ku # 1316 / diptych # 162 / triptych # 22 (ku # 1317-19) ~ the unbearable lightness of light

stand of trees ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
libations / tree fungus w pine cones ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
it's never quite the same ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

I suspect that people who, in their daily routine, normally would not pay too much attention to light would find it nearly impossible to ignore "the light" at a place like Rist Camp.

I have often written that, in my picture making, I rarely "chase the light". That more often than not, I only make pictures which feature "the light" when it chases me. Which does not mean that I don't appreciate "the light" when I see it. However, I will not always make a picture featuring "the light" when I see it. To the contrary, I often deliberately avoid making a picture of "the light" because I have absolutely no interest in making yet another cliché picture of it.

Re: "the light", George Eastman, the man who put a camera in the hand of any everyday person who wanted one and made picture making easy (you push the button, we do the rest) said:

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

With that statement, it could be reasonably postulated that Eastman was advocating "chasing the light". On the other hand, no one knew more about the "mechanics" of light striking a light-sensitive surface than Eastman and his legion of research and development cadre. For him and them, knowing about light was their key to photography.

In any event, at Rist Camp "the light" is chasing me minute to minute, or so it seems.

FYI, George Eastman also said:

The world is moving, and a company that contents itself with present accomplishments soon falls behind.

George must be spinning like a top high-speed drill press in his grave.