Portraits of Nature
When Paul first mailed me about writing a few words
about my "approach to Pantheist photography," my first thought was to get
out and shoot some film. What better way to discuss than the subject
than a dry run? Simply take the camera and do it, but with special
attention towards the process.
Well it turns out that I am not a photographer. I
am a meditator.
Meditation \Med`i*ta"tion\, n. [OE. meditacioun, F.
m['e]ditation, fr. L. meditatio.]
1. The act of meditating; close or continued thought; the
turning or revolving of a subject in the
mind; serious
contemplation; reflection; musing.
My intent when I take a photograph is not to record
an image, but a portrait. One of my idols as a photographer is somewhat
unexpected considering my work tends to be landscapes. Still I have
always loved Annie Liebowitz's work. There is a particular image, a
portrait of soccer star Pelle. The entire image is of his feet. How
else do you photograph a man famous for using his feet? I have always
admired the way she captures what people are about, not just their image.
She makes portraits. I try to do the same, I simply make portraits
of natural places and landscapes.
In order to take a portrait, you have to know your subject.
That is where the meditation comes in. I simply wander about
until I find an interesting place, and then I give it my full attention.
Tracing each individual line in the minds eye, studing each shadow,
watching the play of light becomes an odd sort of mantra. You begin
to place importance on things that you might not have noticed other wise.
At the risk of slipping into animism, you find the spirit of the place.
That is is the end goal. An image that gives a feeling of the
area, not a view of it.
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to
the rest of the world. - John Muir
If I am taking
portraits, why nature? I think perhaps it is simply a matter of sharing.
Like some born again zealot, I head out into the woods and find "God"
there, and I want everyone else to see. I suppose deep down there is the
hope that if I can show the divinity in a tree by a stream, the viewer can
trace that divity back to nature on their own. Towards that end I often
play with the exposure, increase the contrast, etc. until, if you were standing
where I made the image you might be hard pressed to see the picture before you.
Sometimes what can be seen with a casual glance, and what can be felt
about a place is very different. Sometimes the best illustration of miles
of canyon is only a rock in the middle of it. Sometimes the best view of
an entire forest is found in one tree.
art
n 2: the creation of beautiful or significant
things;
In the end is it Pantheist art? What is our definition? If you look at it, and you find some of that awe you might feel gazing at the night sky, or pondering trees that live longer than nations, then it achived my goal, but is it art? Is it beautiful? Maybe to some people, but then is the Milky Way art? Is a cheetahs stride? Are the finest sculptures made by hands, or wind and water? Perhaps all that we can as humans can claim of our art, is that it is always at best a poor copy of Nature's own.
No matter how sophisticated you may be, a huge granite mountain cannot
be denied--it speaks in silence to the very core of your being. -
Ansel Adams
-Shane Smith
