imagist – Page 88 – Imagist Blog

a memory locked in silver on paper

“A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.” — Orson Welles

In the case of a cinematic camera that would involve pace, meter, cadence and rhythm in addition to composition and proper lighting; perhaps even requiring a editor/poet to maintain that which the camera captured. A still camera, as an eye in the head of a poet, however, has more modest aspirations; a haiku; a short verse; a poetic phrase; a simple, often overlooked truth; a bit of passion; a memory; a mystery; a reminder; a nagging or aching;

seen frozen within
silver halides, thoughts, (past times)
still, reading their signs

words bouncing off visions

“I trust pictures, but no pictures in my world – because I know what goes on.” — Naomi Campbell

So, sitting in the kitchen, reading The Nation, or rather articles within, which refer to the life, times and work of Roberto Bolaño, who said, “Then what is writing of quality? Well, what it’s always been: to know how to thrust your head into the darkness, know how to leap into the void, and to understand that literature is basically a dangerous calling.” among other groups of words, mostly in variations of Spanish.

this spring visioning
implores me to discover
infrarealist

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while discovering
a new light always springing
within my world view

Discovery: see what i’ve never seen (right where i am)

“My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been.” — Diane Arbus

I feel the same. A close second favorite thing is – to see that which I’ve never seen right where i’ve always been. To feel discovery in the here and now. A day without discovery feels dull; without the touch of spirit.

A slice from time (present) to stir memory (past) and imagination (future)

“…photographs open doors into the past but they also allow a look into the future.” — Sally Mann

Really? How so Sally? Don’t think so. Capture the precise present in the present that’s the remarkable thing about the still photograph – right then and there – done – after the exposure the photograph becomes an archaeological record – something to stir the memory and/or imagination – oops – maybe that’s what she meant – if a photograph stirs the imagining rather than the memory – does that bring a glimpse of the future? Perhaps so.

To photograph = to see

“In my view you cannot claim to have seen something until you have photographed it.” — Emile Zola

still feeling spring’s chill

morning provides designs which

tantalize the eye

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Portraits with real heart and soul

“Light is the shape and play of my thought… my reason for being a photographer.” — Barbara Morgan

My niece, Ellie, asked me to make photographs of she and her fiance, Sean, on Easter Sunday. She had long kept the idea of creating facsimiles for photographs I made of her parents some 39 years earlier. The rest of their series can be seen here.

And of course as long as we’re set up we also involved my granddaughter, Sophia, daughter, Tanya and son in law, Jerome. With more from their session here.

And of course my other niece, Mandy, and her husband, Greg, their son, Erickson and his new little sister, Libby. With additional possibilities here.

And of course there’s my sister, Donna, and brother-in-law, Ray, reenacting that day back in 1969; and their other possibilities here.

And my sweetheart, Ann – before striking the set.

Spring arrives along with 6″-8″ of snow

“When gifts are given to me through my camera, I accept them graciously.” – Minor White

Second day of spring arrives in Mequon with a prediction of 6 – 10 inches of snow. At 11:00 am I point the camera out my office door to document the arrival of spring.

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“If I knew how to… “

“If I knew how to make a good photograph, I’d do it every time.” – Robert Doisneau.

“…an exercise in vigilance; the hope of noticing something which will make me understand more clearly what still resists being understood; what still lies obscured but at least now [is] glimpsed.” Dan Frank used these words to describe his role as an editor; in A Symposium on Editing, The Threepenny Review, Spring 2008.

These same words describe well the act of photography (when practiced with a degree of seriousness); photographers work in ways similar to editors.

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Catching a moment… passing… and true.

“Photography to me is catching a moment which is passing, and which is true.” – Jacques-Henri Lartigue

sometimes we are still
to catch that which passes by

sometimes we pass by
that which lies in stillness

suddenly all made
perfect sense; the jungle filled
with songs, sex, fights, flights…

care fully, slipping
within transparent designs
posing as true visions

Pictures as thoughts?

“A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.” – Sir Joshua Reynolds

Oh dear; do your rooms have quality thoughts hanging about?
While waiting for my take-out Mu Shu Shrimp last evening I thought…

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then it occurred to me that…

and yet…

what do you think?

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