The Service Road A Photo Essay
A stroll through a slice of human- altered landscape (to the store to buy bananas)
Written & Published by Paul's Pictures
Greetings! Thank you for looking at this ebook. What's it about? We'll get to that in the Introduction, but before we do, I want to just say a quick word about copyright and cost. In short, there is none. In other words, I am offering this book freely and openly to everyone. Why?, I hear you asking. Well it's easy really: it's what I do. I make photos, write and even do other art occasionally that I enjoy making and sharing with the world - that's you. Let's just say it's my way of trying to make a differenece; my way of contributing to change in our world. I hope you enjoy this ebook. Please feel free to share it as much and with whomever you'd like. If you would like to comment, or contact me, again, don't hesitate. My email is:
paulspictures242@gmail.com
To Pauline, my soulmate, my best friend, the love of all my lives, and my muse.
Thank you for everything
Credit for the fantastically appropriate cover image goes to Pauline too. Thanks millions
Tools Discarded
Now, this is the bit where we get into the what's it all about stuff. I read somewhere that in sciences such as Anthropology there is an adage that says the very presence of an observer changes the thing being observed. In other words, whenever a human being enters a space, environment, or situation, there's going to be an impact on that space, environment, or situation, simply because of their presence. But of course we humans rarely stop and merely
observe: we do other things such as tear down what's there so we can build something else; we pour concrete everywhere; and we leave trash. This goes on in cities and other urban environments, as well as in those areas we call 'the countryside'. Even in the wild places: the deserts, jungles, on the ice, and in the oceans, we don't seem to be able to leave things as they are. I travel in a minimilast manner: I don't own a car and always use public transport or I walk, I live and eat simply, but I still have to live and eat (like everyone else). Therefore, just like everyone else, and every other living thing on the planet, I have an impact. An aspect of this impact is the need for me to go shopping for food and other 'necessities'. On a recent excursion to a supermarket to buy bananas, I took my camera to record the fifteen-minute walk there along a service road behind a row of stores and bordering forest and wetlands. This book shows I hope an accurate picture of this one particular slice of human-altered landscape. I have tried very hard to not make judgements because, as I said, we are simply one more species having an impact on our environment. Besides, as you'll see, it's not all bad.
For a more complete explanation of the 'we're just one more species' thing, please take a look at the essay that follows this Introduction. It's called: There's no us or them
One of my most fervent desires (in the personal devolopment department) is to stop seeing the world in dualistic terms; to not divide the material universe - the creation if you like - into you and me, them and us, things I like and things I don't like, nature and humanity, good and bad. Of course there are endless multitudes of forms that go to make up the material world, and as many (actually a whole lot more when you think about it) names for those forms. But I believe there is no separation, there is only one. Or Self as it is called in the ancient Indian texts. We can call it the Unity, the One, the Universe, the Cosmos; whatever we call it, there really is only us. For me, I've adopted the ancient Vedic term Self - with a big S and no my, your, or any other prefix added. Take the nature/humanity duality for example. This is when we see ourselves (note the joined word: this refers to humans as we are as material beings in the material world) as being separate from nature, and think of 'the environment' as a
separate entity distinct from, and even alien to, humanity. In other words, as a species, as 'society', we tend to view nature as something other, something to use, to exploit, and at the same time, we argue about how to - or even if we should - 'save the environment', in a manner that reinforces our sense of 'separateness' from nature, a separateness that doesn't actually exist. Recently I made a series of photographs recording a walk from a cabin park where we were staying to a supermarket (to buy bananas as it happens) with the view of putting together a photo essay. The route took me along a service road with large stores and other businesses on one side, and a forest and wetland on the other. Cheek by jowl as they say. The inspiration or seed for this photo essay came from my thoughts on nonduality. In this case, my theory is that a forest and a road bulldozed through it by humans to service stores and other businesses and to make way for a huge carpark,
are one and the same; they are non different. I don't mean they are equal in beauty (or any other characteristics). Nor are they equivalent in form or function; I say only that they are to be viewed as one, as a whole. Think of it like the human body. How we treat one part of the body will have impacts on how the rest of the body functions as a whole. Say we eat a lot of fatty foods. Now, fatty foods are surely good for the tastebuds and for satisfying appetites, not to mention filling stomachs. But consuming too much fatty food will, while still doing those apparently 'good things', also clog arteries, damage the heart and other organs, and help us to collect fat which will be stored in various places in the body. All of which can and often does, cause major damage to the whole body. In the same way I believe that human beings are simply one more species among millions of others forming the body of the natural world, each of us having our impacts on the whole. So, yes impacts are inevitable, but it is how we
manage those impacts as a species that will determine their effects on the whole, on the Self. In a non-dual view of the world, we are not 'connected' to nature; we aren't 'related' to the natural world; and it's not humans versus nature either. We are nature; Nature is us. Remember your grammar? I am. You are. We are.? In other words ... well there are no other words. There is only Self. Sometimes it's even called the I Am. Okay, back to the eating fatty foods analogy. A little fatty food may not do any harm, and might even be a good thing. It's when we over indulge, over consume, that the trouble starts. After all, few of us go out of our way to damage our hearts, or stomachs, or other bits of ourselves. Why? Because we know that damaging one organ or some other part of our body impacts on the whole and might make us ill, or worse. Whereas if we eat well, exercise, do the right thing by our various bodily bits and pieces, the whole will then get the respect it deserves.
Not only that, it will last a lot longer, be easier to use, and will be happier overall. And that's what this book is about really. It's about a journey I made, a short journey when measured in footsteps, but looking at it from the non-dual perspective, it might as well have been a trip to another galaxy. The photos are a small record of one tiny strip of human-altered landscape seen, I hope, from a perspective that acknowledges that all there is, is one. No separation, no them or us. In my photos a tree or shrub is looked at in the same way as a building or road or a sign. There are no comparisons to be made in my photos. These photos simply depict, I hope, how it was, in that place, at that time, through my eyes and with the help of my camera. Now dear friends, this book and these photos and the experience that brought them into being, are yours.
Every Journey Begins with a Single Step
Not Quite One Thing Or the Other
This Side of the Street
The Other Side of the Street
Where the Street Meets the Forest
Going Against the Flow
The Underworld Route to the River
Delivery Day #1
Delivery Day #2
Looking Out Into the Forest
Please Do Not Enter
When a Tree Falls
Not As Pristine As Once Was
Signs of a Human Presence at the Forest's Edge
And What Gift Shall You Leave in the Fork of the Tree?
Sometimes it's Better to Avoid the Bumps in the Road
Life is Full of Twistings & Turnings
Almost There
Thank you for sharing this journey with me. It's my privilege and Joy to do what I do. This little excursion took place in a small east coast city in Australia, a place famous for its beaches, for its holiday resorts, and lively Pacific Coast lifestyle. We spent three months there recently and this walk was a common feature of our stay. I sincerely hope you've found the experience enlightening. I know from my own travels that this little stretch of landscape isn't unique, far from it, in pretty much any country you can name. I've tried to show you what I saw and felt. Thank you again. Please be in touch.
paulspictures242@gmail.com