photography

wednesday evening with Paul Celan

“Reachable, near and not lost, those remained amid the losses this one thing: language.

horsetooth reservoir… Nikon D750 f/7.1 1/25s 85mm 100 ISO

“It, the language remained, not lost, yes in spite of everything. But it had to pass through its wounded wordlessness, pass through frightful muting, pass through the thousand darknesses of deathbringing speech. It passed through and giveback no words for that which happened.” ~Paul Celan* (cited: V. Schwarcz, Bridge Across Broken Time p. 85)

*Poet, translator, essayist, and lecturer, influenced by French Surrealism and Symbolism. Celan was born in Cernăuţi, at the time Romania, now Ukraine, he lived in France, and wrote in German. His parents were killed in the Holocaust; the author himself escaped death by working in a Nazi labor camp. “Death is a Master from Germany”, Celan’s most quoted words, translated into English in different ways, are from the poem ‘Todesfuge’ (Death Fugue). Celan’s body was found in the Seine river in late April 1970, he had committed suicide.

lens-artists: music to my eyes

The child claps his hands

playing alone, happily,

under a festive tree ~Issa*

artist: R. B. AH**
artist: A. H-A**

Egidio invites photographers to share photographs that are associated with songs. That is, “what music do you hear in your photos?”

I thought to share this masterpiece of abstract art created by a very quiet and thoughtful artist.

While photographs do not bring to mind music, they often speak to me either through haiku or a haiku accompanies me during a photo walk. There are associations with images and scent as well as music and memory.

Music seems more abstract than other art forms because it represents emotional states, symmetry and repetition, and other intangibles. But just because you can’t see or touch these things, doesn’t make them any less real. In preliterate societies, music was probably one of the best methods for storing and conveying complex stories and information.***

One of the best ways to understand how the over-all space of creative expression reflects its parts is to imagine yourself inside the space of the artwork…select a place within the composition where you would like to locate yourself for a few minutes of contemplation. …imagine…passing through different areas of the artwork…feel…energetic patterns. (152)****

*cited: The Spring of My life

Trans: Sam Hamill

**used with permission by the artist

***The Ethan Hein Blog (www.ethanhein,com)

**** McNiff, Shawn

Trust the Process

life’s passages … 88

Delicate …  the dance

of light and shadow

between insight and ignorance

in life and death

from suffering to tranquility

shadow and light

  May you become acquainted with tranquil single-pointed concentration . . . those who seek wisdom through the lens of tranquility glimpse reality in the same manner as a lighted candle — the light chases away that which is hidden within the shadows of a darken closet.  Insight, once risen, shines light into closed hearts and minds and keeps the gloom of ignorance at bay

lens-artists: abstract

Ritva Sillanmaki invites lens-artists photographers to “see beyond the surface” and “focus on the shapes, colors, textures, and patterns of the subject, rather than its literal representation.”

Some of the images below were created through the use of double exposure, shutter speed, focus, light and shadow, and gift of nature’s beauty.

double exposure
light and shadow
long exposure
nature’s gift of reeds
shutter speed
blur focus
nature’s gift of clouds