The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. - Robert Lewis Stevenson

PURPOSE: 

PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE


The Photographer’s eye sees the effects of light, color, texture, form…the way the world is put together visually. It sees telling action…when the people and creatures of this world interact in ways that tell a story that is worth recording and sharing. It is ever alert to beauty in all its forms and whatever stirs the emotions. All a photographer has is his or her eye and a frame…the frame of the viewfinder in his or her camera, the borders of the screen or print. Unlike a painter, or even a poet or musician, the photographer generally does not, can not, arrange the elements of his or her art to suit an inner vision. The photographer goes through the world looking for spontaneous arrangements of light and dark, color and texture, form and substance, action and emotion, that resonate with his or her inner vision, and then simply puts a frame around them to draw attention to them, and to share. You have to see the photograph before you can take it. For the poet it would be like listening to the conversations of the world…listening for pattern and purpose and meaning, and then stringing the snippets together and giving it a voice to share... For the musician it would be like walking through world trying to sort melody and harmony out of the random sounds that assault the ear… When the photographer puts his or her frame around a subject or an object, or a collection of subjects or objects, he or she is saying: “Look at this. This means something to me. I value this. Do you see what I value here…do you see what I see?” - from Point & Shoot Nature Photography by Stephen Ingraham  (Facebook)

MISSION: 

SHARING BEAUTY 

... take a look at Facebook, or Instagram, or Flickr, or Google+ to the see the results. There have been more high quality images taken and shared in the past year alone then in all time before that…and I am not talking about snapshots and phone photos with fancy filters on Instagram, I am talking about real high quality images that are in the same class as professional photos of years past...and the growth continues unabated, year by year. I, personally, think that this sharing of our worlds matters…matters a lot. I think it makes us better people, will continue to make us better human beings… more in touch, and more sympathetic with each other, more understanding of each other. I think that sharing the beauty each of us sees around us makes us all more conscious of what we have to protect, what we need to care for, if our children are going to see it. Therefore I am all for any method, any technology, that makes it easier for more people to exercise their photographer’s eye...to capture and share excellent images of the world around them. - from  Point & Shoot Nature Photography by Stephen Ingraham  (Facebook)

MEANING:

WEIL ON BEAUTY

"The vulnerability of precious things is beautiful because vulnerability is a mark of existence... The destruction of Troy. The fall of petals from fruit trees in blossom. To know that what is most precious is not rooted in existence -- that is beautiful. Why. It projects the souls beyond time." from Chance by Simone Weil. 

      SHARING NATURE:

     POWERFUL MEDICINE


“… sharing nature is likely one of the best ways to cross cultural and political boundaries that might otherwise keep us at odds with one another. And in today’s divisive world, this may be one of the best reasons for sharing moments and insights into nature — it is a common thread to get people communicating when they might not otherwise talk together. There are certainly topics where we can still find room for discord, wolves and grizzly bears come to mind, but anyone can appreciate a field so full of flowers it seems like a fanciful painting, or a cow moose nuzzling her newborn calf, and become a little better for it by sharing.
“This is where social media can actually be a benefit. Sharing nature images and stories builds bridges and, like a spider’s web, helps us to find connections with people we might otherwise have little in common with or even disagree with. Resist the temptation to criticize or critique and just enjoy the image or story for what it is and pass it along if it is uplifting.
“Nature is powerful medicine. But medicine is only of value if it is shared. However, if you choose to share, share often. We will all benefit.”... from "Sharing nature with others" by Terry Thomas, Post Register,  Idaho Falls, ID,  June 26, 2022. 

NATURE

ARCHETYPAL IMAGES 

Archetypal images are universal patterns or motifs, that come from the collective unconscious (shared ancestral memories that persist in art, literature, and religion but aren't obvious to the eye), which also form the basic content of the numinous and mythologies. These symbolic archetypes are images containing more than one functional meaning. They have both a physical meaning and a thematic meaning. They are the wheel of life grinding forward within our four-dimensional life force, having an opposite (shadow) and all the degrees of a ball/ compass.