A Star Island Epiphany...

   An artist's duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic Epiphany.
- Nick Cave

   Epiphanies are unexpected.  You think you are going in one direction and then, BANG, you find yourself going in an entirely new one.  That is what happened to me on Star Island.  

   I hadn't thought seriously about the monochrome image for over a year, since I was out on Monhegan Island in June of 2013.  When I first got to the island I bought Alexandra's de Steigeur's beautiful book, Small Island, Big Picture.  She is the winter caretaker on Star from November through March.  She is also an accomplished photographer who works exclusively in black and white.

   After attending her lecture I was convinced...it was time to re-visit the monochrome image.  The photograph above is my Icon of the Star Island Experience.  I had first worked on it in color but after her lecture I tried it in black and white.  

   There was the haunting quality that first attracted me to the monochrome image all those years ago.  There are some things you simply can't say with a color image and it is a conversation that I needed to have again.

   The second image has many subtle nuances that would be lost in a color version of the scene.  The tiny seagull's shadow on the cottage in the foreground, the white lace curtain blowing out of the window, the early morning light on the grass, all were lost in the original color image.  Only when I desaturated the photograph did these elements pop out for me.

   Now, I don't intend to turn my back on color, not at all, but I will work in tandem with the monochrome image now.  Some subjects lend themselves to, no, require the black and white translation.  Below is a link to my album of Star Island monochrome images...

Star Island Monochrome

Remembering Paris...

   Around this time two years ago, I was in France. I've been thinking about that trip and it began when I was in Dublin in early June.

  It was June 6th and the 70th anniversary of the invasion at Normandy and I watched the commemorations in the restaurant lounge.  All sorts of emotions welled up in me...memories too.

   My primary reason for making that trip to France in 2012 was to visit Omaha Beach where my dad landed 70 years ago and it is through objects as well as photographs that we re-connect with the past.  They both have ways to trigger powerful feelings.

   My cousin gave me this plate on my return but it was the tiny container of sand that I took home from Omaha Beach that is my most cherished souvenir of the trip.  That and this image I made at the memorial.

   I looked at the album I made of the trip, my "Good Crop" of 12 icons of the experience I had while in France.  I was still totally committed to the monochrome image back then and the 12 are all in black and white, well one image has just a spot of color...an omen of what was to come in my work?  I only made one black and white image while I was on my Threshold Pilgrimage in May and June, the rest were in color. Something has changed and I'm still processing it.

   Revisiting old images is a very revealing contemplative exercise and in my next post I will talk more about that.  For now, you can re-visit my "Good Crop" from France...

Remembering France

My Icon from St. John...

Caribbean Iguana

   I've been thinking about which image I would choose as my "Icon of the Experience" on St. John.  It is never easy to isolate one image and I had several possibilities.  As much as I love my St. John alphabet, I wanted to chose something much more personal.

   I began by reminding myself what I have come to understand the definition of a photographic "icon" to be.

  

  An image that not only characterizes

the location but mirrors your unique

response to it.  An image that if all the

 others made in that location were lost, 

this one image could stand alone.

      I considered the iguana image.  He really says "St. John" to me and my heart-felt desire for an "iguana sighting" amused my friend to no end.  I love it's beautifully textured skin and soft colors.  As fascinating as these creatures are to behold however, St. John is so much more than its flora and fauna.

   I also considered a landscape, like this view across Klein Bay from Ditleff Point.  The towering clouds and difficult to negotiate hills spotted with million dollar villas also say "St. John" but they are not reflective of my personal response to the location.

   No, in the end I settled on "Miss Olivia".  She was surely one of the highlights of my trip in so many ways.

Miss Olivia at Annaberg

   I loved her warm hearted graciousness.  I loved the way she dispelled my feelings of uneasiness in that unique place which I had taken away with me the last time I visited.  

   It reminded me a lot of my series, First Person Rural.  The real joy of any location, close to home or half way around the world, is in the people who live there.

   I've never chosen a portrait as my "icon" but this time it seemed truly fitting.  (Of course, medieval icons were always of people, saints in particular but didn't Thomas Merton recognize the "sainthood" of all creation?)

   Consider looking through photographs of your last trip and see if one image stands out.  Which would you chose to represent not only the place but your individual approach?  What would be your icon of the experience?

  

   Check out Kim Manley Ort's wonderful post on this subject here...

On Location - Star Island...My "Icon" of the Experience

   This is the icon of my experience on Star Island.  It is an image that speaks to the whole of my time there in a single photograph.  I always try to find one such "icon" when I return from a trip and have had time to sit with my images for awhile.

   The little chapel represents the historical context of the island and was a focal point during my brief time there. The cloudless strikingly blue sky was a daily occurrence.  The stone landscape, prevalent all over this island is what gives the Isles of Shoals their name.  And finally, the beautiful colored yoga mats, laid out in the sun to dry is a nod to the educational emphasis on the island.  Conferences of every description are held there every summer.  (Hmmm....what about a Contemplative Photography retreat to Star Island in 2014?)

   I loved the way the yoga mats seemed to be laid out to determine which best matched the blue sky...like giant paint samples!  I nearly missed this because it was located off the main pathways, behind the hotel.  It is where the back door of the kitchen is and the less than picturesque propane tanks and building materials are stored.  This is a very good example of why it so important to get off and explore these "back door" areas when you are visiting a new place.  Remember, there are no "bad" locations....

An Icon of the Experience - The Abbey of Gethsemani

A Sanctuary for the Soul

...creating something new, an icon, an image which embodies the inner truth of things as they exist in the world of intelligible being.

-Thomas Merton

 Notes on Art and Worship, page 3   

  I always try to find one image from a location I photograph in that I can point to as an "Icon of the Experience".  Some image that sums it all up.  I was pleased to read that Thomas Merton also saw the iconic possibility for the photographic image.  This simple little photograph is the one I've chosen as my icon of the Abbey of Gethsemani.

   I made this image while I was waiting to meet Brother Paul to walk to Thomas Merton's hermitage.  I'd already left the abbey and gone to the retreat center at Bethany Springs but this was made, or I should say "received", on the abbey grounds.  I had not gone looking for it, it had found me.

   I was just sitting, relaxing, looking at the abbey buildings and remembering the wonderful, peaceful week I'd just spent there.  I was also thinking of the victims of the Boston bombing which was still so fresh in my mind.  I wasn't thinking about making any photographs at all.  I glanced over to a granite stone to my right.  There was the carved out hole, filled with tiny pebbles of varying colors and sizes.  To the left was a small red bud.  My metaphoric engine revved up!  That was the experience of the abbey for me.  The sanctuary of the abbey, where we all huddled close together, all of us different, coming to the abbey for different reasons but all contained within the closeting walls.  Of course, the red bud was the explosions in Boston.  I was so thankful to be in such a safe haven during that time so that I could slowly process the event before I had to "join the world" again.

The Path to the Statues

   This is one of the reasons I love contemplative photography so much.  I now have an artifact of that week to meditate on in the weeks and months ahead.  It takes me back in a visual way to relive the time and experience. As you photograph, try to discern these icons for yourself, it will be a worthwhile exercise.  The following short video is of a walk to the statues at the abbey, something everyone who goes there does at least once.  What I love about this video is it also demonstrates the idea that although it is good to have an end to a journey it is, in the end, the journey that matters most.  It also highlights the very real fact that Nature, in all her beauty and diversity, is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul.  I love the John Muir quotation: "In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."

A Walk to the Statues

Some of you may have run into difficulties accessing the folios or links to my web albums. I believe the problem is solved so you can see the new folios of "Simplicity and Light" and the collection of images from my Bethany Spring weekend retreat.