I'm not a royalist, but...

With the death of Her Maj, I have seen so many of my social media connections somehow feeling the need to comment about her in a favourable way, even though they would normally count themselves as republicans, or anti-monarchy, or anti-hierarchy, or anti-being-ruled-over-by-a-stinkingly-rich-elite.

But now, they say, whatever our feelings about such things, we must put them aside because the nation is in mourning and an old woman has died and her family will be grieving and it is so disrespectful to say otherwise.

But then, why say anything at all?

Fair enough if you don't want to offend, but why join in with the posh-washing?

If one of the Kardashians (or insert any other wealthy celebrity family of choice) died, would it be fitting for me to come out and publicly say that although I disagree with the whole notion of the celebrity worship culture that is almost epitomised by the Kardashians, this is a terrible time for a family who have lost a loved one?

And if so, why am I not publicly expressing my support for the families of the 178,000 other people who die every day across the world?

In the end, the only thing I wrote on Facebook was *cough* virtue-signalling *cough* but didn't hit enter.

I sat staring at it for a full 2 minutes before concluding that all I would be doing is upsetting a few people for a few seconds for my own self satisfaction, and what's the point in that? 

Each person's righteous outburst on FB is toxic to someone else.

So I deleted it before I could change my mind, and it was never posted.

Instead I wrote about the whole thing here on this blog post as a way of getting it off my chest, secure in the knowledge that it's unlikely to be seen by more than 2 or 3 people at most.

Actually, I did also type, "love the monarch, hate the monarchy", on the page of someone who has been known to write "love the sinner, hate the sin" about homosexuality. But I don't think they understood...

Last time I climbed a tree

 I didn't know that the last time I climbed a tree would be the last time I would climb a tree.

Good and Evil

The Eternal Battle Between Good and Evil is basically the continual conflict between compassion and selfishness.

We all have the capacity for both, but which one dominates?

When selfishness rules, then the world becomes a more dangerous place, a far more unpleasant place to live.

But when compassion is foremost, then pain is eased and life feels like it has purpose beyond just struggling to exist.

Forget personified deities.

Forget an afterlife of heaven or hell.

Forget Karma over several lifetimes

Quite simply, the more selfish everyone is, the more hellish life becomes.

I am alive - until I'm not

 Somehow, I find this thought very comforting.

And what world do you live in?

I don't think I want to be self employed anymore.

I don't want the endless uncertainty and responsibility.

I want a job.

But I want than job to be well paid, secure, and doing something I enjoy.

Aye, there's the rub...

Lost Potential

 My world is a seething mass of stuff I've not done...

WTF, Kim?

"You know," he said, "when you used to tell me about these photo shoot ideas of yours, I would nod and smile, but inside I couldn't imagine they would look any good. But over the years, every time you've produced something great so I've stopped being overly concerned about it."

"So what you're saying," I said, "is when I enthusiastically tell you about the latest shoot I'm planning to do, like this one I've just told you about, your first thought is 'What the fuck, Kim?' which is then followed by, 'Oh, it'll probably be OK because he's got a track record now.'?"

"Er, yes, kind of..." he said, noticing my eyes had narrowed somewhat, "but it's a compliment!"

It had honestly never occurred to me that someone might think this way. Whenever I get an idea, I'm so stoked about it, I assume everyone else will be too - not that they are thinking I'm completely off my trolley but against all the odds somehow seem to make it work.

I'm still not completely convinced this is a compliment...

You can't handle the truth...

It's been too long since we last spoke, but I can feel myself getting upset with my brother when I phone him and realise he is hugely downplaying the problems in his life and is only really telling me what he thinks I want to hear.

It's been too long since we last spoke, but I can feel myself getting upset with my sister when I phone her and not only does she not downplay all the problems in her life, she fills in many of the missing details in my brother's life.

And I realise I'd rather she'd only told me what I wanted to hear...

Attention Deficit... something...

Anyone else try one of these online ADHD tests only to get bored and impatient and abandon it before the end?

Keeping the viewer guessing

 As in literature, one of the most important features of a strong photographic narrative is there must be something missing. There must be a central lack or mystery that keeps the viewer guessing. Literary theorist Worlfgang Iser describes this "place of indeterminacy" in narrative as the productive meeting point of text and reader, where readers are provoked to fill in the blank themselves. In a single still image, a gap is necessary to produce the movement that creates a story rather than just a scene. Sometimes we may formulate the gap as a question: What is going on? What is tin that briefcase? What is that woman feeling? In other images, it is more of a lack of resolution that brings an image to life, an ambiguity that keeps the image oscillating.

 - Lucy Soutter
Showing and Telling: Narrative Picture to Parafictions