#black and white photography, #meanderings

And here we are……what’s in a name, a title or one’s own imagery.

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Author: graysummers

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I have often wondered who we are. A name, job title, personality characteristics. How to define the individual. How to explore our inner selves. Words say so much, but somehow limit essence of self. Describing oneself or the observations of others.

“The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don’t need to seek outside “. Zen Master Dazhu.

Living in Wales is a fantastic experience for someone that carries a camera in the pocket. I’m not into photography as a hobby in a big way at all. I just take a walk now and again with said camera (sometimes use a flimsy old tripod bought from a boot fair for £2 that folds down to coat pocket size too. Nice and light.) and capture a few pics of the local spots. Nursing is a busy job so it’s nice to just relax, take a stroll, point the camera at something interesting and then snap. About the pictures on the blog site? A few years back I picked up some secondhand darkroom equipment from a boot fair. Very basic stuff and the local recycling shop had a batch of old dusty Kodak/Ilford papers from the 80’s. So I had a go and the results you can see. I’d like to give it another go but the small cleaned up log room out the back back I used at the time has to be de-spidered and cleaned up. Can I be bothered?? I always was a bit bad on the technical front and need to relearn how to develop film all over again. Black and White is very atmospheric and I like to see the results in this format. Don’t take anything with a colour film at all. The photographs I’ve taken over the last 2 years are stuck in the fridge still on the roll film. Maybe it would be good to see whats on them! I use a Pentax LX with a couple of lens and it’s sturdy and built like a tank. It’s a wonderful piece equipment and a classic camera. I use a Pentax 645 too from time to time. Also, I wouldn’t even begin to think about changing to digital. Forget it! The mystery of the latent image is just about perfect. The Silver stuff every time.

At present I’m having my old Volkswagen T2 Crossover Bay Bus, named Billie Bud, renovated. It’ll be back soon. And it’s inclusion will be amazing. So, a lifestyle of work and out there balance is waiting. I’ll use as my daily drive. Good to hit the open road and wide open spaces as well as those hidden gems that exist in these beautiful isles. A mix of music, photography, writing, drawing, creating aromatherapy synergy with a plethora of essential oils and a bit of basic vegetarian cooking to stretch and push the limits of the abilities of a Cobb cooker and a double gas hob…….all await.

Music, photography, cooking, art…… whatever our interests, we’re lucky people to be able share our interests on this world wide level aren’t we? And I for one am overawed by the talent that exists out there. Culturally it is a stunning adventure.

So I’m made up of the following. I have my various professional statuses………budding ‘hoped for and yearning learning how to be something/one new I aspire to being with eventual beauty ‘ ……….or successful in realisation that now, with a commitment attached, I can carry on and build upon what I find was always deep in my soul as an essential requirement which allows me to live the life that saves my soul. A vegetarian, a nurse, a musician, a Buddhist, a teacher, a British Sign Language user, a potter, a photographer, an aromatherapist, an artist, a cook, a Husband, Father, Grandfather and friend.

I am these, yet none of these.

As Zen Master Linji says:

“If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more “.

18 thoughts on “And here we are……what’s in a name, a title or one’s own imagery.”

    1. Hi Brenda. I’ve been completely overhauling the links on site with subject themes and tag links to all the others of same or similar themes. I accidentally put this one in the Trash. It was the second blog upload from way back when. I had to get it out of trash and republish. So this is the old me. Bit deeper in those days. 😊 Thank you for replying. All the best.

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      2. That was a reflective introduction to my links with nursing and Buddhist thought. It got darker at times though when work overwhelmed. Since leaving all the daily shenanigans of ward work behind it’s become a lot nicer to blog. A bunch of pens, a guitar, books to read and comment on as to how they impacted emotionally, etc. So nice to muck about with words. Enjoying your new series. Brings back memories though! 😊 A level that all students should strive for. And you explained it all perfectly. All the best.

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      3. Thanks. I’m just working on the next piece. We’ll actually the next one’s already scheduled, so this is the one after that. Looking at some aspects of reading skills.

        I’m sure life is much more relaxed after retirement. Nursing sounds to be very stressful. And with all the industrial action, it must be even more so now. As a lecturer in HR, all these strikes is great case study material 😁

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      4. My colleagues tell me that to come back would be like Groundhog Day. My registration is up in March. I have not stepped onto a ward since July 2021, so definitely cannot re-register. That, believe it or not, will be a huge relief. When it’s there in the NMC system and you are still officially a nurse! It scrapes away at your conscience. All the best. Look forward to reading your uploads.

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  2. I could not agree more on the atmospheric properties of Black & White. As for the spiders, I feel they have a right but I too am not a fan of cohabitating indoors. As for knowing one’s self… I’ve spent a lot of time looking inward. Trying to live up to the perceptions of others is a lost cause. Not to confuse perceptions with obligations.

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    1. This post was sent to trash the other day by mistake. Trying to categorise all the posts. Touched the screen on ‘trash!’ It was the second or third of blogs back four years ago. I had to shove it back into recover and publish. So that’s why it popped up again. It was interesting revisiting my thoughts from back then. They still exist and there are a lot of thoughts from great thinkers who get you to really reflect on the you as base. Like you say. Look deep within. I was really interested on our ‘various names and titles’ and how it determines who we are. How we are received. Expectations of the person as a role not as an individual with own unique centre. Great insightful reply. Cheers Danny.

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      1. Based on the verbiage I assumed it was an elder posting. A good read all the same. WP has been very odd. I’ve had it arbitrarily rename my blog home page based on a sentence I was typing in a paragraph block.

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      2. It is difficult to get around at times. I tend to use Classic all the time and use the internet presentation to ‘Write’. Over the two days I went into every single blog to attribute a specific category and head with a choice from half a dozen images as a ‘feature’ image up top. The hash tags with the top image takes visitors to the same themed blogs. Next up is putting widgets/windows to tap on instead of scrolling down on each subject. But! What a difficult thing to do. These blips you’re experiencing is really frustrating. Shouldn’t happen. The paragraph sentence problem of yours is really odd. I do worry about hackers at times too. The Reader page doesn’t bring up others’ blogs sometimes. Once a week I tap on all the blogs I follow to see if there are updates. Shouldn’t have to do that either. All the best.

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      3. Hi Danny. Your last Throw Back Thursday Keystone upload link won’t connect to the original post. It just states ‘Oops! That page can’t be found’. Thought I’d let you know as you mentioned WP acting strange. Cheers.

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      5. Cheers. Works fine. Interesting read. Had your work cut out renovating that one for sure. The bar making? Impressive stuff. My Parker Duofold nib went into my cheap Ultrasound Cleaner last night. The nib was soaked fir a couple of hours a few days ago and the water turned dark blue. Everything turned dark blue again. After that I put the barrel and cap in. Again, dark blue. Then it stayed all clear after putting in clean water and doing a second cycle. So should be fine. Reluctant to take apart the section/nib/feed in case it breaks. I blew down into the section base end and felt air through the feed channel so 🤞🏼. The Conway Stewart arrived a few days ago. Hot air from the hair dryer a few feet away worked after 15 minutes and the section and barrel parted intact. Not like your experience on the Keystone, but the ink sac was shot to pieces, hard and clogged around the inner bar. It’s all out now. Took your advice and haven’t immersed it in water. Just given it a mini baby bottle brush on the inside. Eye dropped water into the section end and it flowed straight through the nib with cleaning at same time. Again, don’t want to try to remove section, nib, etc with force. Did gently try but backed off. Hopefully should be fine. That Keystone does look beautiful though. Art Deco. Can’t find a link to comment yet. I’ll go back and re-read and try again. All the best.

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      6. Both my Duofolds have performed well. I hope yours performs equally as well. Removing the dried ink and the years of dirt does wonders for a good nib. Keep the CS out of the water. It is ok to clean it just don’t soak it. All the best

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      7. Thanks for the advice. I’m going to look for a decent cleaner and polisher today. Bought 16, 17, 18 sacs and the range of micro mesh sheets. Arrived a couple of days ago. You got me hooked. 👍 All the best too.

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      9. It’ll all come to fruition. Just trying to work out ink sac sizes for the Duofold and Conway Stewart. Your mention of Peter experts on the loose has me a bit cautious. 😉 Got the shellac all raring to go. But want it isolated on the section only!

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