Robert will be here Dec 17 - 21st as a guest artist.
Photography has been part of my life for 50+ years but honestly, I didn’t have a clue how powerful photography could be until moving to Durango and bored, I decided to point the lens at myself and take a long look at who I am and how I had been engaging with life. I saw that I did not know myself at all and that I was stuck in old behaviors and habits of feeling and thought and my images reflected that sameness. Change was required. My partner and I started practicing Insight meditation, my heart began to open and I began to feel a lightness and a joy in living. I started to smile at the world, instead of frowning. I began to open to the light and to the incredible abundance of beauty and love that is life. When I started photographing again, it wasn’t for ego but for simple joy, and the flowers are not subjects but friends and together we dance. These images I have chosen to share, reveal glimpses of joy, love and the endless dance of life that eternally holds us. My “art” has taught me that somehow, simply looking with loving eyes transforms the experience and transforms lives.
A word on process: Noting that the camera always points both ways it is wise to understand that what and how we photograph - rocks and trees and flowers and faces we encounter out there is - on some level a reflection of what and who we are too. The camera can be a tool to help center, quiet and calm the mind, a way of becoming aware of the different filters (opinions and views) placed upon the mind and the stories we tell ourselves. The contents of our unexamined mind and the old ways and old habits that, without regular cleaning, begin to clutter the rooms of our heart.
Helpful insights: “Magic happens when you can slow your mind down to 1/25th of a second.” (Minor White). “In order to see, we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” (Monet). “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind, few.” (Suzuki) and “it is only through the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye” (The Little Prince).
Notes on the images you will see if you come to Create Art December 17 - the 21st.
Flowers will greet you as you enter the room. Primarily images of Irises lovingly cultivated by Iris Bob. Images created using a self taught method of in-camera multiple exposures and self invented post processing techniques using Photoshop. Making images in this manner is a time consuming practice requiring mental discipline, inventive use of perspective, allowing for blended juxtapositions of color, form and light. Demanding patience, physical contortions, and above all humor and grace. I call this style of work contemplative photography.
On the back side of the flower garden is the “forest.” Images of trees, leaves, the colors of autumn, forms of decay and death all taken with the playfulness of a child, beginner’s mind and an open heart. I call this type of image creation: Shooting with the eyes of a child. The practice is simple. I pick up a camera and go for a walk. When my attention is caught, I do not name or label what is given to me. The only thing my mind does is decide do I like? Not like? Neutral. If I like, I play until an image comes that gives an inner sense of completion. Then, I thank the subject and walk on.