mr walker's photostream

A faulty conduit of talent poised between success and disintegration. Still. Bear with me, won't you?

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"The colours were devilish or angelic, depending on the colour of the mind that watched them." Mervyn Peake.

"Hope for the best, expect the worst." Old proverb.

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The walking thing comes from a lot of angles.

I walked a lot as a child, growing up on a farm and doing the long distance foot-chores any farm child does. It gave me a lot of time to stop and smell the roses (or dig for settler treasure, or catch mice and guppies, or stare at nice reflections on water). I never really even learned to drive, beyond navigating a few empty dirt roads between sheds.

I still don't own a car, or have a licence. Go on, give me a job.

I currently walk for a living, delivering documents for a private mail service - job title: "Walker." I started as a temp during the Sydney Olympics, figuring it would be a great way to get photos of the crowds and get paid at the same time. They offered me a more permanent job and here I still am, over five years later. The (now rather forlornly abandoned) fotolog www.fotolog.net/mr_worker/ is a document of my working days, starting from the day I got my first decent digital camera (July? 2003). A lot of photos that you see on my Flickr page are taken in between deliveries, and also appear on Fotolog.

Walking with a camera allows you to absorb more of your surroundings at a slower pace. More angles present themselves, more details and possibilities. It works for me, anyway. The only annoying thing is that my Day Job sometimes prevents me from moving slowly enough ("Urgent delivery, gotta keep moving ... away from this scene of potential visual dynamite").

Other references:

Walker Evans: one of my favourite social documentary photographers. The link to his name was pointed out later by a friend, but probably played a subconscious part in the choice. For all I know, he could be my father.

Walker, Texas Ranger: no, not really. Coincidence.

George Walker Bush: I was mortified when I discovered, many months after I adopted the name, that the "W" stands for Walker. Another Coincidence.

The Phantom: Mr. Walker, incognito alias of The Ghost Who Walks, Man Who Cannot Die. Now you know, I must swear you to secrecy or give you amnesia with a special punch (was it the "good" or "evil" ring that did that?).

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I was born procrastinating, late by about two weeks. I procrastinate in just about every single aspect of my life including, on occasion, breathing. I procrastinate so much I'll probably never get around to dying. This of course extends to my social life, so please take no offence if I rarely respond to your contact - it probably means I like you.


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email: mrwalkerdotcom([at})hotmail({dot])com

(I really, really don't like spam, or spammers.)