March 12, 2008

  • Pictures At An Exhibition

    Many people have asked me to take lots of pictures on this trip. And I set out with the idea of taking pictures, as well. I just haven't taken any.

    I saw a picture I should have taken. A small stand of trees on a snow-covered mountainside, silhouetted by the sun directly behind, with shadows stretching out below, so that the trees and their shadows became the same, a mirror image of each other.

    But there was no place to pull out, and I don't have my 80-200, which is the lens for that. I could have used the 50 and struggled through the snowfield to get close enough... But I drove on.

    This is indicative of the way in which much of my life works. Photography isn't any different from anything else. I was completely fascinated with it for a while, and now I'm not. Now it's actual work to do it.

    Many of the these fascinations are complex and mechanical. Understanding something complex but which doesn't have a lot of chaos inside. Taking pictures, fixing the van, learning to program computers... These are all complicated but they are closed systems. The chaos part enters when one tries to apply these things to human needs. So for instance, I could take pictures of people, and I could exhibit pictures to people, but that's not the game I signed up for.

    Taking pictures is two things: Technique and taste and though I'm always learning, I have sufficient of both of those. Having a reason to take pictures is the hard part. What story am I trying to tell, and to whom? I could have trudged through the snow to get those trees, but who would see the story when I finally got around to showing it?

    It's arguments with myself like this that keep me from moving forward, in many different realms.

Comments (4)

  • I an see how this agrument would hold you back... You have o do things for yourself... IF your satisfied with where your at and what your seeing well then good... I guess.

    I admit the the photographer in me has a huge look at me mentality... I want people to see what I see... and why its different or special... How can I make it different or special... tht's why I keep taking pictures...

    Hope you find something you can lose yourself in again sometime.

  • I have really liked your photos when you've posted them.

    I think letting people try to see through your vision is worthwhile... but it can be frustrating too.

    Sometimes I simply take photos to have them for me.

    :)

  • I'm with the wolf on this.. Pure documentation is the reason I bought a camera. It's one fewer wall I have to guess where I ran the wires.  Along that track, your blow-by-blow on the van a while ago was enhanced by photos, if I recall correctly. Now I'll be up all night rank-ordering human activities as complex, chaotic, open or closed systems, haha. Never looked at it that way.

  • i would have seen it, and i would have been interested.

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