SPC – on the street

The self portrait challenge “on the street” theme has been really challenging for me, both because my teenie camera doesn’t do wide/distance shots very well, and partly because my life mostly runs along bike paths and across campus – I don’t generally spend much time on actual streets.

Darwin is also so laid back and quiet that there aren’t a lot of opportunities for urban street photography. So this is me standing barefoot in the middle of the street in downtown Darwin. I’m not sure which of these photos I like.

Other streets here

on the street, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

on the street, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

inspire me thursday – words

I had fun putting words in different places around town. This is one of those song lyrics that pops up in my head every now and them, I don’t know the original version of the song at all but i love the cover by by Mike Doughty. I like to think of passers by with their own interpretations of the phrases.

words, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

spots and scars

This is my belly, complete with eczema, spots and a scar from a skin cancer when I was in my early 20s (that’s what the Australian sun does for you).

scars and spots, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

jewels

I spent some time on the weekend making these two bracelets, it’s not something I usually spend time doing but it was fun and I’m sure I’ll enjoy wearing them.

jewels, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

Inspire me Thursday – tears and frustration

While I feel like my photography has been greatly improved by taking part in self portrait challenge every week (its here I’d recommend it – it’s lots of fun) – I’m frustrated that I’m mostly unsatisfied with my inspire me Thursday entries. Much of the time I have an idea of what I’d like to draw/make but I just don’t have the skills or experience to do it the way I want. I’ve been hoping to take an adult-ed painting class but so far it has conflicted with something else every time its been offered.

I almost didn’t post these I’m so unhappy with them but I suppose I’ll never get anywhere if I don’t keep trying.

 

tears, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

 

tears, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

the hair

I was a bit torn this week about whether to post a nice photo that I took, or to post on a body-issue that doesn’t have such a great photo, I decide to go with the less well illustrated option.

For most of my adult life I’ve had long-ish hair, shoulder length or longer. I always thought my hair was lovely but that somehow it didn’t really suit me. When I moved to the tropics I took the plunge and tried short short short hair that I’d always wondered about.

I really like the short hair, it feels much more like “me” although I don’t think it looks objectively better (I’ve had a lot of people comment on how different it is, but no one I can think of has said it looks good). I wonder sometimes what it makes people think about me – I know I’ve become someone recognisable – the people that sell me coffee once a week at the market or the IT guy that fixed my computer once recognise me in strange places, but I wonder if it make people think I’m brave for doing something different or if people think I’m a bit weird. Unfortunately it hasn’t prompted anyone to ask me out

other folks’ bodies here
My favorite this week is this one – so pretty.

 

fire hat, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

 

clipped, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

finding happiness

I’ve already admitted that I’m a scientist, I’m swayed by data, and as much as I might want to believe in things simply on the basis of faith I’m really only convinced by data – I have some beliefs that I’ve “hypothesis tested” using my own life but I really believe what I’ve seen tested using the scientific method on a reasonable sample.

This talk is about data on happiness, and the relationship between what people think is going to make them happy and what really does influence happiness. I find it comforting, and it supports some of my beliefs that run along the “you make your own happiness” line.

This video is here (sorry, couldn’t figure out how to post google video on wordpress).

body

body, originally uploaded by Fred Nerk.

some of my favorites for the week Chandra and pumkinlittle.