Fragments
brief meditations
Humanity in itself is not an interesting object of contemplation. In our position in modernity we are surrounded on all sides by endless humanity. This is partly why I do not care to photograph the realm of the human being. There are deeper and more interesting questions to be contemplated in the presence of trees than the solipsistic meditations of the shallow humanism which one encounters in the world of men.
It is a powerful place, full of a vast and intense energy. In December the sheer expanse of the undulating hills, valleys and canyons are as imposing and thereby awe inspiring as in the summer. And the atmospheric quality of the chilling winter brings a frosted and snow laden landscape cloaked in the low clouds, adding another layer of otherworldly mystique and power to the whole place.
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Fragments
brief meditations
There are times, few, and serene, when I can look upon the ever sprawling growth of man and his works and behold it in its cosmic form. As a peculiar outgrowth of the mysterious forces of the cosmos. The beauty and the ugliness in it all as little more than a briefly flickering flame in the great and dancing fire of the world. But I still prefer the presence of the trees and the rivers to the oceans of gray concrete and towers of glass. And despite such serene visions I cannot help but feel that there is some deep wretchedness to civilized existence.
Fragments
brief meditations
The bones in my hands ache from the cold, and the deep breaths of cold air burn my throat and lungs. So I have come to rest on this rocky hill in a sunlit grove of young trees to collect a bit of the winter sun. It helps the joints to move a little easier, and quells the burning. The spirit of the world is stern, and the earth is often a hard place. It seems more often given to the heat of violence than to stagnant peace. I have spent enough time with it to understand why men have fled from it, built fences in the world and in their minds to keep the wild at bay. A body warmed by the hearth and the home is more comfortable than cold bones. But I am not convinced that in our dream-led flight we have not lost more than we have gained.
At that moment the world before me seemed entirely sufficient to itself, so strikingly beautiful just as it was that any alteration I could have made in my presentation of it, even something as subtle as the removal of color, would have only felt like a falsification. All there was to be done was to be as true to the scene as I could be.
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Fragments
brief meditations
And what is the subject of my images? The rich tapestries of the forest? The meandering currents of the rivers? Yes, at some level. The natura naturata of Spinoza, so to speak. But deeper too than this, the intimation of the natura naturans, the enlivening flame of the world. And through this intimation a re-opening of the question of the sacred, the divine, and also thereby a re-opening of the question of our place among the immensity of things.
Some reflections on a recent walk, on new directions, and other assorted ramblings
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Fragments
brief meditations
There is always something that I can never capture in a photograph. The remainder which is never contained in the work. The essence of the matter. The lived experience. A photograph is at best a kind of murky window with which to gesture toward the truth of the experience, a truth which lies always outside the limits of the reproduction. A good photograph is a clearer window.
Fragments
brief meditations
The golden radiance of the morning sun alighting the mist that hangs over the rolling ocean of evergreens. And in the distance the shaded blue peaks and the fresh white snow come to rest atop the towers of stone. The glory of the world, a reminder of the immense beauty of things.
By throwing us into that realm between the familiar and unfamiliar we are called to reconsider, to re-encounter our once-familiar world. The monochrome landscape calls not simply to be experienced as a picturesque color scene might be, but to be considered, contemplated, encountered in a deeper manner.
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Fire aftermath along the North Fork Flathead River, Montana
The practice of changing up our approach to making images, in this case by forcing ourselves into a practice that is markedly different from our usual approach, is a good way of shocking the system, so to speak. These “shocks to the system” are beneficial.
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It is this capability of a photograph to give someone the ability to in some sense “step into” these experiences and perspectives, that I wish to share, to “see as I saw,” that is so important to me about photography as a medium for my work.
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