Coming Out

9/24/09 by me

 

It lies within.

Place of heart and soul,

Provisionally, my spirit.

 

When moved, and met,

It discloses the ephemeral.

But, so often, it is entombed.

 

Confined in body, tightly wound;

Constrained by mind, narrowly trained;

Confounded by heart, yearning, but afraid:

 

Set it free.

  

My muse lies within.

In a safe, and shallow, cocoon.

Patient, yet rumbling.

 

When free, and present,

I am one with my spirit.

But, thus far, fleetingly.

 

Unlock the body;

Untrain the mind;

Unleash the heart:

 

Be the muse.

   

"Surfaces reveal inner states - cameras record surfaces." Minor White

 

"I learned quickly enough when to click the shutter, but what I was becoming aware of more slowly was a story writer’s truth: the thing to wait on, to reach there in time for, is the moment in which people reveal themselves. You have to be ready. In yourself, you have to know the moment when you see it." Eudora Welty

 

"The sin of inadvertence, not being alert, not quite awake, is the sin of missing the moment of life – live with unrelenting awareness." Joseph Campbell

  

A photograph’s impact is described by three, non-exclusive relationships: photographer and subject; subject and viewer; photographer and viewer. A photographer -- no matter how skilled -- can control only one of those relationships. It is the invitation the photographer (and the subject) extend, that invites the viewer to invest in the relationship and empowers a transformation of craft to art. I'm trying to translate my intellectual appreciation of these limitations into intuitive, emotionally genuine, invitations. It is a work in progress.