Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mind and Mystery

"The state of mind of the photographer while creating is blank… For those who would equate 'blank' with a kind of emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed, pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself – seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second's exposure conceives life in it."

"In my search to find an opposite to reality, I discovered that if reality is the knowable and the potentially knowable, the opposite consists of things that the mind can’t comprehend. Among those things are keys to the existence of everything. The further we delve into what we are and what things are, the more mysterious we and they become."

4 comments:

Howard Grill said...

Of all your fantastic Synthetic Landscapes, this one really draws me in the most so far. Almost like an aurora borealis and a dividing line between calm on the bottom and activity on the top.

Andy Ilachinski said...

Hi Howard, thanks for stopping by. But what do mean by "almost like an aurora borealis...?" It *is* the aurora borealis! (just kidding ;-) This is actually an "oldie" (from an initial batch of "rumscapes" - i.e., macros taken of bottled rum with lights streaming in various directions - I took in Jan 2010. Ran across it the other day still in my raw folder, untouched (go figure!)

steve said...

The Minor White quote hit right on the mark. There are so many times I have been traveling back roads with my camera in tow and had that instant of recognition "seeing" that causes me to slam on the brakes and set up.

Howard Grill said...

Steve....I get that as well. The problem is I am usually on the highway and it looks too dangerous to stop and set up on the shoulder with cars going by at 60 mph. I guess I need to travel the rural roads more frequently.