Sight and Light

                          
"Late Summer Canoes  (In A Dream)..."   Mirror Lake, Highlands, NC                                                                                  
DIGITAL CAPTURE August 4th, 2009 @ 7:02pm f4.5 @ 1/500 sec ISO 400 Nikon D50 w/Nikkor 18-135mm AF-S

"Time and reflection change the sight little by little til we come to understand..."   - Cezanne                                                      

Seeing takes a lifetime... The length of that lifetime does impact the level of seeing we attain, but simply duration does not guarantee a visual maturity. The conscious habit of paying attention, of sharpening one's perception skills every day, every hour, every moment is an ever-present challenge. I don't believe that we really ever get to a place where a conscious decision to see becomes a lackadaisical or simply reactive thing. It is more often than not a daily decision we make, usually when we have an assignment, or we self-assign ourselves new work, new locations, new subjects, themes, a specific time of day, etc.,


As those who practice the photographic art, we tend to focus automatically. But on those days when we are delightfully surprised by sight and by light, when we didn't plan to work or be active w/camera, we may greatly benefit from a willingness to react spontaneously with no pre-conceived ideas. Sight is not always able to be neatly scheduled into our daily agendas. Sight can be as unpredictable as light. Sight is ever demanding. It is a gift. It is a calling, if you will. And as with any professional or spiritual calling, many are indeed called - but few are chosen! Light is what strengthens sight. And light, unless from an artificial source, can be a most unpredictable thing as well. Try as we may, with persistence, dedication, study, planning, and passionate delivery, sometimes sight, and more often light, seem to be a matter of chance. But I prefer to view chance in the manner that Louis Pasteur observed, that "Chance favors the prepared mind."

We must prepare our minds and hearts to be receptive to sight and discerning of light. Then maybe, hopefully, in the course of the day we might be paying attention when we are visited with an opportunity to capture something sublime, something that most miss in their daily rush to do whatever it is that occupies their heart and soul. It is a most gracious reward then to be gifted with sight, and to be visited by light! 

Perfection

DIGITAL CAPTURE August 4th, 2009 @ 6:50pm:  f4.8 @ 1/50th sec Nikon D50 w/18-135mm Nikkor AF-S lens - (straight from camera to computer with no artificial enhancement before or after exposure).

 

I came upon this image quite by accident, (as many good photographs in nature are "found," as much or possibly more so than the pre-conceived photo planned the day or week beforehand. I have titled this photograph, "Perfection" -  not in reference to my skill, but in having the active perception to see what quite possibly is something of perfection in the natural realm. The ancient philosopher Democritus wrote that "Much is perceptible which is not perceived by us." I find this to be as true in the photographic realm of natural discovery as I do when relating his thought to the spiritual realm, or even the scientific. Perception is a characteristic which can not only be learned, but continually developed over a lifetime of photographic pursuit.

Perfection is not to be achieved within human strivings. There are religions which attempt to promote such, but all in vain, usually relying on some level of repentance and human works to attempt to approach this unattainable throne of ill-perceived perfection, (vanity thinly veiled in the appearance of humility). Perfection belongs to the Author of all Creation. But it can be observed in the natural order of His creation. This is a task that needs continual renewal and practice, this development of our perception and acute awareness.

The late, great Eliot Porter, master and pioneer of 20th century color photography, (primarily of the natural environment) found some measure of greatness not so much in his grand vistas of the landscape, (as his rival in B&W landscape, the great Ansel Adams) but in the minute details he found wanting at his feet. Finding the natural order within the seeming chaos before his camera lens, Eliot brought attention to the incredible beauty of the often-ignored world at our feet. Perfection is an act of the unforced rhythms of grace. And it may be observed ever so often if we are paying attention and passionately focused on discovery more so than achievement.