Noel Ferry

12th March 2021

The image above was created two years ago while I was teaching on the island, and is part of a series I put together about gates, doors and portals. It was while I was getting used to creating using Photoshop and I certainly had some fun playing around with the programme.

The symbolism has an obvious Celtic connection, but the figure is the interesting addition to the picture. Call it my Daemon, Guardian Angel or watcher at the portal matters not. It is all of these. I also like the fact that it is a reflection in water and is indistinct as this figure shuns the hard light of delineated day.

11th March, 2021.

I have taken too long to update this blog, as another year has passed without any real comment. So much has transpired since that time that it would be hard to comment really, but here goes.

I am currently in my car doing this blog as the internet where I am staying in Darwin is so crappy that I cannot do anything. It currently is pissing down with rain yet still the connection is immediate off my phone connection. Go figure.

Last year saw me seeing out my time on the island I have been working on for the past five years where I was adjusting to Covid, and prolonging my tenure by six months. I have some time to myself at present and spent the last two months in WA travelling the state. Now I am in Darwin pondering the next steps in the journey.

The light in the Centre is second to none. I think everyone appreciates that. It is literally stunning in the way that it articulates and filtrates light and its binary opposite, dark. Coming yet again to the Devil’s Marbles makes one see the world anew and refreshed. The tree as you can see here, is emboldened and highlighted by the shadow it casts behind. Both stand together, equally embraced.

I recently made a trip back to the Alice, as I needed to collect some material of mine, mainly artistic. I picked up my beloved Judy Watson and travelled back up to Darwin. Interestingly enough, the painting has yet to go on display as she is leaning against a wall. There has been a reluctance to put her upon a wall as I think she is objecting to where she currently is located. I understand that.

One thing my time off work has afforded me is the chance to do some writing after long reflection, and also restart the process of collating memory into books, primarily visual. I have produced many so far whilst on the island and it is good to get them out there as opposed to hiding on the computer. I have just produced here in Darwin one book of my intimate relationship with the land, and trees in particular, and soon will be extending this to the land with stone/rocks. It became more pressing to record these experiences, as I had returned just over a year ago from New Zealand, my birth country, where I had viscerally aligned myself with the land on a very deep spiritual level, and felt the intimate connection of soil and tree that was reaching through my being.

I had never looked at New Zealand in this way before, but I do now. Conversely, I look at Australia now in a similar way, as a portal has opened up and therefore so has my orientation. I have always within my being identified strongly wherever I am, but this takes it to a much deeper level. It is a deep knowing.

And having said the above, I enter new ground now, pardon the pun. It is having that kind of experience where you know you cannot go back again.

The picture below of the Japanese Hare is something that lives in and through me. I had only three weeks in this country in 2015, but it made a profound impact on me. The land and culture certainly lived up to its reputation and more. I will return and that’s something I am quite sure about. I feel there are connections there that have to be followed through. The time will announce itself when needed. 

The above image of the Japanese Hare is something that lives in and through me. I had only three weeks in this country in 2015, but it made a profound impact on me. The land and culture certainly lived up to its reputation and more. I will return and that I something I am quite sure about. I feel there are connections there that have to be followed through. The time will announce itself when needed. 

2nd May 2020

It is wonderful to be alive, to be able to witness being alive, and having the time to reflect on being alive. I want to shout this; as in truth, I am alive.

My doodles are getting a makeover into real-time. I have decided to write a narrative using drawn elements and real pictures together so enhancing both visual frameworks. I feel the possibilities are immense, and in due course, you will see what is happening here. Stay tuned.

1st May, 2020.

Here I am in Galiwin’ku at the height of the Corona 19 virus and it feels weird to be cut off like we are at present. I will have another 8 weeks till I can get off this island, and even then, I am not sure how long I want to be off for. I most certainly do not have any desire to go anywhere really, but might travel to the Pacific Islands’ after all this time instead. Tuvalu sounds an interesting place.

Below I will continue the New Zealand series I have created from a recent Dec/January trip over the ditch for the first time in 25 years. It is a journey I shall re do in 8 months time again. I want to go on a journey that will include many things of catching up as well as beaches etc. but more on this later on.

Well, I got there alight and am very much alive 18 months later still telling the tale. 

13th December 2018.

I will be here soon. Ah …. this particular gate. Look at those amazing windows on either side; fascinating, and am so looking forward to standing at this juncture, looking through this gate to what lies ahead of it. I might even come across the self-same cow, or should I say, bull. So much history here. the wooden railing being a sign of stopping cars but not pedestrian access shows it’s an antiquity. And the Taj underneath needs no explanation. It just is. This has been a trip planned for a very long time now and finally has come to fruition.

October 14th, 2018. 

Here I am thinking of a world that I left behind, a beautiful world, that is over and yet, never more so than before as I carry it within my heart. I have spent next to a generation around this place, and because of that, it is woven into my being. I love it and always have, right from the start. And even if I wished to eradicate the memories of the place, which I don’t, I couldn’t. Indelibly it is woven into my heart.

5th August 2018.

It is almost two years since I have added anything to this blog; so I had better get on with it. What you will start to see a lot of is collages which is what I have been working on photoshop with over the past two years.

I have also done extensive travel through South East Asia which I will post soon here, and all I can say is that my output is prolific to say the least. I have been to Cambodia and Thailand twice, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Laos just to name a few places in the past two years. I have spent 6 trips to Bali and Java again. India is on my radar for Christmas.

Dogs are a very important part of life on my island. 

The above photo is a signature shot of the Island (Galiwin’ku) for me. The play of light as the sun starts its steady descent reveals the activity of the day, and before the onset of the tidal waves which will wipe all away, it will show it ready to start all over again. Coming back the next day, I saw a cleanly swept beach and the realisation that change is the only constant these shores know and understand. I love sand.

As with the sand, I equally love the water too. One reflects the other, as day reflects night.

Sunday avo 27th November

Dogs are amazing as they are an ideal study to work with on the beach. They cast such beautiful shadows, and have the ability to animate a space very quickly. We have to be very careful here as crocodiles also like dogs, but for a very different reason. But every time we take a dog to the water, there is always an interesting dance. My friend Dave’s dog, Noodles, would love this beach and the freedom it affords. Noodles and I have spent a long time at the other end of the territory outside Alice Springs at the Claypans, and many a watery reflection have we shared together on that hallowed ground.

But back to the beach here. What a beautiful space to walk in here. I will miss in in the holidays, but it will be here to come back to when I am back again next year. The weather will also be fully hopefully in the Wet season which calls for huge big skies and thundery clouds and lots of atmospheric clouds at sunset. The way the light comes through the clouds is wonderful.

Sunday November 20th

Tuesday November 15th

Every time that I go down to this beach, I experience something new and something grand. The children are always accepting and welcoming of me being on the beach, and by now see me as part of the furniture almost. I must say, I feel totally exhilarated when I go there and see how they are so totally at home in this Silicean environment.

Friday, November 11th

At the end of the day, the sun has done its work and the bodies have absorbed everything thrown at it, and it is time to wind ones way back home. Kids who live by water are an extension of it, extending its reach, beyond the shoreline.

Taken earlier in the air, when the sky was visibly part of the landscape, and rain was an ever present companion. It will be good to revisit this symbiotic relationship, as now the dry is finished and everything changes again. Change is good.

It is fun tweaking these photos. There is such richness embedded within each photo and plenty of room to explore therein.

November 9th

I thought I would repost this picture, as it holds many strands that have teased me whilst living on this island of mine this year. The dog is never far from me,. and this year, more than most, I have been reflective of what I have gone through and the changes i have made within my own being. The hare of course to me is more self evident. It is my familiar and re reminds me of the connection to Europe as well as Asia that I feel. It is never far from my consciousness.

Here we have hare (whoops), sharing…

November 5th

I love going down to the beach, watching all these graceful youth dance and prance. They are totally at home, and so they should be. It is after all their home.

I had a waking dream this morning, and if you can imagine Northumberland, it was early light, or perhaps the end of the day, and their was this huge squall developing, menacing, or announcing whatever… an the light squeaked through the clouds illuminating the withdrawn tide, exposing miles of wet sand, glistening and inviting. It was a totally inviting atmosphere and I have dreamt to going to Lindisfarne at some stage for a very long time. Or maybe it is race memory of my native New Zealand. The beach here where I live in Galiwin’ku certainly reminds me of those places.

October 16th

As you can see, the day is done, and time to pull in the catch after a long day on the water. These cadillacs of the water are so simple yet elegant horses that make the  ocean so accessible and viable as a sustainer of food.

October 13th

October 7th

October 6th.

I also love texture. The patterns left on the beach after the tide has washed is feet are amazing and always different. There is no one path that any of it follows. Each wave is original and each wave path and retraction also. I am always astounded at what I see at this beach, and visit almost every day. It has never been the same. I cannot wait for the wet season again, due to the skies and the water having such an amazing dance, and then it rains. The wet is a special time to be here and I eagerly look forward to it.

October 3rd

Using black and white is something I really enjoy as it pushes contrast, and texture and after that, the image either stands or falls. Colour seduces and distracts at times, but with Black and white, it always comes back to and down to, the image.

September 29th… a Thursday

I have below a series of shots that illustrate simplicity really on the foreshore. There is nothing complicated on this shoreline and because it is so stark, it affords amazing contrast when subjected to the silhouette. Anything shot against a backlight sky will be interesting. It is found in the dychotomy of contrast.

Water is an amazing entity and so expressive of mood. Anyone who lives near water knows its moods, knows it epiphanic moments and utterances. Here we can see the dance that light weaves its way round the footsteps of the young wader on the foreshore.

I love the light here at Galiwin’ku. Everything gets thrown into contrast and relationship with the dance of light and dark. A simple shot this one, with two figures on a beach walking, yet with the contrasted light, and the car tracks in the sand coupled with footmarks recently etched into the sand, there is an amazing narrative starting to form. The truth is, the tracks were ours from walking on the outward leg, and then coming back, we fold into the same tracks on the way home again. I love the beach and the ‘tabula rasa’ that the beach gives to you. One day I will live near a beach again. I am not sure, but know that the beach is something archetypal in my background and I want to be able to experience this again. There is a beach at the top of the South Island called Farewell Spit and it is a beach I would like to visit at some point in time. The very fact of seemingly to be at the edge of something and then some, that would be an amazing experience I am sure. Everything points to somewhere and when you get to the edge, it is always referencing back to the start.

The below picture captures the magic of backlit subject matter shown against light. Water is such a giving substance, and greedily absorbs whatever light there is around. I love it here at dusk, as the dance between light and water is at its most intense and certainly most accessible.

The above is a simple idea too, as all you need is a position, and all the rest takes care of itself. I find the beach is such a wonderful canvas to work on, and all you need is the chess players to act out their moves. I love walking on this beach almost every day, and each time something new presents itself. There is never the same atmosphere or players involved. The visual metaphors change accordingly to ones mood.

Such a simple idea as a dog and a stretch of sand, and out of that visual conversation, comes everything. I have posted over the past few days some pictures of the dog taken on the same afternoon, and depending on where I was positioned with the camera, determines the amount of contrast and tension within the picture frame. But it brings home to me every time, the idea that photography is not about the big things at all, but being present and taking the day to day opportunities that invariably some your way, if you are ready for it. 
Tuesday, September 27th

I have moved somewhat along now in scope and sequence and will update a few images onto the site. There is so much that I could put in here, so it is a matter of what to cull rather than who to place inside.

It is a beautiful island, full of fantastic surprises and little epiphanies along the way, and every day that I go to the beach in particular, I get such revelations that I can never get sick and tired of that. I always come away with something new.

Monday 20th June.

I have shoved in a few images I have started to manipulate after gathering obviously since being here, and I must say, the the geography of the place astounds me. I love the water and the reflections that come off it. It is ever changing and so subtle. A little like the people who live here if truth be told.

I am starting the count down to Indonesia. I must say that I am very excited about going back there, as I will be a very different space that I move into when I do. When last there, it was a rather purposeless trip on the end of a Jakarta saunter, and I was traveling fast. This time it is more purposeful and much slower. 

“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.”

I can imagine is the idea of being The water up here (Galiwin’ku) is so red, and amphibious. I see a frog here coming out of the water, coming out with his golden ball perhaps.

This is part of a series taken from Kyoto, Japan, and reflects responses to stimuli rather than a static viewing. The very fact that I am also in the picture is instructive, as I am also part of the story.

I love the fact that the narrative includes the subjective, and also echoes a major theme of mine which is the usage of the shadow, and also projection, as we are all linked in a self referencing matrix.

I loved Japan, and am so pleased that I went there with my partner and daughter. What an amazing people and an incredible history that they have.

It was their attention to detail and also the present that reiterated to me being present in ones own life and the Japanese certainly exemplify this.

Welcome to my web site which is dedicated to the understanding of the numinous in the everyday world and associations on this general theme. To me, everything is about relationships, and the journeyman beside me perfectly sums up the companion along the way or partner on the journey home. And like the analogy of Ithaca, the legendary home of Odysseus; it is about the journey and not the destination that matters most. After all, we are not getting anywhere at all, as we have already arrived.

The frog below happened to be reading a series of texts whilst I was working in the Top End a few years ago, and got me thinking about digestion and ingestion.

Amphibians are a remarkable species, and for me, the layers of meaning go beyond the genus and its physical environment. Every culture, as far as I am aware, has paid homage to this archetype, rather than the physical creature itself, as a harbinger of fecundity or a sentinel, a herald or a bringer of good news.

For me, Whilst living in the Western Desert, I became aware of one of the varieties of frog that can live under the ground for a number of years, woven into a knapsack of their own making, where they repeatedly ingest their own urine till rain brings them up again. These are the burrowing frogs or water holding frogs. I got to thinking about the concept of reincarnation, and anyone who even has a inkling of an understanding of this idea will be aware of the coming back or law of eventual return.

I got to thinking about reincarnation personally, but also collectively, and the idea of things coming back or being conjured into position and the frog kept on staring me in the face.

I therefore have adopted this archetype for all things that sum up for me connection, the psychopomp and the bringer of new tidings, and this journeyman has served me well up to this day.

Long may that continue. Nedeep!

I invite you to read the ongoing blog or diary that I have adjacent to this introduction in the second page of the list at the left. Herein lies thoughts and feelings that I have about a number of related things, and I am adding to this all the time. Scroll down and you will see more about what happens to me on a daily basis in my world. It’s all good.

and while we are about it, why not look at this week beauty as well. I am sure there would be frogs in that stretch of water somewhere, as they tend to like spaces like that.