September 19, 2020 

Are You Present In Making Images   

Is the ability to capture a scene, or a person in a scene with artistic talent and then have the images history represented in a book and then as you age your memory reminisces about the time that image was made as you recollect every detail including why you choose that particular angle? 

We fear time and yet we allow our fear to be controlled by a physical distance that our minds perceive when we travel between objects in our physical space. Without image purpose you can walk through the greatest landscapes and not see the beauty before you. 

If truth be known we are always at a distance from our outer goals and the distance we travel we never reach our destination. But isn’t life a journey and in that journey who wants it to end by accomplishing all your visual goals in one life time. Take chances, embark on your own originality, your unique perspective. Don’t run through life, keep a steady pace and listen to your inner voice to live life in awareness and not blindly by the overwhelming intrusion in our lives by social media and corporate power.   

Or is there something else going on that attracts someone to photography?  You the photographer have a certain power, an ability to document the world in all its horrors and pleasures. 

This ability to take from the physicality of existence, another piece of a puzzle, creating an original image, an expression that can’t be duplicated, but can be admired through your lifetime, is just one of the powers in photography’s addictive nature.   

It is a means to describe the world through your own personal vision whether it is snap shots of a scene or an in depth study of a person or place, a subject that you are attracted to and want to be immersed in because it has a meaningful potential for yourself and you hope others. 

This feeds your ego and any image no matter the content brings to the image taker a since of power over the external world.  We are trapped physically in this reality but a photograph takes from the scene a conduit to self praise and awareness. A photograph conquers the infinite details overwhelming the person behind the camera, by reducing your visual sense to a fragment of the scene that caught your eye and the hunt is on for you to capture it not with your physical abilities but with your ability to reproduce a duplicate of the scene that caught your eye through the technology of the camera. Your creation is your red badge of courage, a symbol of your inner world materialized. 

This gives one a sense of freedom and control over his selected scene either in nature or city life, and doesn’t allow oneself to be intimated by over studying a scene that would tie up much of your time to untangle an image that could possible reflect an outer representation of your inner being. This is what a good photographer demands, his time is precious especially when one is creating an image, a voice for the subject presented. 

But because the majority of people take pictures as a means of enhancing memories they are not immersing themselves in the scene looking for that special detail, that composition that reflects their inner artistic expression.  

What is it that demands we take pictures of our lives, is it a means to document ourselves, our family, our friends, our lifestyle, our reflections, our exterior importance, are we so full of our ego's manipulations that we are addicted to taking a picture of anything just to showboat our external facade that we were there? We were there but were we present in our inner unique perspective? Or did we lose interest in the external world because the intellect we have trained like pavlov’s dog doesn't care about your connection with the physical space surrounding you, that is calling you to see deeper beyond the narrow myth of human conformity and become an individual with your own unique insights.  

We seek to become the stereotypical reflection in the cameras eye rather than becoming our inner truth through a unique inner vision of the reality we think is always stable. It is anything but stable and is always changing and creates in the photographer a vital significance that needs exploring without prejudice, for if we want to create great images we must be open in our minds eye to seek all the subjects that instill in us a universal acceptance of man in nature, your inner world through external expression.  

 A photograph is a message to ourselves that we were present in the photograph even though we were't seen. But our presence is insinuated by the image that we created.  We can describe the image through the lens that framed the picture. Proof is our recollection of the events that led up to scene being captured. The details visualized to create a cohesive composition.  

Can we really state we were there taking the photograph from a picture that doesn’t expose your presence in the scene? Or a least a symbol that is your unique signature. 

Photography is more than just being present behind the viewer. Photography is interacting with your subject, it is immersing yourself into the scene looking for artifacts in the physical space that you are connecting with, that intense will to find in the infinity of life a moment that can reflect a universal awareness of nature’s beauty and human dignity. 

You have the intuitive senses opening the locked doors we all feel guilty of, hiding our talents, afraid of criticism and having your images misunderstood. 

You must ignore the external jealousies by those that want to tear down your art because they are trapped in the mud of life where they have nothing to become for they are what they hate, their awareness of the world through someone else’s unique perceptions. 

You must bond with your instinctive understanding of the scene and look for a subject that is a reflection of your inner being.  

If the only proof that you were there and did take the picture is the picture itself then we are relying on a statement from you about the picture but in reality we have no proof you took the image.  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. 

What a good photograph does is give us a sense of the photographers presence and his creative perspective. 

A good photograph has a deep connection with the subject presented and the inner eye looking through the view finder. We must be present in the scene through our ability to identify with the contours and imaginative visual elements that will eventually make up the foundation for an image you will make. 

We can claim to have seen the landscape on a surface level and our picture represented a general feeling of being there but does it really constitute a connection that has to be made for the image to have a personal insightful relationship with your intuitive expression.   

An image without seeking a true connection with the scene presented is not a necessary confirmation that you were the photographer present when the image was taken. You were not present for the subject but quickly clicked the shutter to capture a souvenir of the scene without being mentally aware, and immersed in the scene before you clicked the shutter button. 

You were a tourist not seeking a relationship with the scene but only a physical representation of where you were that would enable you to brag about the beauty surrounding your snap shot and the beauty that was present just outside your visual frame of sight. 

Just being physically there and not interacting on a deeper level stifles your ability to create a connection and thus an image that exposes your inner sight in a visible presence. We all can get surface reflections off any subject without immersing ourselves deeper into the very presence of their true characteristics that connect with us on a personal level.     

It is like viewing a photo album, your presence in the picture creates an illusion of you being present, when in fact you ignored the natural landscape by turning your back on nature and facing the camera instead of being immersed in the beauty of nature that surrounded you, ignoring the true inner scene to please someone else that didn't want to document the scene in its entirety but to be narrowly selective, just focusing on the human element, ignoring the beauty present by turning away from the image you should have made.  

Your physical appearance outside the scene doesn't constitute a relationship with the scene. Being connected to the scene is more important than being in your present mindset, opening up your visual senses to the external relationship with your inner visual sense which was trying to give you a new view of the landscape and wanting you to feel and see the meaning behind the scene through your vision and not a copy of someone else’s. 

If you can have a focused attention on the scene before you with a perceptive concentration and awareness of the scene you now can immerse yourself in the beauty present without faltering and moving away from the connection made. 

We are all guilty of the run and gun approach to many creative skills.  We are in a hurry to get somewhere and we can't spend the needed time to study the scene and delve deeper into its potential.  Instead we take a couple quick snaps shots and off we go to the next tourist attraction.