Stop Bush Now, Criminal Beware -- 2005
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y favorite high school English teacher taught that poetry was using the fewest words possible to deliver the most message possible. Stated baldly, this seems like poetry would be the most efficient language.
And it would be true, except that as the message/word ratio approaches infinity, the message varies from reader to reader, moment to moment.
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Just Like Old Times
Just like old times
Eventual, tentative reconciliation comes, c. 1993 |
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in the 3AM dark
in the 3AM dark ©2004 |
I write at my best when I am capturing a moment. An instant in my mind grabs my attention, and I do my best with the tools and pallets I have to share it with my reader. Sometimes it's an obvious moment, as when a lovers' argument is overheard in Just Like Old Times, and sometimes it's more the capture of the mood of the moment, as in in the 3AM dark.
But even if the action (if there is any) takes place over time, it is still a single, crystal moment in time I am capturing. The moment I understand what's going on in the argument, the moment I feel lonely in my insomniac wandering.
It is also said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If the same formula is applied to a photograph, how much more can be said?
Sometimes the message can be very literal.
Stop Bush Now, Criminal Beware -- 2005 |
In this photo, one could simply read the text and chuckle at the juxtaposition. But looking at the photo longer one might consider other details, the story behind the photo. What caused someone to put the poster there? Did they notice the nearness of the sign? Is the poster torn because someone else tried to tear it down, or simply because of the weather? Look in the background: what kind of neighborhood is that? Is the presence of these two messages made possible by the environment?
There are at least a thousand words embedded in this photo. And for me, it captures a moment as well -- the moment when I recognized the humor in the presence of the protest poster under the neighborhood crimewatch sign. Just that moment.
 Trolley Chain -- 2005 |
Trolley Chain has no text. It has no obvious iconic imagery. The elements are few: A chain, a padlock, an iron fence post, some shopping carts, rain. The carts (or "trolleys" in British idiom) form a rhythmic background in the corral, but the image evokes in me a feeling of conformity, of imprisonment.
And yet, the chain is merely hanging, coiled on the post. Self-imprisonment, then.
The image simply grabbed me, so I took it. Then, afterwards, looking at it, I began to see layers of meaning within it.
I began to see the photo as about humanity. Deep stuff.
 Three Worlds -- 2004 |
The title, Three Worlds, is a conscious nod to M.C. Escher's Three Worlds print, depicting a pond's surface, reflection and depths. In this photo there is a medieval-style house in the foreground, an industrial green water tower behind it, and an advertizing blimp over all.
The universe often presents itself in triples: Man-woman-child, past-present-future, Conservative-Liberal-Moderate. I find this photo to represent a number of world-triples, and I come up with different ones every time I look at it.
All of this discussion stemmed from the fact that I noticed my most prolific creation media were poetry and photography, and that they were both efficient ways to capture and share a moment in time.
There are no accidents.
