What we are not, can reveal what we are in essence Every photograph I’ve ever made is a portrait of impermanence. After the shutter clicks, the subject changes. The light grows brighter or darker. A cloud moves. A flower fades. A child grows older. A face changes. Even mountains—given enough time—rise and disappear. Photography teaches […]
What the Butterfly Reveals About Humanity’s Painful Transformation My contemplations tend to focus on the present. They’re usually prompted by one of my photographs, the social climate, or patterns in current events—what people are talking about online or in person. For these I generally write with a “closeup” or “normal” lens. This topic requires something […]
“The Force” and “The Way” — Avatars, Movies, and the Future of Human Flourishing I hadn’t thought much about the word “avatar” until James Cameron’s movie came out. After enjoying it immensely, I realized that he’d used technology to analogously portray the spirit-to-matter process whereby Divine Spirit vibrationally “individuates” a life force or soul, which […]
Those in Alignment with Self (Soul) Let’s begin at the beginning. Oh, actually we can’t—the soul is immortal, so there was/is no beginning. Okay, so I’ll fast-forward, ignore previous incarnations and just focus on this one. There too, the word “beginning” needs to be qualified, because decision-making—if it’s to be “authentic”—begins prior to assuming a […]
Chapter 10: Gradation Aesthetically speaking, “gradation” refers to a gradual or graded change of tone over a surface. Artists refer to it as a grading of “values.” In color photography, gradation can be a transition from one hue to another or to a different level of saturation or brightness. In black and white, it’s the […]
Seeing the best in us raises the rest of us and gives us hope There are certain people in the world who bolster our estimation of humanity and contribute hope for the future. By the quality of their character, defined by social theorist Amitai Etzioni as “the psychological muscle that moral conduct requires,” they demonstrate […]
Under stress, we can at least gather our feathers This image of a flamingo illustrates the kind of composure referred to as “equanimity”—steadiness of mind under stress. Calm. His feathers aren’t ruffled. His posture reminds me of the social science phenomenon of “cocooning,” a term coined in the 90’s by trend forecaster Faith Popcorn to describe how […]
What we see depends on where we stand In a film script, Point of View (POV) can indicate the camera position or the viewpoint of a character. In a screening of an episode of “24,” the TV series featuring Kiefer Sutherland, the President of the United States and the Vice-president vehemently disagreed on whether or […]
In my experience, more people seem to be moved more by color photographs than black and white. That’s understandable—color is more visually stimulating and it’s how we see the world. Our brains are wired for it. In our photography classes at RIT we sometimes heard some adage: “If you can’t make it good, make it […]
Wisdom teachers are putting the abuses of freedom in check. The iris symbolizes hope, wisdom, faith, trust, and bravery. The biosphere has hit a limit, delivering a constant stream of evidence in the form of more frequent and increasingly destructive fires, flooding, droughts, tornadoes and earthquakes. At the same time, and probably related at some […]
Contemplative Photography 