Happy Accidents...

   When my students use to make "mistakes" with their artwork, mistakes that actually  produce something interesting, I use to call them "happy accidents".  I had one myself the other day!

   I was printing out some interior images of an old house an acquaintance of mine is restoring when I inadvertently over printed an image.  Of course, my first reaction was, "Darn, what a waste of ink."  Then I looked at the result.

   I really loved the way the two images combined.  It was pure chance that these two images came together to create a beautiful abstract composition...a total accident.  I did play around with it a bit...inverted one of the images and altered the contrast and color balance until I got the image to this state.  It was great fun!

   I tried it, intentionally this time with two other house interiors, to see if I could make another "happy accident".  This has been the winter of coloring outside the lines for me so, why not!  I thought that I may have stumbled onto another avenue to explore...the layered image.

   The second one wasn't as successful, in fact it was down right horrible, I really didn't know what I was doing and simply over printing wasn't the way forward I realized.  This didn't put me off the idea of exploring digital photo collages further, perhaps even incorporating words in the composition.  The contemplative possibilities of this kind of image are endless.

   So I set out to teach myself a way to layer and "cut and paste" digitally.  The connection to the SoulCollage® process was so tempting.  It took me awhile to stumble my way through until I was able to create a digital collage.  Some I printed out for my SoulCollage® deck while others I added quotes to.  It was so exciting for this technologically challenged person to create in this way.  It also was a way to incorporate all the images I'd done of statuary in the past.

    The image on the right was made with a photograph I took out the window of the plane on my way to St. John, a photograph of a sculpture I made at the Museum of Fine Arts along with two more.  I love the quote by Merton and it seemed a perfect inspiration for my up coming trip. 

    Now, I realize digital photo collage is nothing new but I would never have even considered this photographic art form if I hadn't had my "happy accident".  Perhaps this is just another example of a serendipitous inspiration..the Universe's way of tapping us on the shoulder and pointing us in a new direction.  Synchronicity seems to be a current theme of late!  This kind of thing happens to me all the time when I'm traveling...coming across a location I had not set out to find...but this is the first time my printer brought me to a whole new place on my contemplative journey!

   I've created an album of my digital collages to date.  I invite you to take a peek and maybe you might be inspired to create on with your own collages from your contemplative imagery.

Digital Collages - An Album

Keep on Lookin'....More Sources for Inspiration

  An English teacher told me back in high school that if I wanted to write well I needed to read good writing.  That same concept applies to photography.  Keep looking at beautiful and inspiring images and you will absorb some of that inspiration.  It can only enhance your own picture making.

   One of my resources is Goto Foto...an online gallery of accomplished photographers.  I was especially attracted to the work of Laurence Chellali, seen above...stunning.

   We may not always have high quality galleries showcasing photography near to hand but the internet offers us the ability to tour countless virtual galleries.  You can also visit my Pinterest board of Photographers I Admire.  Also on my Pinterest site are boards of inspiring photographs, in color and in black and white.  Pour yourself a cup of tea, sit back and prepare to be inspired!

Goto Foto on-line Galleries

"Why did you photograph that?"

Georgia on my Mind

   I often hear that from people who look at my images, especially images that are semi-abstract like this one on the left.  I have to ask myself the same question and sometimes the answer amazes me.

   This image was made in Santa Fe, New Mexico during a long day of wandering the streets, visiting museums and galleries and generally gathering in impressions.  Looking at the files later I remember thinking, "What  the????", when I looked at it.  Was it one of those "mistakes" one sometimes makes, when the shutter released prematurely? Then I remembered the context of the image.

   I had just spent a couple of hours wandering the galleries of the Georgia O'Keeffe museum absorbing the beautiful compositions of her semi-abstract renderings of the New Mexico landscape.  This was my subconscious rendering of a similar theme.  I entitled it "Georgia on my Mind".

   So much of what we observe and take in during the day settles into our unconscious mind.  It later manifests itself in our photographs.  This photograph reminds me that we often draw from that storehouse of the unconscious if we allow ourselves to abdicate some of the external controls photographers love to assert.

Visitor at the Shrine

   I later remembered it when I visited the shrine at Chimayo, New Mexico and what was initially unconscious became a conscious decision to render the scene in a unusual way...leaving the majority of the image "empty", isolating the focal point way off center but balanced by the small roof below.

   I visited the O'Keeffe museum almost as a pilgrim would a holy shrine.  I have loved her paintings since I first discovered them 50+ years ago.  I remember flying to Washington DC twice to see the National Galleries retrospective of her work in the late 1980's.  Oh yes, I was a devoted disciple.  I just never knew how my admiration of her compositional style had influenced my photography until I made the photograph above.

   So, to answer the question posed in the title of this post, "Why did you photograph that?", I guess I would point to the powerful role the subconscious mind plays on our compositional choices.  I love that idea.  It is why I make a point to visit museums as much as I can...to continually stock the shelves of my unconscious.  There is no telling when it will later manifest itself in a photograph!

 
  

The OMG Moment...

   I was recently watching Louie Swartzberg's wonderful video, Beauty, Nature, Graditude, which I try to watch on a regular basis just for the sheer beauty and inspiration of it.  I posted a link to it on my post The Eternal Search for Beauty. (Watch it again here...)  On the video, Swartzberg relates how, when people watch his films they often exclaim, "Oh my God!" (or OMG to the texting generation!)

    I love his explanation of the words.   "Oh" is the heighten awareness of discovering something awe inspiring..."My" is the acknowledgement of the personal connection to the perception, and "God" is the acknowledgement of this yearning for the spiritual essence, the divine revelation, in the natural world.  For me it is a cry from the very depths of the human heart.

    When you practice contemplative photography, continually and over time, those "OMG" moments will come more frequently.  I try, whether I photograph or not, to have one OMG  moment every day.  What is a marvel to me is how these moments can come at the most unexpected time and in the most commonplace of settings.  It is not difficult to see the beauty in the glorious  clusters of hydrangea I walked by in France in the summer of 2012 but to see it in an old stump is something special.  Of course it was the light, the late afternoon light filtering through the trees and illuminating the old stump that created the OMG moment for me.  I stood in awe of it for several moments.

    Nurturing these moments is an essential practice of the contemplative photographer.  It all begins with heighten awareness, a child-like appreciation of the world around you and, most importantly, the ability to acknowledge it.  It is also the willingness to stop what you are doing and bask in the moment of suspended time.

    Swartzberg has a beautiful new film and below is a link to the trailer.  I am sure it will offer you an OMG moment today.  After you watch it, go out and experience another!

Wings of Life

  

The Serendipitous Moment...

A Yellow Moment - Clifton, Ireland

   So much of this blog is about the thoughtfully considered image...the deeply intense dialogue with the landscape.  What I want to talk about in this post is its compliment...the serendipitous moment.

   I love to learn the origins of words and so it was only natural that I went seeking the source of "serendipity", one of my favorite words.  My inspiration came from one of my latest book, A Mapmakers Dream by James Cowan.

   In Medieval times, the island of Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) was called Serendip.  The word was coined by a 18th century British writer/politician Horace Walpole in 1754 in his tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip".  Walpole described the princes this way...

" (they) were always making discoveries,

by accident and sagacity, of things that

they were not in quest of."

   When I was walking the streets of Clifton in the Connemara region of Ireland, I was not on a quest of any sort.  Truth be told, I was window shopping!  This moment made me stop in my tracks. As my cousin would have said, "TGTBT!" (To good to be true!)  I had but a moment to frame the photograph and then the boy wandered away but looking at it now, many years later, it still makes me smile.

   It is not a deeply contemplative image by any means.  No great thoughts lurking within its edges...just a wonderful, "serendipitous" convergence of shape and color.  Those moments can be equally rewarding...keep your heart open to them!

A Work of Heart...

   In a previous post, Photography, the Most Democratic of Mediums, I spoke about the various perceptions of photography in the art world...is it "Art" (with a capital "A") or something else?  I struggle with this all the time.  The book I purchased in Paris this summer, "On Photography" by Susan Sontag, spends a great deal of time discussing this topic and I will probably be going back to this theme over the next few months. For today, I want to focus on the idea of the "fine art photographic print".

   Fine art photographers (as opposed to "commercial photographers" whose work is primarily for newspapers, magazines and other commercial applications) pride themselves in producing exquisitely printed pieces using expensive pigmented inks on rag papers.  They spend thousands of dollars and countless hours perfecting their craft.  Serious collectors and galleries expect no less.  I think there is nothing more beautiful that a finely printed photograph.  If we, as fine art photographers, want our work to be considered seriously than the print must be of the highest quality.   When I returned to photography after a 25 year hiatus in 2005, I toyed with the idea of joining their ranks but I must be honest, the expense and the technical skills required for such a venture were beyond me.  Instead, I employ a fine art printer to do the "work of art" and I concentrate on the "work of heart". 

Little Boy on a Bus - Japan, 2007

   Many people are intimidated by the technical considerations required in fine art photo printing.  Wading through a Photoshop instruction manual makes them panic and expensive digital SLR cameras are just not in their budget.  If you have been following this blog for any length of time you will probably know what my advice to those folks would be...relax!  The only requirement needed to be a contemplative photographer is the desire to explore the world around you, make sensitive and thoughtful images (with your cell phone camera if need be) and use them as a tool for personal reflection and meditation.  Your little inkjet prints may not wind up in the Museum of Modern Art but you can always find a fine art printer if the offer of an exhibition there arises.  (I'm still waiting for that offer but I'm not holding my breath!)  Don't let the fine art "purists" put down your efforts.  In the end, it is your relationship to your image that matters not the kind of paper it is printed on!  I've used the following quote before but it bears repeating...

"I'm always and forever looking for the image that has spirit! I don't give a damn how it got made!"  - Minor White

  

Photography, the most Democratic of Mediums...

Where Heaven and Earth Touch

   When I was in college, my goal was to become an art educator.  To that end, I needed to choose an art major, I chose photography.  It was the first time I learned that the quote from George Orwell's famous book "Animal Farm" also applied to art majors.  "All animals," he wrote, "are created equal but some animals are more equal than others."  If you substitute "art majors" for "animals" you will have the prevailing attitude I experienced towards photography and which, unfortunately, still exists today.

   From its very inception, photography has been the poor relation of the art world, never quite on equal footing with painting and sculpture.  Alfred Stieglitz fought his entire life to elevate photography's place in the pantheon of creative endeavors...to put it on par with other art mediums.  He never totally succeeded.

   I believe this tacit disrespect begins with the camera itself, a mechanical device which, some would say, takes the place of the artist's hand.  Art work created with a camera is, in their reasoning, less worthy to be considered "fine art".  Now, it is the sheer pervasiveness of the medium in mainstream culture that pushes it off the ladder of artistic achievement altogether.  Anyone can "snap" a picture at anytime, even with their - gasp! - cell phones!  It has become a far too democratic medium to survive  in an art world that prides itself on being an artistically elite fraternity, a kind of exclusive country club - the common man (photographer) need not apply!

The Edge - Marion, Massachusetts

   The camera is just another tool of the artist - like the pencil or the paint brush - to record his hearts deepest reflections and his minds most profound truths.  Did the literary world reject poems and prose composed on a typewriter rather than with pen and ink?   Of course not.  They looked at the content and character of the piece, not  how it was recorded.  It should be no different for the photograph.

   Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The learned and studious have no monopoly on wisdom."  I would say the same applies to painters and sculptures.  They don't have exclusive rights to creating thought provoking imagery and "fine art"!

   Now, having said all that, I don't mean to imply that all photographs - or all paintings - are the same, artistically speaking.  Artistic merit does count but the skill set needed to create an excellent piece of art can be learned.  As I use to tell my art students, some artists are born with a gift of artistic vision and technical skill; all the rest of us must learn it patiently and persistently over time.

   When all is said and done, the contemplative photographer, while not disregarding the elements of good composition and technical competency,  puts a higher premium on the metaphoric dimension of the image.  A truly great contemplative photograph is just as difficult to achieve as a great painting or sculpture. 

   It is wonderful to see major museums recognizing photography's place in the art world today.  We've come a long way since Stieglitz's time but the snobbery still exists and as photographers we must continue to advocate for our medium whenever we can.