There's Always Something...

Ode to Stonehenge...

When life gets to the place where it begins to lose mystery and perspective, I find Stonehenge never lets me down. We never got to go there, but I've studied it intensely and find it touches the heart of my love for pottery, religion, and the good earth.

Wabi Sabi...

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that has appealed to me - no, called to me - in my pottery, photography and theology. It can be roughly summarized in these words:

Wabi-sabi is a beauty in things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

It is a beauty in things modest, worn and humble.

It is a beauty in things earthy, wild and unconventional.

It is a perfect description of Jesus. It catches images of beauty in unexpected places and things.

What an Honor!

Some amazing news from a country preacher. Today one of my Photoblogs, "Secrets From the Desert" ranks number 5 in the "Outstanding Photo" category and my photoblog has made their "Hall of Fame" at number 25. I find it a bit hard to believe and, of course, with characteristic humility, hasten to share it with you.

Here's the picture that got the honor. The two trees in question are scheduled to be cut down tomorrow. I'm heading over today with my Nikon to get a few last shots.

Off to the West...

Am getting ready for a walk on the wild side tomorrow - my third photo shoot in the Hassayampa River Wilderness area west of here. It is a haunting place of trees, rocks, shrubs and a river that runs through the state of Arizona, mostly underground. It is much like it was 500 years ago.

One walks is silence broken only by birdsong and the trudge of one's own boots. I have seldom seen anyone else there. There is always the awareness, however, of being constantly watched by wildlife somewhere just off in the distance. It's their country, thank God. And I know that.

I will bring back some photos for you - which is part of my reason for going.

The Desert Fascinates Me...

I did a photoshoot last week at Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden and lost myself in the sheer beauty of the desert plants that have grown up there over the decades. It is a magical kingdom - a desert in the midst of the desert. An educational treasure.

More Than Snapshots...

Last week I went up into the White Tank Mountains for a photoshoot. When I do something like that, I don't have anything particular in mind. I do know it will be desert or mountain related. That's what there is up there!

I simply walk around and try to be alert to things that cry out or whisper softly to me. It is quite an unusual experience - being intentionally sensitive to what is quietly there.

I don't always understand what it is that I see. Sometimes it seems a hint, a goad, a lure. What these things have in common is - well, they seem to point beyond themselves. Hence the title of my photoblog, "more than we thought..."

Sometimes I feel a bit jealous of photographers who live in places with breathtaking beauty all around. Oceans, streams, forests, etc. Yet, one thing that amazes is that there is beauty almost anywhere. Some of the best photos I've taken were captured within a few blocks of where I live.

Some of these images don't reveal very much until one gets them home, out of the camera and into the photo editing software on my computer. Work the exposure, the colors, the white balance - often obscure things and unexpected mysteries seem to emerge. One begins to see beyond the apparent and into the mystery of the object. "The beyond in our midst" as Paul Tillich once put it. It gets personal. Becomes a poem or a song or a mood. Sometimes you even get a glimpse of yourself. Yes, you do.

I love that. Will look up an example and add it to this post...

Yes. Here's one from the White Tanks. A Saguaro.

Powered by ScribeFire.

The Lost Essence of the Good Life...

I often think of simplicity, modesty, minimalism, paradox, irony, subtlety, silence - the strange, little unassuming qualities that make life what it truly can become - and wonder where it all went,

Powered by ScribeFire.

An Unexpected Honor...

A rather uneventful Monday morning took on a whole new glow when I was notified by myshutterspace that my photo, today's pixyblog, more than we thought... has been selected as their "photo of the day".

Blogging can be a thankless task, but things like that keep us rolling.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Editing Photographs...

Sometimes I like to take one of my photos that didn't quite make it and try to make it more interesting by editing it with an appropriate program on my laptop.

This one was taken on the Hassayampa River preserve in Arizona and didn't stand out at all. I darkened the sky a bit and suddenly had something better.

 

Coach...

This is "Tarascon Diligence" by Vincent VanGogh, 1888. It is one of his earliest painting and a copy appeared this morning in the New York Times.

I know nothing about the painting except that I couldn't stop looking at it. It is well over a hundred years old, so could hardly be called "relevant." It is 19th century Europe. I am 21st century Arizona. So it can't be a matter of location.

But it's the "Arizona" that I read into it that enables the painting to grab me so. It might as well have been Tombstone, Arizona, 1888,  and I might as well have been inside the tavern having a drink with fellow travelers to prepare for the trip ahead.

This is something that sets apart a great piece of art, regardless of the art form - timelessness - spacelessness. It comes to meet us and drags us someplace new and different, yet the same.

But there's more. This Van Gogh points beyond itself. There's the feel of impending drama, action, soon to take place - very soon now.

There's that  ladder for the freight and luggage  to be worried up ... and for the guards to mount as well - when it's time to leave.

A second stage indicates we're at some crossroads where travelers and merchants cross paths.

The brushwork and the wonderful muted colors catch the spirit of the day and the situation. It was this which first caught my attention. This is antique, at its finest. Wabi Sabi. The crude ruggedness of history.

But the empty coach, awaiting first the horses, then the drivers, finally the passengers, lift up the anticipation of things still to come. It is unfinished action. Preparation. Potential.

And what will happen, once they are underway? Dangers? Dust? Heat? Breakdowns? Death? Unexpected opportunities? Who can say? It, like life itself, is a mystery. It is to be approached with reverence and awe.