High Tide
“I wonder if I can catch these pelicans in flight,” was the only thing that crossed my mind as I saw them gliding by, camera aimed straight up into the sky. At first glance it was a shot I figured I would later ignore because of the odd, chaotic composition but upon realizing it would work well as a black and white photo that focused on the shapes and colliding lines rather than the blue of the sky it came to life as a casual yet nostalgic viewpoint that many of us have witnessed before.
While this moment is stuck here in time I imagine this scene reoccurs every day around the same time on this shoreline with or without a camera or anyone to notice or care. These cycles repeat regardless of how many times we check our RSS feeds in a day, regardless of the amount of frustration that builds when someone cuts us off in traffic, regardless of how many words we may or may not have written in that novel were chipping away at.
If you start to imagine photographs not just as fractions of light caught or frozen and more as time itself callously repeating itself despite what has happened in the mean time they can start taking on a life of their own. The moments before and after a photograph are often more interesting or informing than what is seen recorded in an image. Photographs that lead you to wonder what is just outside of the frame are some of my favorites. The kind that can honestly be worth a thousand words if it leaves your imagination to fill in the gaps beyond the confines of the frame.
So, I took a chance and tried to capture this one obscure, fleeting moment as I stood with YoungDoo on a windy beach one afternoon. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the time and space surrounding it.
John,
The zip file does not seem to exist on the server.
Sorry about that! All fixed up now. I somehow managed to forget to upload the files after getting carried away with the writing that I paired with it. Thanks for letting me know. -J
[…] despite what has happened in the mean time they can start taking on a life of their own.” — John Carey Originally posted for members on: May 20, 2014 Follow along on RSS, App.net, or Twitter.~I would […]
Beautiful picture, and a great outlook on photography and the artistic potential in every moment. What you wrote about how a picture can be worth a thousand words made me think that, with your imagination, a picture can also be worth a thousand worlds.