A blog about photography & transformative art
Viewing entries in
Daily Blog
The cloak of summer fog makes the Marin coastline a play land of imagination. High in the coastal hills the chilly stew hugs land like a translucent shroud. One can walk straight into a dream—eyes wide open. It's a short trip to a land of eternal childhood.
Being an artist is a lonely adventure. There are times when the truth about one's art can only be found in solitude. All the blabbing and chatter that go along with being a social animals gets in the way of seeing. And feeling. The light is in the aloneness which, paradoxically results in the ultimate in connection. More times than not, when we are socializing, our egos are front-and-center. But, egos and art are a deadly combination. Nothing destroys pure creativity more quickly than worrying about what others think. So, aloneness is key to connecting oneself to the universal energy that is the mystery of creativity.
Most artists I know, with few exception, simplify their work as they mature. It may be that the passage of life beckons us towards the essence of things. Maybe we simply tire of complexity. Perhaps our senses reach overload after accumulating a lifetime of details. Our attic gets cluttered and we need to have a garage sale.
There is a dark, dreamlike drama that I search for in landscape. Even on cheerful, sunny days, I try to find a deepening shadow. High noon in the summer is, to me, almost unbearable. I crave the places of mystery, the depth of brooding light. Summer is a tough time of year for me. There's no place to hide.
Photography is magic. I suppose we all know that but it's become so common and easy that we have become desensitized to the miracle of it. I do love the way most everyone plays with photography now. I see people making images everywhere I go, with phones, automated cameras, and gadgets of all kinds. Yet, digital imaging is so immediate and so very automated that I wonder if some of the magic and wonder have been bred out of photography.
Photography has the ability to impart monumental importance upon the most mundane of objects. The tactile lusciousness of a deliberately crafted photo almost automatically makes anything with texture to be important. Texture, form, and singularity are the essence of monument and photography, as a visual medium, gives us the tools to achieve this effectively.
High atop one of the tallest hills in the Marin Headlands is an FAA antenna. Looking like an odd, little silo, it can be seen from quite a distance. As one approaches it, its strangeness emerges. It stands in utter silence, braced against the ocean wind. Surrounded by a gleaming white fence, it is unapproachable. Warning signs tell hikers to stay away, stay off, don't tamper. Lives are at stake. In the post-9/11 world one dares not go near anything related to air traffic safety. I figured the fence was electrified or had some weird force field emanating from it. I steered way clear of the damned thing.
"Do you guys know how to get back on the Coastal Trail, going north?" I asked two hikers. I was getting desperate. I'd been hiking for about twelve miles on a hike that was supposed to be less than eight. I'd passed the stage of being curiously lost.
It's been awhile since I wrote about the eucalyptus tree in the Corte Madera Town Park. I try to visit the tree often but sometimes I simply neglect it. Other times I go, say hello, and can't find artistic inspiration.
Please forgive my current obsession with Muir Beach sand. It will pass. I've been photographing these small sand vignettes for years, squirreling them away on my hard drive, not quite knowing what to do with them. I've always liked them but wondered if anyone else would feel the same way. I feel shy about them. But, creativity has its oddities and for some reason, right now, these simple, little images need to see the light of day.
