October 2, 2016

Susan Sontag, "but essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually one's own. When we are afraid we shoot but when we are nostalgic we take pictures."

A loss of wonder, old eyes closed, can't take in the whole scene only a narrow perspective.

Approaching a subject through mental selective focus before you even sense the scene destroys connectivity and lessens the chance for a meaningful image.

Photography can become similar to a writer who doesn’t live his life but settles for words detailing his experiences and forgets that these details taken individually are moments of his life and what he has done and not done. 

These snap shots are only fragments of a life, parceled out in an objective voice and destroys the cohesive wholeness of the life your are living.

Living these details is less important than writing them down for others.  The people reading these words reap benefit from your objective self that can inspire them to listen to their own inner voice and express their unique vision.  

While you the originator, of their momentum, observe yourself every second of the day, ready to post anything and everything to the social media sites and add to the banal overflow of unnecessary trivia that now has replaced conversation about who we are and who we want to become.  

Photography today is embarrassing and vulgar.  Why do we accept the human predicament as a photo op?  Instead of a meaning revelation of the the destructive nature of media intent, to keep us off balance, afraid and living in anxiety. 

Desirability is enhanced by distance.  A natural flow of a growing relationship with your subject. Not an overpowering presence that overpowers any connection to your visual idea that has been brewing in your internal consciousness. 

The idea in photography is to connect the dots between you and your subject.  Not alienate your subject by your demanding presence. You need to step back and let the scene evolve and become an interaction between you and the scene and with growing intimacy you bring forth the fruits of your patience.  

Most photographers, and I am guilty of this myself sometimes, is to hide behind a lens as a license to barge into a scene and snap away and then leave without ever really seeing what was going on and missing the true moment with your back turned, moving onto the next exploitation of your next experience.

A photographer that has purpose will make images of himself objectified in the landscape he has been intuitively drawn to. With purpose you expose yourself through the details that combine to create the final image of the scene.

Your created image is a document of the power of being present, interacting with the scene on a personal level and as a human being, attentive to the smallest details that made you stop and look in the first place.

Are your barriers to seeing and living an open life a simple attachment of fear to an action?

Action contains in it a responsibility and new actions contain a sense of bewilderment, a sense you are moving out of your past shell and into a bigger world of oppressive information that you will have to sort through in order to focus your attention on your relationship with nature that is growing. And this focus is a self realization that can be scary at first.

Anxiety is habit, a continuation of your childhood defeats. This feeling of anxiety limits your ability to communicate with the scene. You must focus on the good things that brought you here. If you approach the scene in fear, your ability to express the growing connection you are having with the subject can be broken.

Honestly, we all live in constant anxiety but you have to will yourself, through the gift of photography, to allow yourself a safe place to explore your inner workings that are connecting you to a scene that has your attention. 

The ability to explore a scene even in trepidation shows your inner strength and each new scene will get easier to relate to as you control and ignore your anxiety on your way to bridging inner and outer realities.

Fearing life and not embarking on it. 

Go out and just look at the beauty that exists in every footstep you take.  Act responsibly but do not get overwhelmed by the negative energy that continuously surface through your past memories and present fears.  You must act with openness and purpose as you begin to find new paths that will move you to subjects that once seemed nonexistent but now communicate to your very soul.