For 1/25th of a Second: A Tribute to Minor White

The first introduction to "serious" photography was a guy with the auspicious name of  Minor White.   Though he thought and sought in black and white and I do so in color, ours were and are kindred souls.  It seems that Minor inspired many of us who were drawn to the camera back in the "good ole days;" the 60's.  But no matter the time or times It is a gift to be able to inspire another.   The title of this post refers to a saying of his that to be able to "truely photograph one must be able to stop their minds for at least 1/25th of a second. 

That much time can seem like a life time if the beat is fast and the rhythm is captivating.

I am learning sometimes I have to approach it all from an odd angle, a skewed viewpoint, to obfusticate and to befuddle those who look but don't see:
 
My creative process is thus:  Though the instant (s) of creativity may be plentiful or eluisive on any given occasion, they will arise and when they arise I will know.  I will be ready.  I will be open and concentrated on  seeing what is being presented to me. I will experience alertness, readiness, a kind of quickening of spirit. Alert, I will see with clarity, with imagination and delight.  Each time I look I will see something different, something new, some new juxtaposition / composition that sometimes makes me laugh outloud, or dance a silent jig within and give pause and a breath of gratitude for what was shown to me and what I have found.  I will be drawn deeper into pure color, into simple lines, into textures and odd juxtapositions. curtesy  sometimes of my own desperate imagination and/or need to be clever.  But.   When it works I seem to experience gratefulness and dumbfoundedness.

In those brief but sufficient "moments" of time as the lens concentrates the light  and concentrates the energy of mind until access is gained and new ways of seeing and new ways of being are recognized.... and mind mirrors Mind and other windows open.

Photographically its not what I do but how and maybe why I do it that seems to reveal the ordinary in un-ordinary ways.  To me, every time I go to photograph it is an adventure.  I have no clue no foresight, no visions, no psychic connections, no insights and no astrological predictions.  I have no certainty about much if anything at all.  All I know is that I have good intentions and a playful minds-eye, and that I will experience something that will impart delight and spark the arising of gratitude.


  Doc Rob

The technique: in theory

                                                                          

The photographic technique in theory is based on repeatablity but not consistability.  Since each datum of time that we can realistically be mindful of changes constantly the camera never ever points at the exact same thing twice.  The art in practice, it seems, is based on investigation, on imagination, on concentration. on play and delight-ful-ness.  More and more I see that the real "shutter" is inside and sometimes in some combination of all the above there is no shutter.  No curtain of separation.  No You and no I.  Just us!  Glory Be!

It was cold, nothing glowed until after I stopped and became mindful of the tops of two old trees and noted the texture, shape, line, and light of sinew with the sky.

Then I felt humbled. Then I knew I was standing on sacred ground in holy space and was moved to feel gratitude, moved to bumble over a few heartfelt datum of metta and to experience the abiding love of the universe and the gift that is this life.

Then things started to glow.