Photographers And Creation
It's a miracle! Fisherman at sunrise on Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura, Myanmar.
Photographers participate in creation through the production of beautiful, life affirming images.
Let’s explore this concept through a photo I made, long ago, with a medium format film camera.
Living The Artist's Life
Many say that life is a miracle. I believe that, by living the life of the artist, you add to the miracle that is life.
While we tend to associate the word miracle with religious connotations, the word itself is simply an attempt to explain that which is unexplainable.
Assigning responsibility for such events to an all knowing, all-powerful creator-being is not an unreasonable approach to take.
I have no issue with that concept, even in our contemporary world.
The problem, I believe, is when politics and power are immeshed so deeply into the teachings that they become synonymous with the religion in question.
While I have an interest in world religions, as a fundamental component of culture, I do not personally subscribe to any one message or faith.
What’s more while I admire religious devotion I abhor dogma.
My desire is for a multi-faceted approach to how we seek to understand and express the eternal.
Given the profound nature of duality in our world I believe there should be room for science and faith, ritual and experience, male and female in how we approach our understanding of existance.
I encourage pluralism and debate and I dream of a society where the only wars we engage in are against the tyranny of oppression; corruption, poverty and disease; and our own innate negativity.
Photography and The Creative Path
We are not god’s. However, I believe our choices, attitudes and endeavors can, at their best, be described as god-like.
It’s about intent and energy. The purer the intent and the more focused the energy the closer we put ourselves to the source.
Creativity is taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. Through our photography, each of us has the choice to participate in the ongoing mystery that is creation.
The photo that illustrates this post is a very old one. I made it way back in December 1999 near the town of Amarapura near Mandalay in Myanmar (i.e., Burma).
I made the photo, very early in the morning, as the sun rose through the mist.
The two people in the water are fishermen tending to their nets. They're wading through very shallow water which, upon first impression, might provide the illusion that they may, actually, be walking on water.
That's very much how it looked through my camera's viewfinder when I made the image with the following kit:
Hasselblad 503CWi medium format camera
Hasselblad 150 mm f/4 Sonnar lens
Kodak Portra 160VC Professional film
Travel and Keep Creating Photos
There were very few tourists entering Myanmar back then. I understand it's quite a different story these days.
Still, I hope to revisit Myanmar again. It's a very beautiful country with literally thousands of (mostly Buddhist) religious sites, lovely landscapes and wonderfully photogenic people.
Life doesn’t have to hard. It’s all about what we choose to do and how we go about doing it.
One thing I know for sure is that the more photos I create the better I feel and the more my purpose in life is affirmed.
And it feels great to be on a creative path. The one, deep down, you know you’re meant to be on.
