This is the ninth posting in the series, “The Aesthetic Dimensions.” The first, posted January 6, 2019, explains the series and deals with “Abstraction.” To follow the series, go to davidlsmithcontemplativephotography.com and click “Follow” (bottom right corner of the Home page). The postings will show up in your mailbox on Sunday mornings. To find other […]
In this image I observe and celebrate the aesthetic of the present moment, happenings and combinations of elements that once existed and are gone. In this instance, the patterns and textures lasted perhaps a day at most before being lost to the incoming tide. It’s the story of impermanence, of risings and fallings, comings […]
There are many ways that photography can feed the soul. Recently I had reason to reprint Dry Dock Boat and, as the image was taking shape in the developer, my heart was activated before I even had a chance to reflect on the subject matter. Later, I decided to contemplate the impulse of heart […]
In a previous blog I noted that it’s the brain that sees, not the eyes which send data via electrical impulses to the brain where they are interpreted to make seeing instantaneously possible. The image above, taken with a zoom lens, reveals something about perception—beyond merely seeing. In an instant the eye/brain/nervous system have […]
There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere. Ralph Waldo Emerson From atoms to galaxies the sphere is a prominent form because it requires the least amount of energy to form and has the least possible area for the […]
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 Vermeer, Rembrandt, Turner and Hooper are largely characterized and revered for the qualities of light they depict. Light and shadow are […]
In this image I observe and celebrate the aesthetic of the present moment, images that represent happenings and combinations of elements that existed and are gone. In this instance, these patterns and textures lasted perhaps a day before being lost to the incoming tide. For me, this image tells the story of impermanence, of […]
There are many ways that photography can feed the soul. My contemplations so far have largely consisted of metaphoric and imaginative reflections with the images in front of me. Recently had reason to reprint Dry Dock Boat and, as the image was taking shape in the developer, my heart was activated before I even […]
