I saw this photo on the web tonight (click for a larger version), and it arrested my thoughts immediately. I have had a really shitty day, but when I looked at this image of the Sombrero Galaxy, 28 million light years away (1 light year is roughly 10 trillion kilometres and we are talking 28 million here), all my trivialities vanished for one tiny little moment. Then of course ego reasserted its authority and got its grubby little hold back on me . But for that split second… Wow.
For what it’s worth, I am an atheist. I don’t believe at all in any sort of God, particularly the organised religious type, with long robes and a wicked sense of vengeance. Yahweh, Allah, God, they all seem to me to be unoriginal caricatures of the worst kind. (at least the Hindus have a great sense of creativity with Ganesh and the pantheon of deity in India) But I do appreciate living in a society that allows me to have my opinion. I don’t seek to unduly influence others, only to hold my own views in peace and talk of them if I wish. I do however believe in the incredible awesomeness of the cosmos. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes.
I’m also a photographer, a writer, a husband, a father, a computer geek and a cricket fanatic and a political tragic. So what. Is that important? Are my views at all important? I think not. Certainly no more important than yours. Of course I like to have a platform to air them, but considering the anonymity of said platform, I think a little self importance is forgivable. I am safe in the knowledge that very few people will ever even read this.
But for those that do (and for myself), what is important? Is politics? Is cricket? Is it important whether people take photos with a Nikon or a Canon camera? Is my annoyance over the mess my daughter left on the bathroom floor important? When I look at this photo, the list of what’s important suddenly gets very, very small.
Continue reading what is important?
I’ve been on an extended holiday since the start of December. Just about 2 months of no income. My wife hasn’t been working in that time either. We are not wealthy people (far from it), and neither are we on any government benefits. We just prioritised our family. I know a lot of [...]
In the last six months or so, I have been on, baldly stated, one of the steepest learning curves I’ve ever encountered in my life (learning Danish was another that comes to mind). But this one is all about photography.
Six months ago, I was at a crossroads. I had my Diploma of Photography under my belt and I was trying to start a business. Ignorance is bliss right… Anyway, I got on to a program called NEIS, where the government help you out starting up a business with a little regular cashflow assistance. It’s a great idea. But my business plan was falling apart. I was trying to do web design, and two types of photography. I was all over the place. It wasn’t working. I was ready to call it quits and become a shoe salesman.
Continue reading the mother of all learning curves
It’s a good thing I go to the gym. I can feel I’m going to have to make it more regular though. After a recent upgrade and expansion of my equipment, my Lowepro backpack weighs a tonne… I haven’t weighed it, but judging by how much my seven year old boy weighs, I [...]
I am thinking of writing a book. It would have a pithy title like “A Deconstruction of the world in 29 chapters”. One chapter for each letter of the alphabet. Yeah, yeah, I know the English alphabet has only 26 letters, but the Danish one has 29, so why not use it A would [...]
Sometimes words tell the truth. Remember this.
*Before I go any further, I would like to point out that I understand the irony of writing about how boring backpackers are in a blog called “The Backpacker”. After all, travel blogs are a modern-day curse for friends of travellers everywhere – not content to send [...]
Coming to Denmark is never a holiday for me. Rather, it’s an experience best described as an existential crisis. You might think there’s more than a little bit of exaggeration there, but to tell the truth, I’m deadly serious.
The decision we made nearly 10 years ago to leave Denmark, where I had then [...]
Copenhagen is a fabulous city. I sometimes can’t remember why I ever left the place. Particularly in summer. In winter though, it comes back to me all too quickly. But now it’s spring. Late spring. The sun is warm, and high and bright in the sky (when it’s not raining that is), and the [...]
There was a death in my wife’s family, and we had to suddenly return to Denmark. Pernille’s beloved grandfather, Karl, died last week at the age of 90, and one of his dying wishes was that we all returned for the funeral. There are not many people I would travel halfway around the world [...]
For some reason I’ve been thinking about my missing brother today. His name was Greg, and he disappeared while traveling in India in 1995. He was 36 at the time. And so I thought I’d link to a hypertext I made a few years back when I was in university. There is a [...]
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