July 23, 2017

Susan Sontag, "We acquire memories as we acquire things. Picture taking demands no skill or expert knowledge, that the machine is all knowing and responds to the slightest pressure of the will.  It is as simple as turning the ignition key or pulling the trigger."

That is a little over the top in describing all image creators.  Yes, with snap shots the above statement is certainly accurate.

I agree that images are things we value.  The snap shots allow us to remember without thinking through our experience.

When asked what have you done with your life, will you hand over an album filled with images and show the person asking the question a series of abstractions that resemble your experience but it wasn't your live experience but a substitute.  What you ended up doing is replacing the authentic personal experience for a cheap copy of your experience.

This constant taking images of something instead of responding to the subject on a personal level will be the downfall of human relations.

Minor White, " Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence."

To approach a subject in a loud obnoxious voice is to become a bad actor in your own play.  You are focusing not on the subject but on yourself, your voice and appearance.  The real images are made by tuning into the stillness of nature.  Every exterior presence needs to be seen as is, not as you demand it to be. Direct your attention inward and mark your first awareness of duration an feel time slip by in its shallow presence.

Without understanding times illusions our ability to see in the present is hindered. Your inability to control automatic judgment and false knowledge of exterior motives, when you no nothing of the created external world you were born into is the legacy of a consumer driven culture.  

Will it be ego that gets you closer to the subject you have an interest in? Or will you build a relationship with the subject that will be confirmed by the subject allowing you access to the inner meaning of its existence.  The foundation of great photographs is trust in each other, subject and photographer.

To open your inner landscape you must allow yourself to calm down from the barrage of daily information that is a distraction rather than a knowledgeable critique.

We assume information from media is truthful but there is no truth in giving the viewer a police blotter of human suffering with a smiling face and in their next breath asking the weatherman about the coming forecast for the weekend, will it be sunny and warm or rainy.  This is insanity.

If everything is bad  then is life worth living.  The wealth of the world instills in us at an early age to bow to money and live a separate life than what we were meant to live.

What we see is what we must control that is the mantra of wealth and greed.

The external world is a facade.  You can mold it to express your inner voice or allow it to control your attitudes, perceptions,  knowledge,  and vision of your limited future.  Change is scary but necessary to connect with your image creating duration.  Without obsessing on time one frees oneself from the shackles of of mental brainwashing.

Time is an illusion and makes us rush by the important details of our subject that we didn't recognize.

Words are at play when we listen and view the ads on every device we own.  Isn't it amazing that the created reality we now live in has the ability to send us ads we never would of seen in our calmer past. Why is that?  The money men create things to instill in us an unnatural desire to shop.  This obsession is the function of control they have over us.  All things in medicine, business, food, clothing, products etc.. are just a theater of greed that we will have to buy with our sweat and blood with no possibility of calm respect and sharing.

We are never going to get around the constant noise of materialism without a struggle to free oneself from the tyranny of more and more things.

How about more visual connection to your inner path everyone must take.  Without a purpose of freedom of mind we are slaves to commercial media.

Intuition is a key ingredient in creating visual art of your inner consciousness.  When we go beyond our auto response to stimulus we can really look at the subject of interest in a new light, in a new relationship. This new relationship is empathetic to the subject and confirms a growing relationship you are building toward, a mutual respect based on trust.

Teru Kuwayama, " Connection and compassion are the basis of good work."

The key is to relax your mind away from the created hectic pace of worker ants.  Loosen your anger toward yourself and others. Your knotted wounds will only get in the way of successful image creation.  Take a step back and review your history and then let go with clinched teeth by trusting in your abilities to find your own path and subjects of profound interest.  The simplest subject could be the one image your most proud of.  But if you don't move forward away from the heartless media you will be consumed with negativity and your photographic work will suffer for it.

Our landscape we live in now is acres of promoted violence without any immediate path out of the maze of disturbing images that only get our adrenaline going higher and makes us return to stereotypes that create a cage of blindness toward others.

We all need a jolt of radical intelligence and imagination to power our growing insight into the nature of things we once distrusted. Do not settle for an inferior you.  Break free from shallow images and words.  Follow your intuitions and put your faith in an opening up of your heart and mind to a fresh and wonderful new look at stale subjects.

Minor White, "No matter what role we are in- photographer, beholder, critic- inducing silence for seeing in ourselves, we are given to see from a sacred place. From that place the sacredness of everything may be seen."

July 11, 2017

When do you feel at your best?  When do you wish photography wasn't an obsession?  When you create images are you mad to be present?  Do you wish you were somewhere else?

I feel at my best when creating images when everything seems to jell, my exposures are true to the subject, I am only thinking of my interaction with the subject and I am at peace knowing I am where I should be.

Connecting with your subject is the key to success.  You must have an open mind and an intuition of what makes you happy and what do you like to create images of.  I am a generalist and I am drawn to an infinite assortments of subjects.  Sometimes when something catches my eye I will pause and decide if I want to make an image of the scene.  I believe you must try even if you are a little bored.  Once your in making photographs mode I usually find my interest warming up and I begin to really study perspective, focus and composition.

Allowing yourself to be present and making a connection with your subject is all you can ask of yourself and nature. A purpose created in your mind concerning the subject begins the hunt for the image that is waiting to be found.

Life is about connecting on a personal level with your subject.  Not haphazard blitz of a subject expecting to create an image interesting to other people by numbers instead of a two way street of intense seeing.

Intuition is the foundation for great photography.

Victor Hugo, "Form is the bee brought to the surface."

Connection to your family, friends, your work mates gives you a feeling of invincibility.  With their support you can accomplish anything.

But we are becoming disconnected from each other.  No longer a friend in front of us but an image of him on a handheld device.  This removes you from personal relationships.  Everybody knows, what everybody knows.  But this is a show now to be heard.  A game we play to become liked.  It is not real.

Photography gives you the means to get more personal.  By camera use you connect more with people and nature.

It is not a quick snap shot from your cell phone.  That is once again a surface relationship, without understanding your subject.  You must be intuitive to find the core purpose of your subject.  We live in durations of time.  This duration can be used to create images you are proud of or quick snaps of a subject that moves on in your mind without contact. Having to many durations confuses the sense and we retreat into a standard emotional response and we lose the beauty of being present.

In disconnection we move in waves of consciousness without being aware of our place in this world.  We form judgments so we don't have to think.  When we see an interesting subject we blitz it with motor drive noise and then lose contact with a beginning relationship.  We move on and take another dinner meal and post it online.

Formal judging before knowledge is an indication we are not interested in making photographs but instead, we shoot to create memories of our past moments so we can discuss them with everybody.

Judging your subject loosens the tethered presence to a outer interpretation of your subject and this notifies the subject that you are only interested in a quick mark and then blow this joint.

But if you examine your abilities and your perspective on your close reality you will find yourself driving at speeds necessary for success.  Sometimes your have to act quickly as opportunities present themselves other times it is the slow knowing of a composition that expresses your deepest concerns.

But what usually happens is a break in your framework your concentration flutters as your ego leaves it's perch and moves onto more shallow affairs.  And you find yourself doubting your skills and abilities.

waters edge
the light building
alone, the waves
ripple across
dark sands
illuminating them
with sparkling eyes,
seeing for the first
time a perspective
that is yours and
no one else's

Henri Cartier-Bresson, "For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which--in visual terms-- questions and decides simultaneously.  In order to "give a meaning" to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what he frames through the viewfinder.  This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and s sense of geometry. It is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression. One must always take photos with the greatest respect of the subject and oneself."