counter customizable free hit
About This Website

This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.

Search this site
Recent Topics
Journal Categories
Archives by Month
Subscribe
listed

Photography Directory by PhotoLinks

Powered by Squarespace
Login
« ku # 405 | Main | ku # 403 and a commentary for your consideration »
Wednesday
Oct042006

Mary Dennis ~ Barriers and Solutions


I think I have figured out that there's a pretty strong connection between what I am feeling and what I choose to photograph. On the morning I shot this image I was feeling a bit worn down, numb and frustrated from dealing with a series of family matters. I have passed this grassy hill, this concrete barrier, this chain link fence probably a hundred times on my regular walks, but on this morning it spoke to me as I passed by. I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking about it at the moment I photographed it, but when I got home and viewed it on the computer I realized it was very much an equivalent to what was going on in my head. As in : there are ways around these barriers and they really aren't all that difficult to figure out. Now I can't say that my photographs are always a reflection of a mood, a feeling or an emotion. Sometimes a scene just lights up my eyes and mind and I trip the shutter. However, on this morning, concrete and chain link with green grass and a blue sky on the horizon pretty much summed it up.

Reader Comments (5)

Mary,
Very nice. I too believe there is a connection between the mental state and the creative subject matter. Feelings and memories, conflicts in life all contribute to the creative process, that goes beyond just a pretty scene. Most images lately have that stagnant presence. No feeling at all.
October 4, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterJim Jirka
I also agree about our emotional states affecting what we shoot. I have experienced it as well.

I like that the natural elements in this image, earth and sky, are parallel in relation to each other, as well as the man-made elements, concrete and metal.
October 4, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterTom Gallione
Oh, and thanks for the link to the Minor White article. It looks like there are some other good reads on the site as well.
October 4, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterTom Gallione
Thanks Tom but Mark is the one who inserted the link to the Minor White piece. I used the word [i]equivalent[/i] without a link. It was an interesting article though wasn't it? I especially like the last line from it: "With the theory of Equivalence photographers everywhere are given a way of learning to use the camera in relation to the mind, heart, viscera and spirit of human beings." I'm not sure about the use of the word [i]theory[/i] though. I believe it to be a fact with regard to my own photography.
October 4, 2006 | Unregistered Commentermary dennis
Mary,
I too find that the "stuff" going on in my life comes to the surface when I am out photographing and stuff that I've gone by hundreds of times suddenly seem to trigger me. Often, though, I end up trashing them the next day!
October 5, 2006 | Unregistered Commentermichelle Parent

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>