Chapter 2: Atmosphere Atmos is a Greek word meaning “vapor.” Sphaira means “sphere.” Combined, scientists use the word “atmosphere” to describe the layer of gases surrounding a planet, held in place by gravity. Artists have long understood that atmospheric effects contribute to the emotional tone of a painting or photograph. Misty variations in light and […]
Chapter 1: “Abstract” and “Abstraction” Introduction to the 13-part series The Soul of Photography chapters provided insight and guidance about the function of the aesthetic dimensions relative to creative expression. This begins a series that elaborates those features (“atmosphere,” “contrast,” “gradation,” etc.) with an emphasis on application and technique. Also, I’ll show how the terms […]
Invitations This is the final posting in The Soul of Photography series. Next week begins the follow-on practical series, The Aesthetic Dimensions in Art and Society, which for 13 weeks characterizes the many dimensions—abstraction, atmosphere, contrast, form, key, geometry and so on—with an emphasis on technique. The series is intended to increase one’s aesthetic awareness […]
Chapter 7: The Transcendent Approach I asked ChatGPT (AI) to introduce this subject with a short poetic reflection on photography as an ideal medium for seeing beyond the senses. A Photographic Invocation Light is the oldest language. Before words, before memory—there was light falling on form. The camera does not invent beauty; it recognizes […]
The Aesthetic Experience Philosophers since Plato have sought to define and describe the aesthetic experience. Among them there’s agreement that it’s a capacity unique to human beings, a contributor to well-being and different for each individual, but there’s no consensus on what it is in essence. This is understandable because the word “aesthetic” is an […]
Introduction to a 10-Part Series No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer it has chosen. Minor White, fine art photographer, educator Today I’m beginning a series that describes my spiritual approach to photography. The title of the blog itself, “Contemplative Photography,” can mean different things […]
An aesthetic and so much more There’s an intrinsic satisfaction, an aesthetic pleasure, that comes from the experience of light when it plays a prominent, sometimes dominant, role in a photograph or painting. The works of masters such as Rembrandt, Turner, and Hooper are largely characterized and revered for the qualities of light they depict. Light […]
An indication of balance and agreement According to Nobel laureate Phil Anderson, “It is only slightly overstating the case to say that physics is the study of symmetry.” The word “symmetry” comes from the Greek, synnetria, meaning “Agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement.” I’ve chosen this theme for contemplation because, somewhere along the line, I’d […]
It abounds when and if we look for it Sunlight reflecting off sink fixtures Whenever I hear “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” I take it to mean that some people find […]
Life before and after them In the summer of ’76, the year Linda and I were married, we went to the Cayo district in Belize so I could better appreciate where and how she’d lived for a year, teaching English to high school students under the auspices of the Papal Volunteer’s—the Catholic church’s version of […]
