February 19th, 2017 … Not Passing the Passerby’s

 

 

 

 

 

Not passing the passerby’s. Maybe that sounds confusing and I am a good source for confusion material. Remember that thing about the Inverse Square Law. Well, here we go again, another round. This round we are dealing with the head mostly and the heart is active but on vacation.  I was always interested in the things I didn’t pay attention to. I mean why do they not interest me. Why is there no connection that gets me hyped? If there is a connection of sorts, why do I not make a photo of it? If there’s a connection and I don’t make a photo, why do I even remember the moment? That’s the thing, remembering the moments NOT recorded.

 

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So I set out with the intent of finding the photos I pass by. I did this many times before but the way you get past hurdles, is not to get over them one time, but to get over them many times and then to recognize them before you have to get over them. I started thinking, shooter I said, what’s the reason you walked pass that photo and if in fact that was a photo, what was missing?

years ago, I taught vision by going to an area and making photos. I would do about 10 and from different points of view. I would take the class there and give them all the photos. Then set them free to find the photo on the print out on the street. This is easier said then done but, very worthwhile. Cultivating vision also means to be aware of what’s not the interest. Like in a garden, there are many beautiful plants growing but all around is weeds, grass etc. We need to WEED out the garden so that the flowers etc grow better.

That is the same as in making photos. We kinda weed out photos so that the photos we desire can bloom. This of course means an act of knowing what we are weeding out. Basically this is editing. So that’s the name they gave this.

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What if all the photos you don’t make are more important in some ways then the ones you do make. I don’t think it’s the value system working, I think it’s intentionally not paying attention. So I noticed a long time ago that I would walk past things, people etc and for a fraction of a second, glance at it and then continue on my journey. I get home and process and then sith to relax and let the images burn in my heart and mind. They will live there forever cause without them, I cease to exist.

All the sudden, some images pop into my mind and it’s of something I walked past and didn’t make a photo. Sometimes that image starts to burn and cause an itch in my butt. It gets to the point sometimes that I can’t erase the image at all.

So methinks that maybe, just maybe, these unborn photos are like lost messages that I didn’t get. Oh, I saw them but was to reluctant to make the image. Maybe these things are seemingly trite but to me, very intense. I want to understand my life as a photographer before I am not. I want to make the photos that mean something to me and never be that concerned by the thoughts of others that it shall effect me or detour me from the path I live with my cameras.

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We all have a responsibility to ourselves. We need to satisfy the craving of photographic creativity and continue our work. Ya know, there is a duty that we all have, wanted or not, That duty is to support photography and Mother Light the best way we can. We as shooters, for the most part work for other shooters. To deny that fact is to deny yourself the reciprocal energy that your photos may bring.

So perhaps what I am really writing about is that maybe we see the big picture for ourselves and we walk by the things we don’t pay attention to. This kind of stuff makes me nuts and it’s why Olivier and I made the Inspired Eye. What if one of the things or…. that we pass by is a shooter struggling to find his/her way with photography. Perhaps you stop and offer assistance and maybe you think that this means little to you but to the one you helped, it’s a mountain that gets knocked to a dust pile and leads the way to the an open mind and heart.

I’m rambling but not really.

Good Light my friends……………..end transmission……………………

 

 

12 thoughts on “February 19th, 2017 … Not Passing the Passerby’s”

    1. Keith, glad you got this as I’m having issues with WP again. Anyway, you work in a mighty big garden my friend. Many more weeds then flowers for sure.

  1. “We need to weed out the garden so the flowers grow better”. That is so true. Whenever I go out shooting, I see beautiful flowers but the weeds are constantly getting in the way. I always feel so much better when I manage to isolate a flower.

    1. Tommi, glad to know most are ok, the opposite here most are not ok. I will be at my storage locker this week to get the prints.

  2. Hello Don, It’s all about ones approach of the thing. For other people, what we consider weeds could be nothing less than beautiful things. Speaking of street, each shooter has his or her sensitivity. BTW great shots. The one with the stripes,reflections and layers is really beautiful.

  3. Hi Don,
    I like these words of yours “… remembering the moments NOT recorded …” in conjunction with ” … we are dealing with the head mostly and the heart is active but on vacation …” It reminds me of state of ones consciousness, and the words D. H. Lawrence had to say about consciousness.he said “… Consciousness is an end in itself. We torture ourselves getting somewhere, and when we get there it is nowhere, for there is nowhere to get to… “, and by extension, photographers may experience this, too …
    Regards
    Sean

    1. Sean, Thank You Kindly Sir. I actually depend on your reflections on the thoughts I put down on digital paper. Sometimes I feel like I’m rambling but then you post or someone else and I realize I’m not the only one who gets it.
      Thanks my friend…have a blessed journey.

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