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Would the Sky Look Different to You?
The sky was a very pretty mixture of blue and fluffy clouds this morning. The first photo I took did not have the Capitol in the corner because the sky was just a little more lustrous and variegated facing more west than south. Although I chose to allow the Capitol into the photograph, it is fairly clear that I was photographing primarily the sky and not the Capitol.
I see people photographing the Capitol almost every day. What is around it usually is of no moment. The point is, for one reason or another, to document being in the presence of the Capitol. It is only the postcard/calendar/art photographers who care what is going on in the sky for purposes of the overall composition.
I wondered whether readers would think that the scene would be prettier if it had mountains or a stream or a lake instead of a building in it. Would they think the sky unworthy of notice if underneath was a parking lot? How much do we judge something by its surroundings? Are we able to see the beauty of the sky regardless of the scenery in which we are standing?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Day Trip to the Beach (and My Teaching Theme for the Week)
“Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.” Neal Stephenson, Anathem
Untitled (and Jnanam Bandaha)
For me “untitled” as the “title” of a work of art means that the image speaks for itself and that to name it would be to bind the viewer from access to a “pure” and open response of his/her own.
In the yoga philosophy much is made of the fact that any attempt to describe mystical (for want of a better word) experience already veils or distorts the experience and that which has been experienced.
Sometimes, then, I show what I cannot say in words, recognizing that the camera, too, alters and separates the viewed and the viewer.
Jnanam bandaha, by the way, is the second sutra in the Siva Sutras and means roughly, knowledge is bondage. Later in the text, we are also told that knowledge alone liberates. It is a delicious paradox for contemplation.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.





