Attiude of Gratitude...

               "Highlands Winter Dawning" Nantahala Nat'l Forest, NC                                                                                                                                                                                                                     "Thus in awe and humility, in foreboding, out of an instinct old as life, heralded from the mountains, began a new relationship between man and earth..."   -  Nancy Newhall  

Photographers, like all artists, have periods of doubt, struggles financially and physically, highs and lows of fame/recognition for our work, and sometimes an unhealthy attitude of superiority simply because we practice a gift (we have been given). The art of seeing is a gift. We did not earn it though. It is graciously bestowed. But it must be practiced, not only to continue to make a living, but for personal growth and creative contentment, for attempting to develop our own way of seeing, and even for a much-needed sense of self-awareness in light of our truest place in the overall scheme of things.   
   
I was given my first camera (a Pentax K-1000) by my father while in college in Texas when I met him in Colorado for one of his business trips. I had just signed up for a required photography class for my then advertising major in. That class made it impossible for me to continue on with a major in advertising and I switched to photography. I found that working outdoors in the natural realm produced a continual attitude of gratitude, as I instinctively knew I was not responsible for that which I was seeking to capture. (Colorado was a perfect place for this to occur). And the more I studied natural light, the less my attitude of pride found refuge in an already over-blown ego. In the studio, where I spent many years learning how to light people, products, sets, and still life (attempting to reproduce what I learned about natural light indoors), I never found this same attitude within me. It was always self-centered. 
                                                                                                                              When I am working outdoors (usually very early in the morning here on the Highlands Plateau of Western North Carolina), there is no doubt stirring within me about what I am out there for, or if a particular scene I am attempting to capture will generate income at some point. The passion and the pleasure I sense in witnessing early morning light @ 4,000 ft as it dispenses a lovely grace and quiet power upon the landscape at an hour when most are sleeping, or in a rush to get to work, is a gift! But I am no more entitled to it than anyone else. I simply obey my calling. (And rising at 4:30-5:00am does get a little bit more difficult as time goes by!)  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I am reminded that all we see and photograph of the natural environment is not our own. Yes, even when we so casually place our copyright symbol next to our photo credit. the scen is not our own, only our interpretation of it. This produces a profound sense of gratitude for the awareness and the desire to witness and share our visual records with others - what we have seen, and felt, and even thought while attempting to capture what is before our cameras. Many times I fail at capturing that internal response, a spiritual connection, a personal ambiguity that is difficult to capture, and so I keep going 'out there' to try again and again, and again. It is often a humbling thing, but nevertheless rewarding even when I fail at the digital capture.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The great 20th century master photographer, Ansel Adams, was admittedly not an outwardly 'religious' man, but he was once quoted as saying, "Sometimes I think I arrive at a scene just when God would have someone click the shutter!"  Amen...                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                    

Let The Picture Speak...

DIGITAL CAPTURE: Highlands, North Carolina "Through the Windshield Series"  October 14, 2009 @ 4:07pm  f9 @ 1/100 sec., ISO: 1000

"As the painter Robert Henri said, 'In no work will  you find a receipt that just fit you. The fun of living ' - and of making pictures, and of collecting them -  'is that we  have to make ourselves...' "  - Robert  Adams  (from  the book, "Why People Photograph")

Too often I find myself writing far too much when discussing my own pictures. But this is a 'blog' and it does stimulate my writing instincts. This is why I decided to only post one entry a week. But I would like to be able for the picture to speak for itself this week. Perhaps I write too much because my photographs do not speak for themselves? Or maybe I attempt to find further meaning after the digital capture is made? I don't know. But I am following the dictates of my heart and soul, both in my seeing and my writing.Selah...

Transitions...

DIGITAL CAPTURE:  Chattahoochee Nat'l Forest; North Georgia  Nov 11th, 2009 @ 4:19pm  f5 @ 1/100 sec. ISO 200 (No Photoshop or artificial alteration) 
"The mind is insatiable for meaning, drawn from, or projected into, the world of appearances, for unearthing hidden analogies which connect the unknown with the familiar, and show the familiar in an unexpected light." - Arthur Koestler

Transitions. Those intermittent periods in our lives that often leave us empty, afraid, fearful of that which is to come, and sometimes sad to see something meaningful wane, fading into the background, perhaps never to return? Autumn's passing always leaves me somewhere found within all these symptoms of loss, seeking to focus on this period of transition from Fall to Winter with some measure of hope and a lustful creativity.

To find the temporal beauty of Autumn suddenly behind me forces me to continue to see beyond the superficial loveliness that attracts the eye and soul to the high season of Autumn's color and light. This transition period is ultimately where I stare at reality with reluctance. The brief few weeks of Autumn's adrenalin-based creativity and often high inspirational activity drains me. I find myself working at a feverish pitch, knowing the time is short for capturing the essence of the season in pictures and in words. I naturally succumb to each moment a camera is in my hand, a keyboard at my desk, or a pen finding life on paper. I relish the season as best as I can each year. And then comes that time of slowing down,  watching as the season slowly fades into another memory of another year, and another time and place.

I am now in that transition - of work, and creativity, and seeking strength of spirit to endure the season to come. And hope finds its name on my heart and mind in a more profound manner during this time. A faith that is alive, that breathes, feeds on hope. For why would we hope for what we can see? It is in what we cannot yet see that hope is alive and faith is nourished. An expectation of wonder is always there, just around the corner, leading me to avoid the trap of depression, of a vague emptiness, and a desire to escape this natural period.

I look again at the mountain fog amidst the barren trees and I have to stop and attempt to capture this transition. Upon composing this image I am most aware of the green of the kudzu vine in the foreground. It is alive with a vitality even in this dampened place of naked trees and low light. It only occurs to me when editing that I was responding to the natural cycle of life and death so beautifully found everywhere on earth, always reminding us of our own mortality, itself the transition of ultimate reality. 
Then again,  maybe its all simply a matter of all that hot coffee I extraordinarily consume during the season?

A Fraction of Life...

LIFE RE-CAPTURE 1998: November 7th, 2009 - life exposed @ a fraction of a second.

Eleven years ago to the day I woke up in a hospital bed. The day before was like a dream, a bad one that you carry with you for awhile. While laying in that bed, covered up in surgical white wraps, I kept seeing a slow motion re-capture in my mind as a large pick up truck goes flying by me, and I wonder why the person driving is looking at me? I was making a turn at a local intersection just a couple of miles from home, and the truck was coming at full speed, with both of our views of each other blocked by a large delivery truck making a turn at the intersection exactly opposite from me. "Unavoidable" is the term the police report stated in describing the crash (meaning neither of us was at fault so to speak). The skid marks of the pick up truck were over 170 feet long as he slammed on his brakes after hitting my right front corner bumper. In a split second I had multiple fractures. Up until that instant I had nary a broken bone before that day, November 6th, 1998. And in a fraction of a second reality became a frightening one for me...


In the process of recovery and rehab that took place over a year, including multiple surgeries on my shattered right hip (that eventually was replaced with titanium eleven months later with a total hip replacement), a broken left wrist, a broken right ankle (with titanium screws, souvenirs if you will still inside me today), and my right eye (of which the eyelid was torn from top to bottom with eyeball exposed) all happening during that fraction of second (yet no damage to my actual eye!) I had ample time to reflect on my life, 40 days away from home, held hostage in a world of life and death...



The eye surgeon proclaimed "miraculous" that my eye was not damaged. In the hospital room when I was told by a nurse what happened to my eye (when I asked why I was wearing an eye patch)  I saw another re-capture in my mind, almost like watching a film, or instinctively knowing memory of one. I saw a wing, a great feathered thing covering my eye in that fraction of a second that my head hit the rear view mirror, protecting the eye from damage or worse. An angelic intervention? Perhaps. Or maybe a hallucination induced by the morphine? I know not? But the word, "thankful" became my daily expression to God, the author of all life. Giving thanks was an intutive way for me to avoid serious depression. And it just never occurred to me to ask, "Why me?" (which may have been a greater miracle than my escaping death!) as I am a complainer by habit...


My two children were still in the young stages, Josiah was 10 years of age, and Elizabeth was 5. They meant more to me at the moment of awakening in that hospital then ever before, and I was thankful that my time on earth was not through. I was thankful for my wife Nancy, a nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital, who was a virtual tower of strength, seeing me every day. and she made sure they carried on as best as possible under the circumstances. I was thankful for family and friends who took the time to call, write letters, and visit me. I was thankful for everything. This was contrary to my nature to complain or criticize, so I knew there was something supernatural going on...


We photographers expose life @ fractions of seconds. Our digital captures are visual records, lasting memories in our consciousness, and in the best moments something we hope becomes "art" and is for sale. But truly the most valuable captures in life cannot be priced. They are living, breathing moments we have and hold each day. We have milestones along life's path, and we look at them from time to time like we do our favorite photographs. Yet these moments are more valuable than any picture or work of art. Sometimes we need life-changing memories that cause us to reflect and see the light, hope, and love that is there deep within, for they will last forever. 


Epilogue:  
I have done some of my very best work since that year-long recovery process from that fraction of a second's impact on my life and my family's life. Though I will never descend again with my cameras to favorite waterfalls, the ones where few photographers attempt to go, nor climb steep vertical pathways to photograph these mountains on the Highlands Plateau, I am still able to walk (albeit with a slight limp sometimes) for most photographic journeys, and to work with my cameras, and to write. Many never regain these primary physical functions after a major 'accident.'  Thankful is the word, the life-concept I still attempt to keep on my heart and mind every day...and every fraction of a second becomes clearer when seen in the light of eternity.
"The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me..."   - Asaph (ancient writer of psalms. *Psalm 50: 23)

Autumn's Light On The Highlands Plateau: A New Portfolio

DIGITAL CAPTURE: Flat Mountain Pond; Highlands, NC., October 22, 2009 @ 4:10pm  f7.1 @ 1/200 sec.,  ISO 200

Whenever I complete a new body or work, I try to print the photographs as soon as possible, while the passion for what I saw is still strong, and my visual memory of each image is fresh. It is important for me to capture the print as I originally captured it. The artificiality that many use in photoshop for natural subject matter does not impress me. I prefer to 'get it right' in-camera. The challenge is always to see and capture what is really there. Like fiction vs. non-fiction in writing a book, often reality is so much more incredible than words that are made up to describe a non-reality. I find nature to offer more as it is than what it is often re-made on the computer. Man's greatest imagination or abstract creativity is based on all things from nature and the natural environment.


"Autumn's Light On The Highlands Plateau" A new portfolio comprised of 10 new prints from my work this Fall will be available for viewing online Dec. 1st. the portfolio shall consist of (10) 8.5" x 10" color digital photographs printed on archival museum papers (Matte,  Lustre, & Canvas) signed and numbered as a limited edition of 50 presented in gallery wrap portfolio box with photo as shown above.  

*Cost is $495 if ordered by Dec. 15th.  After Dec. 15th cost of portfolio will be $650. *To order online email: highlandsphotoworkshops@earthlink.net  or call: 404-421-9152

Autumn Is Passing Away...

DIGITAL CAPTURE  October 21st, 2009 8:58am  Whiteside Mountain Cove, NC., f7.1 @  1/80th sec., (hand held) Nikkor 18-135mm lens. (no photoshop or artificial alterations)

Autumn is passing away. With the ending of all bright and glorious color, early morning hoarfrost (from orig 'horforst') begins to be the norm for the hardened ground. A precursor for the coming Winter season on the Plateau. The cold morning air brings a fresh clarity to all that is here. I can breathe deeply knowing the air is clean and purest here. And seeing becomes new again, as the transition from October to November begins. As the light of late Autumn becomes harsh by mid-morning, reflections of that light and color, and the natural shapes of earth in the waters always brings outstanding visual opportunities. 

I believe I (we) love Autumn most, not only because of the climactic colors that surrounds for a brief few weeks, and not simply for the cooler temps, fireplaces roaring, and hot beverages on very cold mornings. But I believe we sense the reality of our mortality more clearly as we witness the nature around us reaching a peak explosion of color, then suddenly dying away, from peak to bleak in a few short days. This transition period allows for me to reflect on just what it is my life and my work is all about. One can never evaluate enough what our lifetime is composed of, not only in terms of years, but in terms of spiritual content. Are we seeking only a temporary spotlight on ourselves, or are we seeking light and truth in the
short span of years we are given? It is the eternal and the temporary that struggle within and without us.

The great Old Testament patriarch, Moses, is credited with writing at least one psalm in the Book of Psalms (Psalm 90). Within his song is a verse that has stayed with me for a many years now:  "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  Of all the things, accolades, skills, educational status, or financial gain we gather over our brief time here on earth, only wisdom will last, and that wisdom which we pass on as we leave. 

I love Autumn's breath, the intensity of life as reflected in the colors everywhere, the beauty that is nearing it's peak of natural expression, and the seasonal light that always comes. It reminds me that all things are going to eventually pass away, and all that we love in the here and now is all that we really have. Selah.

After The Rain...

 
                               "After The Rain: Tree Leaves One"  
DIGITAL CAPTURE: Highlands, NC., Oct 14th, 2009 4:54pm; f5 @ 1/100th sec., Nikkor 18-135 - focal length  135mm; ISO 400. (no photoshop - straight from camera to computer)

The world is alive with the fresh waters of Autumn. All week on the Highlands Plateau the rain has surrounded the mountain, a holy cloud of softened light and continual watering of all the reds, yellows, oranges, and purples, naturally sanctifying the fall color saturation. This was good as the color this year was weakened by all the rains in September, along with not having enough clear, bright sunny days and cooler temps as we usually do to enhance the pigmentation process. But this is the world in which we live. Rarely predictable, which is a good thing, or can be, depending on one's perspective. The spontaneity that arrives in our lives of comfortable, day-timer scheduling may be a great blessing, if we allow ourselves to view it as opportunity.


When  the rains come during Autumn, aim your camera downward, where a world of thriving color is found at your feet, leaves washed anew to appear fresh and alive. Yet new the are not, but temporarily born again by the baptism of rain all night. They have left their branches finding rest on the ground, apart from the life-giving sustenance that brought them to this season. And light is the life that will decide how long they remain connected to the branch, and how luminous their colors will shine. Light always comes, even during the days of overcast and water, though often when we are not especially looking for it. The light always comes...


The Autumn Workshop this week was indeed a good one, even while water fell for 2 out of 3 days. The learning and sharing of experiences, technical assistance, design and composition, editing, and the learning of light may take place indoors even without one picture-making moment. But thankfully the middle day came when the light was magnificent, allowing us to witness and digitally capture a great extreme of a clear, beautiful morning. 

*A special thanks to friend & photographer Mike Nalley for coming along this year to help instruct and motivate, and create a few laughs when we needed it. And thanks to all who came along as students: Art, Clyde, George, Janelle, Kitty, Linda, Luther, & Sarah. And a big thank you to Mary Sidney, Gen Mgr @ The Skyline Lodge, our partner this year in lodging and providing a great classroom while rains persisted!

Learning takes a lifetime. I hope to continually learn to learn to learn...

Highlands Autumn Digital Photo Workshop Oct. 12 - 14, 2009

"Early will I seek thee..." 

DIGITAL CAPTURE Workshop Student @ Sunset Rocks Highlands, NC., Oct. 2006 Fuji Fine Pix Z-1 Camera (no artificial/software enhancement).

This year represents the 7th year I have been holding Photo Workshops (first with film, and now only digital) on the Highlands Plateau of Western North Carolina. I consider this area to be among the most visually engaging in the entire Southeast in all seasons, but Autumn reigns here! And in my photographic journey it is all about the light, regardless of location. But when you add the stunning Blue Ridge Mountain backdrops, the abundance of waterfalls, rivers, and lakes, and two of the greatest National Forests in America, The Pisgah and The Nantahala, and the quality of light here @ elevations of 4,000 feet and higher, it is easy to see why so many travel here, only to return again and again. And why I refer to this place as my sanctuary. 

As with any special or  sacred place, a fine line must be  walked between  preservation and practicality.  The land truly belongs to us all. As a photographer of course I have selfish motives. There is nothing more heartbreaking than coming across a scene that only a year earlier was free of man-made structures, only to find homes or other structures taking the view away. The beauty that was at once there is gone. With the camera we may have the evidence of what once was there recorded in seconds, or split seconds, and the capture allows for producing prints to testify to what was once there. 

Here on the Highlands Plateau, I have been capturing these special places for 26 years, some now long gone, some still thriving and reflecting the light and the unforced rhythms of the natural environment, ever changing, always adapting,  seen each day anew in the light. Creation sings here, but you have to  listen, you have to see  how it shines in the earliest hour of the day, and last remnants of dusk. And the camera allows me to capryure what one day I shall fondly remember...

What I Am Seeing...

DIGITAL CAPTURE  September 28, 2009 @ 5:45pm  f8 @ 1/100 sec  Highlands, North Carolina (straight from camera to desktop - no crop/no artificial alteration). Image is as I saw it...

                                "In your light we see light..."    - ancient psalm

The colors on the Highlands Plateau are showing a little more promise this week. But with the rain we experienced up here in September, it may be a weak year for strong color as pigmentation in leaves needs much sunshine this time of year to develop to those strains of autumn colors that vibrate and mesmerize.  And especially this year when too many days of rain and overcast skies have been present here over the last month or so. When colors in the fall tend to go on the weaker, prematurely brown stages, I usually focus on the water. Always the water. It reflects what color there is in a more saturated manner, dependent upon time of day and the quality of light apparent. And water shows off the light unspeakable!

...I see light that beckons on the waters. I find true blessings in what that light reveals...selah.

What I Am Seeing...

"Tree Light One"   The Highlands Plateau, North Carolina

DIGITAL CAPTURE  f11 @ 160th sec 

"Environments by reason of their total character are mostly subliminal to ordinary experience."  - Marshall McLuhan 

Light changes everything. A winter's tree, barren and reaching for the sky becomes a thing of great detail and sublime beauty when the light brings out each branch clearly. It is the light which creates us to look, especially something that we pass by daily. The mundane and the casual ordinariness that comes when we take for granted the nature which we grow so accustomed to may surprise us. But paying attention is the only way we can see beyond the norm. It is what makes photography such an amazing art form to practice, more so than any creative medium except filmmaking.
I look up and see the tree and the light and can't help but attempt to sing praises for my eye can see creation in  a magical way that is purely by grace...

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.

The Eye Is Never Satisfied With Seeing

Edward Hall said that we learn while we see, and what we learn influences what we see. The camera seems to have been invented because of the never-ending desire for our human mind to discover and to record the power found in an image. Painting and Drawing too allow for such, but they must be created from the memory, the photograph, or the imagination.

But with photography, whether the image made is to create memories of special times, people, or places that we connect with in our lives, the art of seeing those things and attempting to record the emotion felt is part of this never-ending desire to see and experience this incredile life of space, time, and beauty revealed by light and circumstance. And it is immediate. With the digital technology we have been utilizing the last decade in particular, there has beeen greater advancements in shorter periods of time. And this ability to see and record is even more fulfilling now with the incredible technology available.

I love the imagery found with, on, within water. Water reflects light. It draws us to look. As a photographer I am drawn to look at water, waters, in as many variations as I can find. More often I am drawn to the reflections on the surface of the water of the place in which the water is found. I find that seeing within this world of reflected light on the surface of the water provides an endless array of imagery to develop and record. It is a world within a world. The image can be as deep or as shallow as the actual water itself. And it is always changing - changing by and through and in the light...

In Your Light We See Light

DIGITAL CAPTURE August 20th @ 7:27am  f8 @ 250 sec ISO 200 Nikon D50 w/18 - 135 AF-S Nikkor Lens. (straight from camera to computer - as is, in-camera exposure w/no artificial enhancement).

"What a picture means to the viewer is strongly dependent on their past experience and knowledge. In this respect the visual image is not a mere representation of 'reality' but a symbolic system..."

This quote by E.H. Gombrich defines my love for this place. Working again this week on the Highlands Plateau, where my heart and soul, and indeed my true work resides. Even after 27 years of living and working part-time in this area of Western North Carolina, I never fail to see old subjects in a new way, via the light, the season, the natural (and unfortunately man-made) changes, etc., This process of "seeing" is a life-long pursuit for the person who works with cameras & film/video.

This view is probably one the most popular with both the locals, second home vacationers, and of course the tourists! Aptly named, "The Big View" by locals, this incredible scene unfolds often with great drama in the early morning dawn light, and often at dusk, especially after a day's rain or storm. The partial view of mountain in the far right corner is known as "Devil's Courthouse." It accents this panoramic scene in power and always silhouetted in the early dawn hour. Whether I end up making pic tures or not, this scene has become my "little Yosemite" here in the South. I always make time to witness it either first thing in the morning or last at dusk. We are now old friends.

As with all my natural environment subject matter I do not use software (photoshop) to enhance artificially. I was taught "old school" to get it right in-camera by accurate exposures (and the old days of polaroid proofing). Digital photography has far surpassed the film days in many areas. But the most exciting aspect of the digital technology for me is immediate visual gratification, instant editing, and the speed in which I may "chase the light." *This image is straight from my camera to computer without any artificial input.

What I Am Seeing...

"We must form as clear a notion as possible of what we expect to see. Then it will actually appear..." - William James

.
..I have been "seeing" this view since early Spring this year. Working on new book, "FIRST CREATION" for the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust to celebrate their Centennial Anniversary of helping to preserve special places here on the Highlands Plateau of Western North Carolina. The Land Trust has shown me some views I have never seen in all my years photographing this amazing place!

This view from Rhododendron Park, (in which the HCLT has preservation rights) was assigned to me, one of 4 on the park loop drive. As this view is somewhat iconic, very recognizable, my challenge was to capture it in a different way/angle. I have been back to this location probably a dozen times since, always seeking best light, and most effective time of season. On this particular day the fresh mountain rhododendrons were beginning to blossom so I attempted to create an angle that showcased them as much in the foreground as the spectacular Whiteside Mountain in the background.

I am still "seeing" this view in my mind's eye, which means I'll be visiting it every month until I go full circle, returning again until early next Spring, both @ dawn and dusk, when the light is often singing - just waiting for an audience to impress. And I am an audience of one awaiting others to see what I have captured. But it is not mine, regardless of a copyright symbol neatly tacked onto the picture. How vain to believe this view is mine! But it is what I am seeing...

Welcome to the HPW Blog

Most of us 21st century folks understand that "blog" is a rather new internet-age word for a continual cyberspace conversation. Well, I say new, in that it was still a relatively new word a decade ago! "Blog" sounds more like a Japanese Sci-Fi B-movie monster from 1960's. Or perhaps an ancient Norwegian alcoholic drink to be consumed upon pillaging and plundering a neighboring village. And "blogging" sounds more like something you do in the Alps during the winter.

But in truth, we all are blogging every day whenever we share communications via the internet. Frankly I find the word boring, and in some ways, an unpleasant reference to sharing personal expression via the internet. But the purpose is one of ancient beginnings, that of personal expression/communication. The prehistoric cave drawings come to mind. Earliest ancient writings on papyrus. The first printing press. Communication is at the heart of everything technological today. Ironically, we have more methods of immediate comunication than ever before in the history of the world, and yet effective and purposeful communication beyond mere chit-chat, or self-grandizement, ala' facebook ramblings, or often superficial "tweeting" still eludes most of us, even with gads of new technology. In fact, it seems we are conversing more and actually saying less. I hope that my ramblings are not reflective of this current trend. Thus my new "blog" for the Highlands Photo Workshops begins...

"Seeking the Light" - a phrase usually associated with a spiritual context, has always been part of my photographic as well as spiritual vocabulary. Seeking the light is what photography is all about for me, beyond attempting to successfully capture emotional and physical content. It is the nature and quality of light that propells me to actually hunt for it, not unlike a hunter who stalks their prey.

Light can transform even the most mundane of subjects into something sacred, sometimes a glorious but all too temporary transformation. And always fulfilling, even on those days when I "fail" to capture what I saw. The important thing is/was I did "see" the results of light changing something temporarily. This is reflective of light in the spiritual realm in the sense of God changing us, of causing us to refect on that which is at first unseen, then seen. An epiphany that enlightens us. "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all..."

In this digital age the immediate visual record we have available from moment to moment is a continual revelation, allowing for instant editing and and often greater visual/aesthetic progression. This aspect of the digital technology is priceless, as it allows for the physical seeking of light more successfully than ever in the days of film and polaroids. And if we are fortunate, our seeking will lead to a deeper calling beyond the making of mere photography and art! Is it possible to record something deeper? Many believe it is. It is a question of timing, being in the right place at the right time, and as the great early 20th century photographer, Henri-Cartier Bresson originally termed the phrase, capturing "the decisive moment." And the quality of light has very much to do with such.

I recently lost the opportunity to have one of my photographs on the cover of a new book. The photo selection committee said it was "too religious," though there was no man-made religious symbol or facade, nor any person seen in the photograph! It was defined as such because of the dramatic nature of pre-dawn light digitally captured in a magnificent mountain range view. It seemed almost artificial, overly-enhanced, especially now with the advent of photoshop and other software today. *(But I never use the digital darkroom to create that which I didn't see "in-camera" when it comes to photographing the natural environment).

Can spiriuality or the essence of the divine be successfully rendered in a photographic image? I say yes indeed...but it has been a rare experience for me personally to capture. The quality of light is what I seek, in-camera, and in life.
- Mark W. Hutchison