Philosophy
Aesthetics
Over the centuries, the volume of writing on aesthetics is enormous. Although I have done my BA and some graduate work in philosophy, I confess – not with shame (I was into ontology) but with a little embarrassment - I have not read it. Even the work specifically dealing with photography since its invention is daunting to approach, and now with the digital revolution bringing this art to the hands of millions, the mass of discussion, opinion and analysis is bound to continue its exponential growth.
For this website, I want to cut to my own the bottom line and describe the foundation of my personal quest for beauty through photography. However, I will appeal to some ancient and some contemporary statements that have informed my world view – hence my camera view.
“There is no greater proof is God’s power than that He hides Himself from us by that which is nothing other than Him.” Ibn Ansari (1006-1088)
“Beauty is the foam on the surface of the sea of Illusion, surging with Reality.” Contemporary Spiritual teacher.
This universe is composed of nothing but light. Undiminished, it is the living flow of divinity with knowledge, power and bliss complete. But for creation it is first slowed down, experienced then as the limited consciousness of illusion, the stuff of thought and emotion. Slowed further, it is energy, and slowed to the extreme, it is experienced as material things –the physical world of quarks and photons. Even in matter, there is a gradient from the most delicate, responsive and vibrant material, to the darkest, most viscous substances. It is the nature of human consciousness in illusion to resonate with the matter it immerses itself in, and it is the goal of human life to lift all matter – all light – back toward its original divine frequencies, through love. Paraphrased from Dr. James Mackie
“Try to see God in the beauty of creation.” Avatar Meher Baba
So what has this to do with photography? My goal, hope, aspiration in my work is to bring to you a presence – a tiny distillation from the realm of wilderness that I love.
The comments I most prize are when people say they can imagine how great it was for me to “be there” to catch the scene. It tells me the photograph allowed them in some meaningful surrogate way to also “be there”, and imbibe the benefit.
Old Professor Chang, a Taoist, described the flow of spirit that pervades all things, and that gives life to art. In its perfusion it is not isolated from the witness, but includes and connects the object, the seer and the process of sight. My ideal is to bring this flow from the natural world – with its expansive, nourishing inspiration – into your view – through prints in your home or office and through vivid screens shots on your digital devices.
Photography is also an unparalleled tool to depict human life and awaken compassion, allowing viewers to share in, and lift in a small increment the suffering of others. Remember Dorothy Lange’s portraits from the Great Depression and the late Charles Moore who brought to us – and brought us to – the Civil Rights Movement. The mechanism is the same – the Participation Mystique of Levi-Strauss is alive and well in our modern digital civilization. Landscape photography just brings to us –and brings us to – the essential natural world.