endeavour, struggling, to attain real everlasting happiness.  –  Srila Narayana Maharaja Happiness through illusion? This actually is twilight, but stirred with the flash for foreground and then thoroughly shaken in post-pro. The original sky is very blue because I was trying a tungsten light balance. However I wanted something more […]

Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and the goal of a good intention was never reached through its opposite, laziness.  –  Cervantes, 1615 85mm, ISO 2000. 1/500th sec at f5.6

Blend a little foolishness with your wisdom: it’s nice to be silly at the right moment. –  Horace 28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Flash  

Health is the greatest gift; Contentment the greatest wealth; Faithfulness the best relationship.  –  Buddha 28mm, ISO 2000. 123 secs at f22. Flash

What’s gone and what’s past help, should be past grief.  –  William Shakespeare 50mm, ISO 2000. 2.5 secs at f4