civilized ku # 2994 / ku # 1344-49 ~ momentary patterns

2 barns ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
bridge rust #1 ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
bridge rust #2 ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
water, leaves, grasses ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
stream side tangle #5 ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
fungus on birch ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
roadside tangle #6 ~ Black Brook, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

In yesterday's entry I wrote referred to part of Teju Cole's definition of photography: the selection, out of the flow of time, of a moment to be preserved. A process about which John Szarkowski wrote that, "Immobilizing these thin slices of time has been a continuing source of fascination for the photographer." Both of those words and ideas from differing authors speak directly and forcefully to me regarding my continuing source of fascination with picture making. However, Szarkowski went on the write about a concept with which I have been pondering / confronting regarding my picture making:

.... while pursuing this experiment he discovered something else: he discovered that there was a pleasure and a beauty in the fragmenting of time that had little to do what was happening. It had to do with with seeing the momentary patterns of lines and shapes that had been previously concealed within the flux of movement.

I have been pondering / confronting because I been troubled / confounded by the fact that in my picture making I am much more attracted to my pictures of various referents than I am by the referents themselves ("what was happening").

That is to write that if, as I believe, beauty and pleasure can be found in the mundane, the trivial or what some might label as the banal aspect of everyday life, why is it that that I do not, upon seeing "the momentary patterns of lines and shapes that had been previously concealed within the flux of movement", sit and ponder the reality of that which is right there in front of me?

Why is it that the picture I make of that reality holds my attention, interest, appreciation and admiration more than the thing itself? Or, so it seems.

To be certain, I live where I live by desire, intent and design. That fact is due to the fact that I truly and deeply love the place called the Adirondacks: an emotional trait instilled in me early in my childhood - as well as my love and appreciation of the nature world in general - as a result of the experience of summers spent in this place. So, it is fair to say that I picture this place because I appreciate and "admire" it. It is, by no stretch of the imagination, not merely a place which is a target rich environment for picture making.

As I continue to post more pictures from my 1/5 of a second experience, I will also continue to ponder and confront the relationship between my reality and the pictures I make of it.