Loveseat

January 31st, 2016

1/31/2016

 
Picture
Merton:  "the sparks of truth, small, recurring flashes of a reality that is beyond doubt, momentarily appearing, leading me further on my way.  Things that need no explanation and perhaps have none, but which say:  'Here! This way!'"

In the early 20th century, Alfred Stieglitz did a series of photographs of clouds that he called "Equivalents."  Yesterday I watched  these clouds form and reform and was reminded of Stieglitz's photographs:  I don't think of this image so much as an "equivalent"  (whatever he may have meant by that) but just as patterns of light and color that attract attention and then set the mind on a course of reflection.  And I was reminded then too of Merton's remarks above.

January 29th, 2016

1/29/2016

 
Picture
A couple of quotes I've used before, but it seems appropriate to remind us of them:
"Accepting what is--for what it is--is the place to start."   Belden Lane
"One should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are."   Minor White

January 28th, 2016

1/28/2016

 
Fog changes everything
It plays with what it will allow us to see
Things disappear into it
Until all is covered in the unseeable
    though still sometimes hinted at
Then some things begin to reappear
  only to disappear again
The determinate dissolves into the indeterminate
Fog  fascinates and disturbs--pleasing and frightening
Revealing and concealing all at once       CN

January 23rd, 2016

1/23/2016

 
We have received a mere shadow of what the Northeast is suffering:  yesterday brief hard rain and wind, this morning so far only heavy winds.  As I sat watching the trees moving in the wind this morning, bending fast and far back and forth, side to side, in nearly constant motion, it struck me how much they reminded me of my mind when I sit in meditation.  Always in motion, blown here and there: six years I have meditated nearly every day and still, back and forth, side to side . . .
In much of my reading about photography (and  about photography as a form of meditation), I am struck by how often photographers see mountains as (the best?) meditative subjects.  But that's not so true for me, perhaps because I have less familiarity with them.  Deserts and water--sea or lake or river--are more helpful to me.  I find that moments of stillness are most likely to occur in those places--as in the following image:

​
Picture

January 18th, 2016

1/18/2016

 
My granddaughter likes sea shells and she likes to paint on them:  these images are for her.

January 14th, 2016

1/14/2016

 
Thomas Merton:  "the work of art is to be seen--not imagined, worked over intellectually . . . Central is the experience of seeing."
Picture

January 05th, 2016

1/5/2016

 
It occurred to me (in the middle of the night)  that a good response to the current politics-speak was the following poem:

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
​  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe . . .

Beware the Jabberwocky, my son!
 The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
​ The furious Bandersnatch! . . .

He took his vorpal sword in hand . . .

One, two! One, two! and through and through
 The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
 He went galumphing back . . . 


​O frabjous day!  Callooh! Callay!'"  Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

Alice says in response that this seems to fill her head with ideas; she just doesn't know exactly what they are.  I  think that the language of the poem is a lot like our politics-speak, which also seems meant to fill our heads with ideas, but those ideas upon careful examination also don't make much sense.

Ah well, meanwhile, have a frabjous day!

January 03rd, 2016

1/3/2016

 
Picture
Thomas Merton:  "The taste for Zen in the West is in part a healthy reaction of people exasperated with the heritage of four centuries of Cartesianism:  the reification of concepts, idolization of the reflexive consciousness, flight from being into verbalism, mathematics, and rationalization.  Descartes made a fetish out of the mirror in which the self finds itself.  Zen shatters it."

And as a corrective to human hubris, again from Merton:  "A Zen line in Job: 'Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars?' (39:26)"

January 02nd, 2016

1/2/2016

 
Picture
Tampa Bay gets lots of snow(y) bird visitors in winter:  these are white pelicans that are only here in winter.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art And Aesthetics
    Photography
    Spirituality

    RSS Feed

HOURS

M-F: 7am - 9pm
​

TELEPHONE

415-555-1234
​

EMAIL

info@email.com

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Home
  • Reflections on photography
  • Travels
    • Alaska >
      • Inner passage >
        • St. Augustine
      • Cityscapes
      • Florida Impressions
      • Arizona
      • Fairbanks area
      • Acadia National Park
      • California
      • Interior, including Denali
      • North rim Grand Canyon
      • North Carolina Autumn
      • New Mexico
      • Key West
    • Maine >
      • Portland and Bar Harbor
    • Utah
    • Washington State
  • Shop
  • Galleries
    • Fauna
    • Flora >
      • Ringling Roses
    • Constructs >
      • Architecture >
        • CCC in Florida Parks
        • Tampa Bay Architecture
    • Photographs Plus >
      • Black and White
      • High Dynamic Range photos
      • Watercolors
  • About
  • Blog
    • Panama Canal
  • nabesblog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Home
  • Reflections on photography
  • Travels
    • Alaska >
      • Inner passage >
        • St. Augustine
      • Cityscapes
      • Florida Impressions
      • Arizona
      • Fairbanks area
      • Acadia National Park
      • California
      • Interior, including Denali
      • North rim Grand Canyon
      • North Carolina Autumn
      • New Mexico
      • Key West
    • Maine >
      • Portland and Bar Harbor
    • Utah
    • Washington State
  • Shop
  • Galleries
    • Fauna
    • Flora >
      • Ringling Roses
    • Constructs >
      • Architecture >
        • CCC in Florida Parks
        • Tampa Bay Architecture
    • Photographs Plus >
      • Black and White
      • High Dynamic Range photos
      • Watercolors
  • About
  • Blog
    • Panama Canal
  • nabesblog
  • Contact