Compassion Is in Where?

(Leica X1)

There is a piece by an anonymous telling of a story of a horseman reining his horse at the sight of a bearded old man waiting for a ride across the river in a bitterly cold evening. The horseman gave the old man a ride and, when nearing the old man's hut, was caused by curiosity to inquire why he had let several preceding horsemen pass by. The old man replied that from their eyes those horsemen showed no concern for his situation. It would have been no use asking them for help. But as he looked into the eyes of that last horseman, kindness and compassion were evident. the old man knew then that his gentle spirit would welcome an opportunity to give assistance.

The horseman was Thomas Jefferson.

Compassion is in the eyes. The mother's gaze in today's shot may be a footnote to the statement. Even though the image is a bit shaky (but I seriously doubt the artistic significance of the notion of sharp images) and one of the lady's eye is hidden behind the hand, isn't the concern for the baby telling in her gaze? Fact is, she had waved to her baby long enough for me to quicken my pace from a distance to snap the shot. What a reluctant departure at the end of the lunch hour!

But the eyes only make manifest the compassion. So where does compassion begin? Recently a friend of mine was over the moon at his son getting the yearly academic achievement award from the kindergarten (!), while another ridiculed the Cambridge University for giving a ridiculously undeserved "above exceptional" grading in a secondary-level English speaking test to his 11-year-old son who only received merely two 2-hour training sessions at home for the exam. The former doesn't speak anything about the young boy's future, and the latter tells wrongly of the 11-year-old's proficiency. But if our care for people can only be found in their achievements, these exam results will be of great relevancy. Sadly, in reality, results are extremely relevant in how we rate and treat the particular person.

Wherever compassion is in, it is certainly not in the understanding of things that falls within the precondition of results. It is not in the random twisting pinches in the heart prompting us to give assistance, or the result of acting at the prompt when we feel comfortable to do so. It is not in the venting of residual kindness apart from the amount reserved for oneself. Compassion passes beyond these limits, and it is found in the personal feelings arising from frequent interior soliloquies on the meaning of existence, the vision seen from the ensuing perspectives and the self-motivated action as a result. Compassion is not seen in an unmediated spur but in the cultivated practices of the compassion donor.

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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