Over Three Months Without a Single Post? WTF?

Spring Summer Autumn Winter

48″ x 48″ Acrylic on Canvas

I do have a bit of a habit to go into hibernation during the Winter months!  I can honestly say that I am ready for the approach of Spring!  I can not complain, even though this Winter had its sporadic cold weeks, it really has not been too bad.  I took advantage of the cold weather this year to spend more time in my painting studio.  I did manage to get out to do some snow camping a couple of times, do some cold weather photography, and enjoy the magnificent sunsets that occur this time of year. But my most productive time was spent in front of the easel.  I share with you all today a series I recently completed of the four seasons.  These abstract, interpretive landscapes were simply a wonderful joy to create.  I love painting large and I love color!

Write More

 

Write more.  That just may be the honest intention of every writer everywhere.  I aspire to write more.  On paper or on some sort of electronic format that is.  I write constantly in my head.  I write in the morning while drinking coffee and watching the birds in the yard.  I write while driving down a country road scouting for photographic opportunities. I write while working out at the gym.  All in my head.

I do carry a notebook where I am constantly jotting down notes as I wonder.  These notes most often remain just so.  Happily residing between lines in a black case until, well who knows until.  As much fun as I have when I write, I often wonder to myself why I do not write more.  The books that I keep in my head may one day start to test the storage capacity of my brain.  I suppose I am not too worried about that, as I just keep adding to them.

This morning while writing a discourse about nonsense in my head, I figured something out.  I figured out that I actually do publish the majority of my writings.  Especially the text that I keep in my head.  Let us just call them thoughts.  I figured out that these words manifest into visual form, but not in the form of letters of the alphabet.  I write in a language that transcends all languages.  I figured out that a written work is nothing more than a thought communicated through a medium that can be read with the eyes and interpreted by the brain.  Just like a transcript is nothing more than  spoken word adapted into alphabetical form.  While the action of my thought may not always be recorded by letters that are arranged into words that form sentences that get organized into paragraphs, it is action nonetheless.

The vast majority of my writings are published into photographs, and now paintings.  This brilliant art form is actually a language that all can understand.  So much of what I think, whether it be technical or spiritual in nature, factual or fiction, serious or silly, becomes integrated into my work.  As a photographer, my work has a particular style.  This is due in large part to my tastes and preferences, but more so due to my thought.  My work is often an exploration.  I am on a journey where I have no idea where the pit stops are going to be and what direction I may turn.  I understand this and enjoy it very much.

I was recently inspired to purchase a handful of canvases at the local art store.  I purchased some brushes and paint.  While checking out, I wondered myself how exactly I ended up in line with these items in my cart.  I wondered what the hell I was really going to do with them.  After all, I am a photographer, right?  Nonsense, I thought to myself.  I remembered that I have absolutely no idea what I was or what exactly it is that I do!  I smiled with excitement as I put my new wares into my truck for the ride home to my studio.  Today, for the first time in just about seventeen years, I will also be a painter.  Today I will write on the canvas.  My thoughts will be expressed in a manner that can be read and interpreted by any particular language speaker.

 

Living is an Art

 

“Living is an Art”, a popular Reggae song by Roots legend Clinton Fearon, are truthful words to realize.   As a landscape photographer, I am not so much concerned with what I see, but how I am living at the moment when creating art.  It is no concern of mine whether the frame captured by the shutter release will become a gallery piece that is later purchased, or becomes a published image.  I choose instead to be mindful of the moment that is the inspiration of the art.

Creativity is unbounded by anything.  Creation through constraint just becomes production.  As if channeled through meditation, art is the result of no thing.  The great outdoors is marvelous to me.  Where ever I journey to in the wilderness, I am reminded of constant change.  I am also more mindful than ever that it is the journey, not the destination, that is important and beneficial.  This combination of impermanence and awareness is unbounded and abundant in nature.  I always have a camera with me while hiking, biking, floating, camping, or any other time that I am crossing the land.  While I have this interesting device with me, I do not always use it.

I do not think that art can be “pushed through” or generated.  I think that it is created and that such creation is developed without regard toward a final product.  Just like the destination of one’s journey may be immensely beautiful, without the journey there is no destination.  The photographs that I share are not simply a capture of what I see at a given location, at a given time of day, for a specific purpose, but rather a window into a particular moment of a reflection of thought and feeling.

I enjoy being outside, that is no secret.  I find that being outdoors is beneficial to me and aids my spiritual practice.  A large part of my personal journey is spent exploring and thinking about what ever it is that I discover.  Being in the moment requires much practice and patience.  I often chuckle to myself that the practice of photography requires just that, practice and patience.  I enjoy stumbling upon a beautiful spot, or one that is just interesting to me.  I enjoy the weather and how it changes without any concern or prior notice.  I enjoy simply sitting and looking around, using all of my human senses to appreciate my surrounding, using my mind to become aware of the moment.

Sometimes I watch the light change, the trees breathe, the birds fly.  Sometimes I watch the clouds roll in covering the sun’s rays as thunder silences the bird’s song.  Sometimes I feel the wet of rain temporarily drown the dry air.  Sometimes I watch the last bit of light glimmer on the grasses as the surrounding shrubbery and trees grow dark in contrast.  Sometimes I feel the weight of a false reality that is heavy like a dark cloud and full of fear.  Sometimes of I think about great potential, like white clouds ushering in a blue sky full of peace and promise.

Sometimes I grab my camera.

Sometimes I realize the words “Living is an Art”.

Out into the open

I currently live in Virginia, as I have for my entire life.  While I do spend quite a fair amount of time traveling, I spend the majority of my days in a tree shrouded land that is anything other than an open plain.  Our mountain range is the Appalachians, a series of baby mountains that crawl their way up the eastern side of the state.  If I want some bigger mountain fun, I can always drive down to the Smokey’s in North Carolina and Georgia, but even so I find myself day dreaming about the Rocky Mountains and their 14,000 foot elevations.  It is a classic symptom of wanting my ‘here’ to be ‘there’, but I understand that once my ‘there’ is ‘here’ I will want another ‘there’ to again be my ‘here’.

I embrace my ‘here’ and make good use of all the beauty that this land has to share.  I am excited about some upcoming time-lapse projects that I have planned for the Spring in Shenandoah National Park.  While I enjoy the forested land of my backyard, I often think about my travels out west and its offering of big skies and wide open terrain.  The other day I flipped through some photos of hikes made last year.  I like to revisit shots that I never processed, for what ever reason, thinking that I may find a new perspective in a few of them.  While it is rare to find that hidden gem that was previously neglected, it is fun to process a couple of old shots, if only to seemingly spend time out west again in my mind.  The photo that I share with you today is one such shot.  It is from the rim of the Red River and was taking during an afternoon hike there.  It is not the “wow” landscape photograph that was shot during the “golden hours”, in fact the lighting was quite harsh.  I remember being captivated by the moss-covered rock cliffs and the grass lands above.  I remember framing this shot so that the deep cut of the river through the land would lead the eye up and to the distant mountain.  At any rate, I hope that you enjoy this little piece of New Mexico!