man & nature # 46 ~ outside lies magic
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 10:03AM 
Leaves and suff • click to embiggenOver this past weekend Aaron, The Cinemascapist, was in Woodstock (yes, that Woodstock) to attend a workshop at The Center For Photography At Woodstock. The workshop was conducted by David Hilliard, a photographer who has been helpful to / generous with Aaron with his time and advice over the past year or so.
Aaron also got to spend considerable time with the CPW director, thanks to an introduction from Cornelia Hediger, recently highlighted here on The Landscapist, with whom Aaron has been having a conversation.
Aaron came away from the weekend with a Xerox copy "teaser" of the first 19 pages of a book (handed out by Hilliard), Outside Lies Magic ~ Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places by a professor from Harvard, John R. Stilgoe - "... a book about the acute observation of ordinary things, about becoming aware in everyday places, about seeing in utterly new ways, about enriching your life unexpectedly."
The book is not about photography. It is about the "art of exploration" - the subject that he teaches at Harvard. From the little I have read, if I were in his neighborhood, I might be inclined to see if I could monitor his class. I like what he has to say:
Abandon, even momentarily, the sleek modern technology that consumes so much time and money now, and seek out the resting place of a technology almost forgotten. Go out side and walk, a bit, long enough to forget programming, long enough to take in and record new surroundings.
Flex the mind, a little at first, then a lot. Savor something special, Enjoy the best kept secret around - the ordinary, everyday landscape that rewards any explorer with magic.
The whole concatenation of wild and artificial things, the natural ecosystem as modified by people over the centuries, the built environment layered over layers, the eerie mix of sound and smells and glimpses of neither natural or crafted - all of it is free for the taking, for the taking in. Take it, and take it in, take in more every weekend, every day, and quickly it becomes the theater that intrigues, relaxes, fascinates, seduces, and above all expands any mind focused on it. Outside lies utterly ordinary space open to any casual explorer willing to find the extraordinary. Outside lies unproggramed awareness that at times becomes directed serendipity. Outside lies magic.
Sound familiar?
Stilgoe goes on to say:
And I hope this book makes each reader aware that education and entertainment media teach nothing about being original, about being innovative, about being creative or inventive. How does one learn to be creative? How does one develop the ability to produce lots of new ideas, to respond to problems easily and energetically? I think the answers lie outside.
Exploration encourages creativity, serendipity, invention.
I find it interesting, as I have stated before, that a book about "exploring", not about photography, not even about art, might be one of the best books a photographer might read to grow and develop as a picture maker. Consider this spot on advice for a photographer:
Explorers quickly learn that exploring means sharpening all the senses, especially sight. See intently means scrutinizing, staring, narrowing the eyes ...
A statement not unlike that of Walker Evans when he opined:
Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.
And, as a somewhat timely addendum to my recent entry about time and photography, man & nature # 40 ~ time in a bottle, there is this from a review of the book:
Stilgoe provides a fascinating pocket history of the American landscape, as striking in its originality as it is revealing. Stilgoe dissects our visual surroundings; his observations will transform the way you see everything. Through his eyes, an abandoned railroad line is redolent of history and future promise; front lawns recall our agrarian past; vacant lots hold cathedrals of potential.
Let me say that from reading these few excerpts of his book, I'd swear that Stilgoe has been following me around for the past decade or so, somehow reading my inner thoughts and ideas as I have pictured my way through the magic outside.
Any comments (on a non-politic thought)?
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: Straun Gray wrote: "...Have you ever photographed the Adirondack fir waves? An uninformed response will only see a bunch of dead trees. A purely ecological approach sees an averaging determinism at the expense of individual variety. Somewhere in between lies and informed exploration, and the potential for poetry.
Fir waves from Whiteface • click to embiggenmy response - Yes, I have pictured Adirondack fir waves although I have not made a "study" or body of work of them.
And you are entirely correct when you state that "[A]n uninformed response will only see a bunch of dead trees". Very few here have any idea what a fir wave is. Which is unfortunate, because, as I have often stated - when it comes to making or viewing pictures, the more you know, the more you can know.
On that note, I suspect that not many at all know this about fir waves.
Reader Comments (9)
Outside Lies Magic is a great book. The wife read it last year near the end of her project where she walked every street in Berkeley, and then handed it on to me. A great motivator to look. And photograph more.
I agree completely. I think first, above photography, we have to enjoy being. Living near the Great Smoky Mountains, I love being in the creeks, on the trail, in the forest and on top of the mountains. I use photography as a reason to get out into nature. When there, I am in another world. Just me, the camera and lots of things to shoot. So apply put, “Abandon, even momentarily, the sleek modern technology that consumes so much time and money now, and seek out the resting place of a technology almost forgotten Abandon, even momentarily, the sleek modern technology that consumes so much time and money now, and seek out the resting place of a technology almost forgotten.”
I think to be a good artist, photographer, or anything for that matter, it takes more hard work than creativity. You can have all the creativity in the world, but if you don’t work at it you have nothing. Hard work comes in play in the learning, perfecting and doing aspects.
That said, I think sometime we try too hard to be creative. Such as “I should get a great photograph every time go out” and when I don’t, I start thinking I need to be in another place or different time and I will try harder next time. By trying too hard, photography can become a drudgery. We can get bored and keep shooting the same things over and over, too much pressure. Creativity dies.
So, just be. Let things go. Get in the zone. Enjoy where you are and what you are doing and then open your eyes. Sometime just having the frame of mind can makes things happen.
Wow, it is funny to see how some concepts from the 50/60 by Guy Debord sometime pop up unexpectedly.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dérive
If you don't have creativity, you don't have sh**. The hard work philosophy has been beaten into current photo lore. To me it is just bunk. The problem nowadays, is the feeling that hard work is more important than creativity. That is why all we see are vivid sunrises and sunsets, with no creativity from the artist. Just copies of everyone else.
Besides today's picture, which I cherish very much, thanks for the hint on Stilgoe's book. I just ordered it, guessing that it will help me broaden my perception.
"As long as a man feels that he is the most important thing in the world, he cannot really appreciate the world around him. He is like a horse with blinders, all he sees is himself, apart from everything else."
- Carlos Castaneds, Journey to Ixtlan
It is easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Stilgoe is so beguiling because he knows so much, and if you want to emulate him you will have to accumulate a broad education that includes architecture, industrial archeology, ecology, history and geology. As an amateur I can't think of a better way to do that than online, indoors.
Have you ever photographed the Adirondack fir waves? An uninformed response will only see a bunch of dead trees. A purely ecological approach sees an averaging determinism at the expense of individual variety. Somewhere in between lies and informed exploration, and the potential for poetry.
It's all about curiosity, isn't it? Curiosity drives interest, drives learning. Learning stuff (at least for me) is what make life interesting. Creativity stems from wanting to apply that knowledge and curiosity in new ways.
The only way one really satisfies the curious itch is to be abroad.
I have to confess that Bicknell's thrush was indeed off my radar :-)
The principle that a tangled untidiness is good for songbirds is one I have met before. In coppiced woodland, which is felled on a periodic cycle and allowed to regrow from the stump, you get an 'ugly' bramble patch phase which is essential to maintain a healthy population of small birds and mammals.
My feeling is that a lack of exploration is a general symptom of professionalisation. So much contemporary photography has to be justified beforehand, either to get a grant, or to appear conceptual from the outset. This biases against the open eye.
But. From the quotes you gave I'm a little distrustful of what seems to be a Boy Scout approach to exploration: the idea hat being outdoors is an unquestioned good. It's ironic to sell a questioning, curiosity-driven approach by leveraging the conventional warm-and-fuzzies people think they should feel about the Great Outdoors. There again, perhaps I'm reading too much into the quotes.