September 27, 2019

Unique Expression

Eliot Deutsch, "Every deed that one performs has its effect in the world and forms within the doer a samskara or vasana (tendency) that becomes the basis for his future deeds."

Your unique perspective is your inner eye seeing the world through your own special vision. Your image is an expression of yourself, your personality, your inner life exposed to the world through your truth of being visually present in an environment in constant flux. 

Photographs are never perfect, never universally accepted, their perfection arises if you see your message contained in the image you created with purpose for yourself first and next for the viewer. We must remember each person is unique in this world and they will come to your image with a preconception of beauty and a sense of a truth being present but not fully grasping the significance of your perspective and subject matter.  

But they might let go of their distance from the subject and let go of their preconceptions so they could immerse themselves in the image you created and feel the honesty through your composition present, as a truth they can accept with passion and understanding.

Each image has your personality enclosed in the visual expression, you can't please everyone and you shouldn't try, your inner goal is to create through your internal expression objectified through an external composition of details that created your truth in your unique photographic composition. 

Your selection of certain details present in the scene became the foundation of your unique composition, these were the highlights of your inner awareness, after you slowed down, and explored the scene with an artist's vision. This process of studying the scene was your opening up to infinite choices presented which can overpower your sense of connection with the subject, but you were able to focus your attention and narrow your choices down, in this particular instance, to create a photograph that you felt connected with through composition,  light and your unique perspective. 

To make an image worthy of your talent, it doesn't need to have an exorbitant amount of details to bring out the force of your conscious intent.

Your composition in the scene, identified through your unique presence is your growing ability to explore the outer realm and feel connected with details of the scene and then arrange those details to compose your inner connection with those outside forces that are needed to express your inner revelations. 

Everyone gets overwhelmed in a scene of beauty and depth but one must not immediately jump to a short cut composition in order to move on to a new scene just around the bend anticipating the new environment will be the one to allow your  inner talents to shine. You shouldn't be concerned with natures omnipresence and mother nature's infinite ability to show you the myriad of choices when you are looking to connect with just one composition that expresses your unique interior self. Relax and enjoy the ride, through your intuitive vision you will begin to recognize the scene developing as you move around carefully positioning yourself for that magical perception that will best represent your natural, inner vision.  

 

September 25, 2019

What proof do we have that you were there, if you didn't dig deeper into the landscape of the scene in front of you? Why did you listen to your nervous energy demanding you take a quick snap shot and move on, nothing for you to see hear, if this was the case then we are relying on a statement from you about the picture, that you didn't feel the need to take your time and explore the scene with intuitive insights revealing details that could have begun your journey of composition, that would have lead you to a creation that reflected your character and nature's revealing relationship with you. A connection that goes deeper under the surface and gets you inside your ideas and purpose opening up to what mother nature is presenting to you, whether people or landscapes, we need to become connected with the wholeness of life in all its infinite components.

But in reality we have no proof you took the image. Where are you represented in the image created. What details will explain your vision that was missed because time once again hinders the purpose of composing your photographic vision.

We listen to you because you used words that depicted the scene and suggested your presence behind the camera but we still have no means of truly saying you took that picture. Your true picture was missed by your ignoring the relationship you needed to build with the scene in order to get closer to the truth of the physical space you should have been immersed in, another words a true connection with a subject that was demanding your attention if only you were open to the beauty being presented.

Without a description of your process to uncover your personal expression in the turmoil of so many details that burdened your visual senses, that seemed to spur you to hurry up and just snap a pic and then move on, isn't this the definition of a surface life ignoring the depth of existence surrounding all of us at ever level of our interaction with the external world. We can skim along the surface reflections of our visual senses disregarding waves of details and ignoring our truth, our purpose visual purpose, so why even have a camera in the first place, if we are not going to connect on a deeper level with the scene and create a personal intimate image of our inner beauty externalized why just go through the motions.

Without depth of feeling, a lucky punch so to speak, is all you get credit for if as you passed a scene of interest you just happened to snap a pic without thinking but did capture a moment of intimacy that was begging you to stop and really look deeper into the details being presented. 

Without a description of your vision's process or an understanding of why you grabbed that image, maybe your intuition recognized a link between you and the subject, a dance of a visual stimulus, a setting for a compassionate relationship between nature and you, being presented with the potentiality of creating a photograph that could have a purpose, your inner voice speaking. 

A good photograph represents a deep connection with the subject and your intuitive eye must be present for the photographer to feel in the scene presented a relationship building, a connection felt, being reciprocated by nature, welcoming your visual senses to open up and explore, and partake in the universal beauty in your own mind being externalized in the scene before you with your growing ability to identify with the contours and imaginative visual elements presented that will eventually make up the foundation for an image you and your subject will make together.

We can claim to have seen the landscape on a surface level and our picture represented a general feeling of being there but it doesn't constitute a connection that needs to be made for the image to have a personal, insightful relationship with your intuitive vision and others viewing your photograph. To walk through scenes without stopping and looking at the connections, details demanding to be part of the image's potential success you begin to lose your visual confidence and become careless and disappointed in your inability to go deeper  under the surface of subjects being presented. 

An image made without a true connection with the scene presented is not a necessary confirmation that you were the photographer present but a mind absent when the image was taken. Your physical presence was there, your outer facade was posing but you were not present in any deeper mode of understanding or compassion for the subject being presented. Both of you, the scene before you and your shallow presence in taking a quick shot separated you from a deeper exploration of a potential creation that could have allowed you to find the necessary details of your subject that would have been the foundation of creating your personal image, an image with your unique vision present, rather than just snapping ordinary details of a subject without a thought process of understanding a deeper composition that was being offered.

You were not present in the environment of composition and settled for a fast shutter, a click and a souvenir and you moved on. You were a tourist not seeking a relationship with the scene but only a physical representation of where you were that would unable you to brag about the beauty surrounding your snap shot and the beauty that was present just outside your visual frame that was waiting for your individual attention. Hoping that you would look more intensely on what was being presented to you but you ignored it.

Just being physically there and not interacting on a deeper level  with the scene before you stifles your ability to create a connection that could have lead to a powerful image via your inner vision that was patiently trying to interact with you suggesting views that could have been meaningful, nudging you to see beyond the shallow surface reflections in the scene and look for a deeper image to be revealed, your individual expression. 

Deep immersement into the landscape of photography is needed in order to create photographs that will express your individuality.

September 8, 2019

Everything has the ability to become a great photograph if the photographer is willing to connect with the subject on an intuitive level.

I have always been impressed with how being present in your inner intuition makes a photographer understand more quickly why this particular subject has a deeper message for him than say what another photographer’s external vision and then the intuitive photographer understands his inner sights attraction so he lingers and observes the landscape waiting for his revelation, exploring the visual stimulus he has been given.

A photograph is a means of descriptive character, a visual novel in one simple frame of exposure. A photographer has an intense need to see himself reflected in the images he creates. But not to the point that would be distracting to the visual experience of the viewer.

The image capture is one of focused intention on the details that bring forth in the image that your personal presence begins to visualize a composition that can give meaning to your visual concentration. What can you see that links your inner intuition with the scene in front of your view screen? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you in a focused concentration on the landscape being presented and are you willing to take your time in focused purpose, searching the infinite visual space presented for those details that will express your inner feeling that are demanding your full attention in a composition that reflects your inner character.

Photographers are obsessed with the very idea of capturing something, anything in their viewfinder. The necessity of coming away from the scene with any kind of an image is very powerful in the mind of the snap shooter. But the confusion for someone that isn't mentally prepared, hasn't spent the time looking within himself to discover his unique perspective is a surface facade of the deeper subject that was missed. If the person just spent more time emerging himself in the scene than his image creation could have been insightful. 

As a photographer you need to empty your mind of the stresses putting pressure on your visual focus. You must let go of the world's demands looking for a common center of interest the scene is revealing to you and focus your visual attention on the subject that is demanding you to stop and observe the beauty of nature in this present moment.

One of the limiting forces of our physical reality is our dependence on time. The beginning, a visual perception of a scene before you. The middle, your awareness begins to dim as you have other pressing things to worry about. The ending, your visual adventure is wasting valuable time, so pack your gear and ignore the beauty present in the scene and leave behind a piece of your artistic skill because time was calling the shots and you were not present in your moments to ignore the force of duration that accuses you of a lazy attitude by being still in nature, waiting for that special moment to arrive. 

We are slaves to money and time. We count each hour, each day as wasted by asking ourselves what did I accomplish that was mine, my own unique expression. My life is not owned by me because we are not able to use our time for our own unique expressions. 

By allowing external forces to deprive us of our inner vision is the corruption of our freedom to pursue our original voice, silenced by corporations and wealth using an economic system intended to keep the population struggling to keep up with the increasing deprivations that have been strategically imposed on us to keep us from expressing our inner truths, by a structure made to control our lives and unique visions. Because of our structured existence our lives becoming more barren, the status quo is our normality and we suffer in our inability to see beauty inside ourselves and externally. We are not physical objects, things, we are human beings with insights into our own realities that can open us up to new worlds of beauty if we only could break free from the structure of instant gratification. A means of control in our lives creating distractions from our inner visual senses.

We are not our true selves in this corporate, destructive alienation we live in but pawns in the hectic pace of industrial and technological dominance over our lives where we have no time to get in touch with our inner intuitions and release the years of stagnant thoughts of insights abandoned but now starting to rise up within us, creating an openness and acceptance of all humanity and natures gifts that we have ignored for decades, giving us a strength, an openness of our being present fully and intensely aware, seeking the opportunities of our unique visual possibilities just waiting to be expressed in our own personal way.