There is a tone of arrogance in Grossman’s words. The assumption that only photographers understand the world around them rubs me the wrong way. What Grossman might have said (and I really think this is what he meant) is accomplished with but a few minor adjustments: The function of the photographer is to help people understand see the world around them ^ through my particular way of seeing. This, it seems to me, is far less arrogant and more to one of the unintended consequences of making pictures. For me the function of photography is to help the photographer understand the world that surrounds us. Photography is a personal journey that is offered to others as a way to communicate something of the self, the world as I see it.
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In late December I was in Phoenix visiting my 11 year old grandson. He has an interest in photography and asked me to help him learn something about making pictures. Off we went on a journey of discovery. I gave him a few assignments, a digital camera with a normal lens and we each went off shooting. He lives directly across the street from Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks so we decided to look for pictures around the field. The image in this post was shot in response to an assignment I gave him to find form in the city. Like most beginners, he wants to shoot the whole thing, to capture all there is to be seen. Early in the day I told him to shoot everything twice. First, shoot what he sees and then take three steps closer to his subject and shoot again. When we were critiquing images at lunch and he saw this image of a Palm Tree Trunk located directly in front of his building he said, “Oh, now I understand, get closer Poppa, get closer.”
Dirt Road – Loveland Colorado ~ Winter 2009 Every setting conveys a thousand realities and the joy of photography comes with emphasizing the dimensions that bring personal choice to bear. A still scene without apparent action can reflect anything between tranquility and horror. Leaving it’s capturer the choice. Jill Enfield Two photographers [...] The photographic image captures a present that is always already gone. I have said that time and time again. The image I show here re-presents just that idea. The image was made early one Fall morning in Northeastern Illinois in Moraine Hills State Park. When I arrived at the park I was most interested in the spectacular fireworks show put on by nature as the trees change color. The morning was quite brisk, temperatures hovered around 29 degrees. The ground and vegetation were covered with frost adding an eerie, almost Winter like feel. As I was walking around, camera and tripod perched over my shoulder, I noticed this blade of grass bending over with a drop of melting frost at the tip of one grain branch. I stopped short, set my tripod down and focused on the grass. I set the aperture at f 2.8 and shot at 1/50th of a second. As I was focusing I noticed the bonus of the small spider web suspended between the two shoots of grains on the bending grass. The light was to my left and slightly in front of my position. I clicked the shutter. As I was getting ready to shoot from a different position, the droplet of melting frost fell to the ground, the composition was gone never to come again in the same way.
Fallen Leaves No. 1 ~ Fall 2009 When faith replaces reason tyranny is sure to follow. When reason replaces faith wonder ceases to exist. The key in anything is to balance faith and reason, hope and intellect. Then, and only then, will harmony prevail. Anonymous I have often thought that if I were to [...]
Tall Grass No. 1 ~ Fall 2009 If you are not confused you are not trying hard enough. Penetrate confusion with understanding and compassion and peace remains. Zen Meditation There is a distinction between trying hard enough and trying too hard. The former leads to understanding through internalization while the latter creates frustration [...] The meadow is rapidly changing now. Flowers that bloomed so brightly are now turning to seed preparing to regenerate themselves in the Spring. Leaves are turning colors, losing their hydration and becoming dry and brittle. The overwhelming color turned from yellow, purple and white to a greenish brown with sparse patches of color dotting the landscape. The plants are preparing for Winter, passing from view soon to be covered by snow and ice. Human beings are a solitary/social species. We can only exist in the moment in which we exist and, because we are centered in the moment of existence even when in a crowded room, we experience that moment alone, always already isolated in the universe we perceive. The solitary appears to give way to the social when there are shared experiences. At a ball park when a home run is hit the crowd responds as one, each participant having experienced that home run from a slightly different perspective. But the experience of perception is, and always shall be, a solitary moment of experience. I often photograph the mundane, found images in nature that, of themselves, are nothing special. I look for images that represent the ordinary and capture them in ways that make the ordinary open to investigation. Take the simple goldenrod blossoms in this post. Goldenrod is a ubiquitous plant that comes to life in late Summer and early Fall gracing the meadows in which it flourishes with a carpet of yellowish golden colors that one cannot help but be impressed. Learning how to live in the moment, in that immeasurably short instant of time, the time that is timeless, is a step in the direction of stripping one of ego, of replacing one’s self as separated essence with the unity of the infinite. It is in these moments that one is awakened to one’s response-ability for the other. |
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