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 […]
Realities that appear separate are one One of the benefits of a photographic image is that it presents us with a moment, a fraction of a second that holds us there so we can reflect and appreciate the subject matter—and possibly some significance it might have. The live scene or situation in front of the […]
There’s more space than matter here, but the combination served a beautiful purpose. Photographed in Venice, Italy When we look at a chair, we see the wood, but we fail to observe the tree, the forest, the carpenter or our own mind. When we meditate on it, we can see the entire universe in […]
As above, so below One of the benefits of a photographic image is that it presents us with a moment, usually a fraction of a second, and holds us there afterward so we can reflect and appreciate the subject matter—and possibly some significance it might have. The live scene or situation in front of the […]
Soils are “living” systems—a combination of ground minerals and organic matter that began to form in the Cambrian Explosion (550 mya) after a mass extinction of life-forms between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods. Today, soils are to the land what plankton are to the oceans—the bottom or ground of the food chain. On average, […]
From Peter Wohllenben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, I learned that the roots underground are more involved in a tree’s survival than anything growing above it. They withstand severe changes in climate, regrow trunks from time to time and it’s there where centuries of experience are stored. While trees don’t appear to have a central […]
When I began using a camera creatively, I approached trees and forests mainly as objects to facilitate the development of my aesthetic eye. Recently, Peter Wohllenben’s book The Hidden Life Of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate expanded my appreciation by describing their acute sensory and communication processes. After reading that book I discovered […]
When I was in high school, the authors of biology and chemistry textbooks considered independent motion as the defining characteristic of life. If it moved on its own accord, it was alive—organic. Viewed under a microscope, cells and bacteria move. Minerals do not. Water moves, but it was not considered to be “alive,” except […]
One of the benefits of a photographic image is that it presents us with a moment, usually a fraction of a second, and holds us there so we can reflect and appreciate the subject matter—and possibly some significance it might have. The live scene or situation in front of the camera is part of […]
The coming of Fall coincided with the printing of this image for a friend. Seeing it large was delightful, and it triggered my appreciation of the things that make the season delectable—sweater weather, yellow, orange and red trees, cider, pumpkin pie, trips to apple farms and later on Thanksgiving. I tend to photograph more […]
Contemplative Photography 