Turning a Corner...

Lamy Depot - New Mexico

   November is a time for turnings.  We turn the clock back and watch the shortening days drift slowly into darkness.  We, here in the Northeast, can watch the glorious spectacle of October turn into the raw umbers and burnt siennas of November and we turn our closets into a sanctuary of woolen coats and sweaters as we prepare for the coming winter. I prefer the ancient Celtic designations for the seasons.  For them, autumn begins on August 1 when the first crops are harvested and winter begins on November 1st when livestock were slaughtered because the grass that they foraged on was gone.

     I take my cue from the little creatures who have turned the stone wall behind my house into a "chipmunk condominium complex".  They are frantically storing seeds and stuffing their dens with dry leaves and grass for winter warmth.  We are both preparing to hunker down for the lovely, and long, Maine winter.  Nature too is hard at work planting its seeds for next years wildflowers beneath the fallen leaves.  There is a subtle sense of urgency in the cooling temperatures.

   I was so pleased and deeply gratified by the response I have gotten from those who attended my talk at the Thoreau Farm this past Sunday.  Corrine Smith, my host and the author of the book, "Westward I Go Free" which accounts Thoreau's final journey to Minnesota in 1860, told me she thought my ideas on contemplative photography had "fallen on fertile ground".  That certainly was my reaction as well.  I've thought a great deal about my talk this week of Thanksgiving, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity to connect with like-minded folks.  I hope I will see many of them in April when we return to walk in Thoreau's footsteps to Two Boulder Hill and try our hand on making some personally meaningful images of the experience.

   I am also very thankful for my ever increasing blog audience.  I hope that the small seeds I sow each week will likewise fall on fertile ground and you can begin your own journey of discovery and creative expression.  When we turn a corner in our lives, as I've felt I did this year, it offers so much opportunity to see things with a new and refreshed perspective.  Here in New England we feel the seasonal turnings so profoundly and I'm ever thankful for that gift.  So, to all my friends here in the United States and around the world I wish you all.....

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Turnings!

The Folded Scroll Photography Book...

   On my trip to China in 2002 I was first introduced to Taoism.  Its philosophy would later inform my camera work but at the time, it was the beautiful scrolls of calligraphy and ink painting that drew my eye.  I especially loved the idea that the art form could be rolled up and stored in a relatively small space.  The art and thought contained in the hanging scrolls were meant to be savored and studied for a time and then exchanged for another, often seasonally.  We in the West are so use to hanging our art on the walls of our homes permanently, never taking it down unless we are re-painting the walls and then, most often, it goes right back up in the same place.  This leads to our becoming so use to its presence that we no longer notice it let alone meditate on its meaning and place in our lives.  It is purely decorative. The Chinese story scroll - a smaller version of the hanging scroll - could be rolled out and read inch by inch.  In time this evolved into the folded scroll or what we now call the concertina or accordion book.

Book cover with hand-made paper.

   Hand-made books have always been a fascination for me and I've adapted this particular form to contain my photographs, in this case, my "good crop" of photographs from my trip to France this summer.  Unlike other book forms, it can stand on it's own, displayed on a shelf or  table.  The pages can also be turned like an ordinary book should you chose to look at it that way.  I can take it out, enjoy it for a time and then put it away.  Its small size makes it intimate and easily looked at.  Like the traditional hanging scroll, it is never constantly on view and so more appreciated when it is brought out.  The hidden benefit of this is the light sensitive prints are protected while they "rest" on my shelf.  I have many of my prints hanging in my home but in time, well, you just run out of wall space!  The folded scroll book solves that problem beautifully.  For greater protection, slip cases or small boxes can be make to hold the book and they look lovely on your book shelf.

Front six images...the book can be turned to view the other six photographs.

      Below is a YouTube video that will give you step-by-step directions for making your own  accordion book.  I used two sided tape to attach my photographs to the pages.

How to Make an Accordion Fold Book - Emily Embrescia Joyce

 

Have Fun! 
...and check out my Hand-Made Books for Photographers on my Pinterest site for more ideas including making your own field journals.

PhotoTao Card #9 - Virtue

Card #9

Virtue

 Lao-tzu speaks of Te, or Virtue, not as
a ethic or moral stance but as a quality
of being.  Te is the human aspect of Tao.

- Exercise -

Our personality must inform our 

photographs.  Introspective people

tend to create images that are soul

searching while out-going, gregarious

types seek like images.  Don't apologize

for it - embrace it!  Seek out venues & 

subjects that speak directly to your being.

  I have this love of the simple domestic elements in my camera work...especially clothes lines!  This photograph was made in the Western Isles in 2005.  Some campers had stayed the night along the beach and hung their towels on the wire fencing.  I was taken by the pattern of squares within squares and the sense of the wind in the bulging towels.  However, I would probably not have even bothered to record this image if I hadn't allowed my personality to inform my work.  As I've said many, many times... "We are our photographs!"

   

In Their Own Words - Susan Sontag

   As a follow up to my Contemplative Photographer's Bible post, I am starting a series which features quotations from photographers and others that you can cut and paste and insert into your own "bible" of inspiration.  My first is from Susan Sontag who's book "On Photography" I purchased this summer in Paris.  You will probably see several quotes from the book in the months to come because it is a rich resource for thinking about the medium we all love.  Here's the first...

" For several decades American photography has been

dominated by a reaction against "Westonism" - that is, against 

contemplative photography, photography considered as an independent visual exploration of the world with

 no evident social urgency. "

   I found her definition of contemplative photography interesting.  So much of the photography of the 1970's (the time Sontag's book was written) had a social dimension. The years after WWII were turbulent and many artists wanted to break away from the traditions and values of the previous generation. There was a great need to make commentaries on culture and social stratification. At that time, I suppose, Weston's inward looking images seemed irrelevant. Now, over 30 years later, we are beginning to turn inward again. Perhaps as a result of the "me first materialism' of the 70's, 80's and 90's, many people are seeking a more meaningful relationship with their world.  Or perhaps it is just that all us baby-boomers, who came of age in the turbulent 1960's, are seeking a more spiritual dimension in our lives.   While I agree that photography has a roll to play in documenting the best and the worse of mankind, I equally feel that it has a role of introspection and reflection to play as well.  Photography, like all of the visual arts, owes its definition and context to the individual who practices it.  Isn't it wonderful that there is a place for all of us under the umbrella of photographic expression?

The Contemplative Photographer's Bible...

 

"Women move differently through the world…A great traveler…is a kind of introspective; as she covers the ground outwardly, so she advances fresh interpretations of herself inwardly.”  

 Lawrence Durrell

    Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great Transcendentalist philosopher of the 19th century advised that everyone should compile their own "bible"- a collection of inspirations, quotations, poems and passages to fuel their contemplative practice.  Although the word "bible" has a strong Judeo-Christian connotation, it actually refers to any collection of  important texts or books gathered over time and for a common purpose.  In Medieval times a Book of Hours, or individual prayer book for the liturgical hours, was popular for people to refer to on a daily basis.  The books were often customized to suit the individual and were sometimes illuminated with lovely illustrations if they could afford it.  This summer I began to compile my own Bible/Book of Hours to inspire me on my journey as a contemplative photographer.  I wanted to create a holding place where I could listen to "the echo of inspired words" (- Phil Cousineau.) and who couldn't benefit from that!

   I have always been a collector of quotations.  Jotted hastily down on scraps of paper or post-it notes, they often suffered a similar fate...they ultimately were misplaced over time and hence the wisdom they had to offer me was likewise lost.  I pledged to begin a more disciplined practice with my new  Bible/Book of Hours.

The labyrith in Chartres Cathedral.

    If you begin your own, you can include quotes from your favorite photographers about their process of making images, passages from books that you find inspiring, poems and, of course, you should "illuminate" your book with your photographs or other pertinent visuals! For now, I am writing out the passages and quotes by hand.  I believe there is a subtle power in the hand-written word. Ancient people felt the written word was sacred.  I find that by slowly scripting each word, it somehow binds it to me on a very personal level. For the time being, I am keeping them in a file box.  Perhaps at a later date I will want to bind them more permanently in some way.

    Since this could quickly become over whelming, I'm going to create individual "books" in my box by dividing them with titled spacers.  My first, not surprisingly given this summer's trip to France, is called "The Art of Pilgrimage".  Down the road (pun firmly intended), when I have accumulated hundreds of quotes in all different areas, I can more easily find what I am looking for.  No sense having all these inspirational ideas if you can't locate them when you want to! I might even spin off the biblical metaphor a bit more and create a section entitled "Wisdom of the Prophets" to hold all the wonderful quotes from the masters of the photographic medium I come across! 

   One of my "illuminations" that I'm including in this first "book" on pilgrimage is a copy of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral (above) so I can relive the amazing experience I had when I walked it this summer!  I purchase a "finger labyrinth" while I was there and I can retrace my steps whenever I wish, even sitting in my comfortable chair!

"Illuminations are not illustrations.

They are spiritual meditations on a text..."

Fr Michael Patella speaking about

the St. John's Bible project.
(This site shows the first hand
illuminated bible produce in 500 years!
It is an amazing work of art.)

    Now, when I think "What was that lovely phrase I read recently on pilgrimage?" I'll be able to find it in my personal Bible/Book of Hours (or at least, for now,  I can rummage through the box!).

"Traveler, there is no path,

Paths are made by walking."

Antonio Mchado

   If any readers have a quote they would like to share, please post a comment!  I'd love to hear from you!
  

PhotoTao Card #8 - Endurance

Card #8

Endurance

 Life is at once spiritual and material.
With equal attention, we must attempt 
to understand the ways of both.

- Exercise -

Do not concern yourself with only the

superficial quality of your subject.  Try

looking for a more spiritual approach.  

Unusual angles, dramatic lighting,

even soft focus can all contribute to

a more intuitive photograph. 

White horses have fascinated me for a long time.  Since I first learned of their mythological connotations in the Western Isles in 2005 I've sought them out.  When I traveled to Ireland in 2007 this fascination continued.  Horses have a very mysterious and even a spiritual quality to them...you just need to spend some time with these amazing creatures to sense this.  I tried a very different approach with this image to try to reveal this quality.  With a carrot in the left hand and my camera, set on auto, held high, I made image after image as the horse turned his head to follow the carrot. Most weren't worth  anything but this photograph has become my "icon of experience" as far as my interaction with these lovely, gentle souls.  I hope you try exploring the spiritual side of a subject by using unusual angles and lighting techniques. It will open up a whole new world to you.
 

In Praise of a Leaf...

   After the inspiration of my latest photography book, "The Garden at Orgeval", which features photographs by Paul Strand made late in his life in his own garden, I went for a walk in my own backyard.  I've written before on photographing the familiar, the close to hand, but, honestly, I wasn't all that familiar with the woods that surround my home here in Western Maine, at least photographically speaking.  After hurricane Sandy blew through this past week, I thought I'd explore my property and see what damage it had done.  More to the point, I wanted to experience what Strand called his "limitless world" in my own backyard.
     

   Now I am sure some people would say that there is nothing drabber than a Maine woodland in November, especially on an overcast day, which today was. There's nothing of value to photograph here; the contrast is too flat.  The old Me, the "pre-contemplative" Me, would have agreed.  Now I know better than to make that kind of assumption.

    I sat on a fallen log, not a victim of this storm but a long past one or perhaps it had just succumbed to old age.  I closed my eyes and breathed in the rich, earthy scents.  I love November in Maine.  The glorious colors of October are gone and the bare bones of the landscape are clear; it feels hushed, waiting for the first snowfall to put it quietly to sleep.  A rustle to my left revealed a pheasant looking for, well, whatever pheasants look for in amongst the leaves.  My presence didn't phase the bird. Its scratching, however, made me look down.  A small, bone toned leaf lay atop a blanket of russet oak leaves and it fairly shimmered in the afternoons diffused light.  For me, it was an astounding sight.  I looked around and found several places where other leaves of this kind lay in sharp contrast to their subdued surroundings.  I made several photographs in praise of those leaves.  Had I said there was no contrast on such a grey day?

   When I looked at my photographs later on my computer screen it made me realize, yet again, why I love the monochrome image so much.  The luminosity of these leaves is wonderful and simply not as evident in the color version.  This leaf, like all its kin, has lived it's life; green in summer, golden in autumn and, now, forever silver in my monochrome prints.  Strand was right, the artists world is limitless and I now plan to make regular visits to the small woodland behind my house.