Sunday, November 28, 2004

A relative sky

A setting sun fascinates me. It's breathtaking in a whole lot of ways: The richness of its color, the speed with which the shades radically change, and the way it makes you feel really, really small while you stand on the lawn and stare straight up.

People often stare at me when I do this. I get asked why I waste the film, my time, and my energy. The people who question this are the ones who believe photography is about getting the same head shots of the same people doing the same things at the same events.

My view of photography reflects my view of the world: let the neat stuff catch your eye, then capture it with your camera, then add it to the never-ending narrative that is your life. If you've done your job correctly, when you look at your pictures later on they will transport you right back to the moment when you tripped the shutter. What you were thinking then floods back into your mind.

It's a very comforting means of studying your personal history - and that of the world around you.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Veda says:

Carmi, this too is awesome, in the true sense of the word. I love such cloud formations, sunsets for the same reasons you do. They really are so much more colorful that sunrises.

Thank you for sharing. :)

DeAnn said...

Anyone who calls that a "waste" of time is no friend of mine.

I'm sorry. They're just not. Natural beauty is never a waste of time.

Joan said...

Really beautiful, Carmi!

Sunsets are one of life's most wonderful treasures.

There has been a big, beautiful moon hanging out there, too! *Happy sigh!!*

Diane said...

Simply amazing. Thank you, Carmi.

The best part about late autumn and winter is the wonderfully clear skies and beautiful sunsets. Thank you for capturing the beauty and sharing it with us.

Jill said...

WOW! That takes me back to when I was a kid and used to daydream that I could fly. This was the sky I imagined, so deeply intense and beckoning. Simply gorgeous, Carmi.

Red said...

I LOVE photography and I love seeing others visions. I am thinking of starting a second blog of my photography. Anyone who doesn't understand what you can capture with a lens is, well just plain ignoramus!
Your pics is one of the things I enjoy about your blog!

Great pic!

Jack Steiner said...

I like it. You are not the only one who looks straight up, I have always enjoyed doing it, don't know why, I just do.

About 10 years ago I got a great shot at the Kotel. It is another straight up shot, just the stones and blue sky. It makes the wall and the sky look endless to me. Cool stuff.

Anonymous said...

Great pic! Then again, you could take a picture of anything and I'd appreciate it... especially if it wasn't a group shot with everyone looking at the camera, smiling so hard their faces look like they hurt, and including an enormous amount of ceiling/wall, too.

Jef said...

Jeff, my partner, loves sunsets and he will often call me if he is still at the office and have me look out the kitchen window and watch the bleeding light slowly fade away. If he is home, we will go upstairs and watch the sun set over the trees in neighborhood and park. This time of year, we can actually see some of the skyline of downtown Atlanta. I always do this no matter how busy I am because it's important to Jeff and he is important to me. If one day he was no longer with me, he would always live through the sunsets. Plus, I never want to lose my sense of amazement at the little things that so many take for granted.

Skies like this remind me of the beginning of "Gone With The Wind" and Cloud City in "The Empire Strikes Back." I can remember sitting in a mimosa tree at our old house in Waco one spring evening and looking at clouds like this. They reminded me of the ocean and I thought it was a reflection of surf at Padre Island. I wrote a poem about it. I'll have to find it and send it to you.

I collect a lot of music because it reminds me of people, places and events in my life. I can remember going through the Taco Bell drive-thru with Joan from Conversations With A Woman in my 1971, yellow VW Super Beetle and rocking the car along to Deee-lite's "Groove Is In The Heart." I remember listening to Madonna's "Take A Bow" one dark, winter night and realizing that it was about a relationship of mine that I subconsciously I knew would soon be over. I knew that he would walk away still a godlen boy and I would walk away the sad loser. I remember walking into Club Sparks in Dallas in 1987 and hearing "I Touch Roses" by Book Of Love and feeling so cosmopolitan and cutting edge. I remember listening to Kylie Minogue's "Love AT First Sight" as I walked along Circular Quay in Sydney as night began to fall and city came to life in a myriad of lights. And I remember listening to "Run Silent" by Shakespear's Sister as I rode along Loop 820 in Fort Worth in my friend's truck as she talked about a teacher in high school that she had feelings for and who had feelings for her. Each time I hear those songs, the memory is still as fresh today as it was then.