A time to ponder and assess As December 21st approaches, I reflect on the significance that the winter solstice held for indigenous people and mark it in my own life as a way to attune, as they did, to the order and rhythms of nature and the cosmos. Having studied Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the […]
A strategy for making the ordinary look special In the early years, I used to spend a lot of time walking up and down the many rows of vendors at outdoor antique fairs looking for that rare situation where the quality of light illuminating an object peaked my aesthetic sensibility. Later on, I noticed that […]
Reflecting as a floating leaf One among many leaves that float on the surface of life, I ride the waves. The calm— meaningful conversations, helping where help is needed, Linda’s cooking; Graeter’s ice cream; Skyline chili, Scott Hamilton’s tenor saxophone; Chuck Mangione jazz; Andrea Bocelli; Beebe Adair piano backroads to photograph; photographing in the studio; […]
Cypress Gardens, Charleston, South Carolina The bald cypress is a member of the Baldcypress Family, which is related to Dawn and Giant Redwoods with ancestors dating back to the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. They’re called “bald” because the leaves, looking like needles, fall off every year. The trees grow 13-24 […]
As December 21st approaches, I reflect on the significance that the winter solstice held for indigenous peoples and mark it in my own life as a way to attune, as they did, to the order and rhythms of nature and the cosmos. Having studied Mesoamerican cultures, particularly the ancient Maya, for forty-five years, I […]
The random arrangement of elements juxtaposing lights and darks in this image comes near to creating abstraction because the subject matter is easily “read.” Another aesthetic feature here is the number of visual elements, each tonal change representing one element. More elements make an image more complex, so there’s increased potential in the information that […]
Look closely at this image. Anyone who has engaged in sustained creative activity, irrespective of medium and expression, has encountered a multitude of “happy accidents,” positive outcomes that occur spontaneously, without intention or planning. The occurrence of a dragonfly in this image was one of them. Somewhere in my early sixties I’d experienced so many […]
I recently wondered, what in my experience most often compels me to experience appreciation? The answer was immediate—water. I must think to myself how grateful I am for water on the average of twenty to thirty times a day—beginning with the luxury of being able to shower in a blend of hot and cold running […]
While this image calls me to contemplate the subject of “hope,” one of the experiences I hope for this summer is only somewhat represented here. Eliminate 99.9% of the people and everything else on the sand, and that would be more like the place in Florida where my family has vacationed for the past […]
Contemplative Photography 