“Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.” Jean Cocteau
The Gordian Knot
Tag: Perspective
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
“Days like this, like your day today. Maybe the rain on the window trying to get through to you. What do you see today? What is it? Where are you? The best days are sometimes the first, sometimes the middle and even sometimes the last.” Charles Bukowski, Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
Nowhere to Go
“Enlightenment is understanding that there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be except exactly who you’re being right now.” Neale Donald Walsch
Viewer Discretion
When you realize that by changing your perspective, big things can be seen as little things, it becomes much harder to worry about anything.
The Medium is the Message
I was re-reading a Bryan Peterson book on composition and he suggests that compelling photography is not about the content but about the arrangement of the content. I think that’s only partly true but he does have a point.
I went out for my usual newspaper and coffee and passed a wide variety of interesting but common things like huge pumpkin stands, Amish children of the corn and even a rare steam engine at the Strasburg Rail Road.
But I was looking for something different and a mile from home I stopped to check out some potatoes. They had three sizes and I noticed this old cash jar that said medium on it right next to the medium potatoes.
For some reason this fascinated me and I decided to photograph it featuring the jar as the main subject. Between the Amish woman that owned the stand and the potato junkies that kept pulling in it was distracting but I persevered.
Eventually I realized that I could move things around to get the composition I wanted and the last three images I took were the best. Despite the clouds and an umbrella blocking the light I got a shot I’m happy with.
Now is this the kind of thing I would hang on my wall? No, but my Psychiatrist has been asking me for a photo and I think if I had this printed and framed she would not only stop asking me but would probably give me better meds.
Assume The Position
“If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.” Diane Arbus
Dirty Jobs
“Throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness you had thought could never be yours.” Dale Carnegie
Note: the phrase throw yourself into some work does not have to be taken literally.
The Van Gogh Effect
“Everyone said to Vincent van Gogh, You can’t be a great painter, you only have one ear. And you know what he said? I can’t hear you.” Steve Carell
