Fall Frond
Originally uploaded by ty at tippycanoe
I was blessed with the gift of borrowing a wonderful camera to shoot with last weekend. Oh my! how completely vivifying and bone-deep enjoyable!!!!! It was a breath-takingly lovely day. (Okay, I admit! I am also geeking out and testing to see if the Flickr/Blogger x-functionality works as promised... forgive me! It's a living, of sorts!)
Paul's "old camera"- the EOS 40D - was generous and the sexy lens made many good things possible that may have otherwise failed.
I often look for things which are "distilled in the moment", in general I look toward those things, for poetry, lines for sculpture, for personal reflection, etc. And the camera was no different. I love being in the moment so much and the wonder of "seeing so much", intentionally. I think Buddha would have had a nice camera. Of course, if that was so - we know all the major religions would holy war over which camera was ultimate device for photographic transfiguration. Canonical Canons, Numinous Nikons...
With the advent of these kinds of technologies falling into the hands of the masses, more evolution of this craft will congeal, extrapolate, plane out - until the next big shift. I saw so many people taking pictures this past weekend. Everyone had a camera! I understand that some purists complain about this, but it's kind of like complaining about the tides. A new creative wave is upon us. It's never so much about the device as about the original use of methods and means. The means have definitely been baselined by consumer demand for pro toys. You might say "media-ocritized"! But, we all have a right to communicate our story, to make meaning using many mediums, including by means of technology.
Originality, style, unrelenting willingness to push past current trends and divine new visions, invent new ways of seeing - that is a calling old as time and as such, a solo journey with collective creative impact. The artist's way has never had mass appeal, but surely, the more people who embrace it - the better off we will all be. Artist-Scientists are casting their indigo shades across plenty of demographics these days. It is okay to be both. Don't discriminate!!!
At this point in the juncture, my only fear is liking photography too much. It is so immediately gratifying!! Unlike stone carving, my comparatively lethargic muse, which is a different kind of feel good. More primordial, more time elapsed and much more concussive than a shutter click :-)
Love and dust (- just not on my lens!!!),
Ty