Vision is the art of seeing
what is invisible to others.
- Jonathan Swift
Being a "visionary" usually refers to someone who can imagine a future state of being. Being a visionary photographer, by my definition, is being able to see into the essence of the landscape...to envision the seemingly invisible.
I sometimes pose this question to the landscape, "If you could present one face to the world, what would that face look like?" It is not as silly as it might sound. I am trying to get at a vision that others may not take the time to see...what may be invisible to them. That is the the true art of the contemplative photographer...to be that kind of visionary.
This requires that we take the time to settle into a place, to shake hands with it. We acknowledge its energy and spirit and we make our humble attempts at rendering this invisible presence. Talk about setting the bar really high! We aren't content with merely recording or documenting. We must unveil.
I am advocating a kind of radical seeing. A kind of seeing that is beyond seeing. The willingness to step up to the threshold of transcendent sight and to then cross over.
Vision may be the ultimate sense for the contemplative photographer but as this series of posts indicates, it is by far not the only one. Embrace all of the senses when you explore the world around you and engage in a mystical relationship with whatever you encounter.
Tomorrow we will explore the sixth and final sense...intuition.
I sometimes pose this question to the landscape, "If you could present one face to the world, what would that face look like?" It is not as silly as it might sound. I am trying to get at a vision that others may not take the time to see...what may be invisible to them. That is the the true art of the contemplative photographer...to be that kind of visionary.
Embrace radical seeing.
This requires that we take the time to settle into a place, to shake hands with it. We acknowledge its energy and spirit and we make our humble attempts at rendering this invisible presence. Talk about setting the bar really high! We aren't content with merely recording or documenting. We must unveil.
I am advocating a kind of radical seeing. A kind of seeing that is beyond seeing. The willingness to step up to the threshold of transcendent sight and to then cross over.
Vision may be the ultimate sense for the contemplative photographer but as this series of posts indicates, it is by far not the only one. Embrace all of the senses when you explore the world around you and engage in a mystical relationship with whatever you encounter.
Tomorrow we will explore the sixth and final sense...intuition.
No comments:
Post a Comment