…by Michael Kenna. Photography as poetic quietude…
Winnipeg, Canada
Wow… what a weekend! Rock-climbing with good friends at Gooseneck in NW Ontario (an ACC Club Climb and wilderness camping with Bettie), refreshing swims in the pristine lakes of the Canadian Shield, gardening in Manitoba’s Interlake with Ev (first delicious home-grown salads of the season!), a scorching sunny afternoon on the strands of Winnipeg Beach (interrupted by a deliciously cool thundershower, replete with hail), community fireworks … I feel truly privileged to be a Canadian!
When I arrived in this great country 35 years ago (with nothing but the jean-jacket on my back) I had no idea what a wonderful life lay in store. I continue to be in awe of this country, and of the remarkable opportunities it offers… thank you, Canada!
Happy Canada Day to all…
Holzen-Kandern, Germany
I received some family pics from my kid-brother Phil today (with wife Tammy, niece Amanda, nephews Michael and Alexander)… they’re just back from a summer holiday in Corsica. Since February, Phil and family have been living in Holzen, a quaint medieval-era Black Forest village known for its proliferation of storks and the (equally) fertile surrounding vineyards.
Source unknown… a clever urban reminder that whatever we let down the drain here will likely resurface in a river, lake, or ocean… somewhere else.
And two somewhat more overt covers, from Denver and Minneapolis…
From the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago: Jana Sterbak’s Sisyphus Sport, 1997, Leather straps on granite (backpack), 132 lbs. (60 kg).
Mount Everest, Nepal/Tibet
55 years ago today, Mount Everest (also called Chomolungma, Qomolangma, Zhumulangma, or Sagarmatha) saw its first successful summit by the inimitable kiwi Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. The highest mountain on earth, Everest looms 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) above sea level. Read more here, or here…
Everest’s north face as seen from Tibet (photo by Luca Galuzzi).
Bow Valley, Alberta
I’ve had the profound pleasure of climbing many mountains, but I’d have to say that my favorite (OK, one of my favorites to be sure) has to be Castle Mountain, a craggy massif of 540-million-year-old Middle-Cambrian limestone located half-way between Banff and Lake Louise at the eponymous Castle Junction. It’s the mountain that is most often in my thoughts as I drift into sleep late at night…
So, when I chanced across this 75-year-old photo today… I felt the urge to annotate: 1) The location of the “weakness” in the lower rockwall that leads to the ascent gully (low 5.?, but can be freed); 2) The climber’s bivouac hut (3 meters square in size, sleeps 6 in a pinch, cabled to a ledge on the Goat Plateau—set about 3 meters back from a 1000′ drop-off to the scree below); 3) The classic line of the 13-pitch Brewer Buttress leading to the mountain’s true summit (5.6—I first climbed it with Raphael Muñoz and [the late] Clive Ramage about 10 years ago); 4) The descent gully (multiple double-rope rappels down a water-course—look for fixed stations) leading back down to the plateau; 5) The Eisenhower Tower (I’ve been weathered off it three times over the past decade, with my high-point being the intersection of the Dragon’s Back and the headwall)—could this be the summer I finally make it to the top?
Lower photo: Yours truly short-roping German friend Silvie Engel in 2006, descending the top of the access gully (at #2).
São Paulo, Brazil
Well, it’s been just over a year now since city officials in Brazil’s teeming metropolis (of officially 11 million, though the last time I was there local designer friends estimated the city’s population at 22 million, including the ever-expanding favelas), took daring and unprecedented action to ban all billboards, neon signs, and outdoor electronic advertising panels. As Rob Maguire of Art Threat puts it: “Billboards have been stripped of their commercial clothing, the stark nakedness of the abandoned frames reminding passers by of the once stolen public space now reclaimed.” Indeed, a beautiful reclaiming of the commons…
Congratulations, and kudos, to the visionary civic leaders of São Paulo… would that other jurisdictions around the world might find the heart and courage to free more of our planet’s over-targeted publics in the same way, and to help reduce the visual pollution that has become such a ubiquitous scourge in our modern age!
Images: cover of Creative Review, and one of the many inspiring photos by Tony DeMarco here.
Winnipeg, Canada
Good friend, phenomenal photographer, (and longtime client) Michel Grandmaison has been awarded second prize (what? not first? :-) in the Northern Lights 2007 Awards Canada competition for ‘Excellence in Travel Journalism.’ His photography was showcased in the May 2007 Travel issue of Canadian Geographic Magazine. The award is sponsored by the Canadian Tourism Commission—‘Jasper by Starlight’ can be read online as a PDF (2.4 MB) here. (See more of Mike’s phenomenal photographs here).
Keep up the great work, Mike!
Winnipeg, Canada
Yesterday evening I gave a presentation entitled Pushing the Envelope to the Winnipeg Philatelic Society—founded in 1900, it is the oldest stamp club in Western Canada. I showed developmental sketches, shared the process of designing stamps, and answered questions of the many enthusiastic participants (I’ve had the honored privilege of being involved in the design of over 20 Canadian stamps to date).
Some of the commemorative stamps we’ve designed at Circle: 1999 Pan American Games, 125th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Fishing Flies, Canadian Recording Artists.
