Reflections on photography, art, beauty and the natural landscape.
From Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim At Tinker Creek":
At the time of Lewis and Clark, setting the prairie on fire was a well-known signal that meant “Come down to the water.” It was an extravagant gesture but we can’t do less. If the landscape reveals one certainty, it is that the extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation.
It is the beauty within us that makes it possible to recognize the beauty around us.
The question is not what you look at but what you see.
–Thoreau
There is almost always a gap in time — however infinitesimal it may seem — between seeing and comprehending.
That moment just before we file a perception away into a conventional category, when our senses and minds are fully alert to what lies before us — that is the sweet spot of art.
– Ken Johnson, NY TIMES
Musician Herb Alpert reflects upon what he's trying to accomplish when he plays, and this sentiment is applicable to all creative endeavors:
There are lots of artists who try to impress other musicians with their playing.
They’ll play these dizzying things, and you say, ‘Wow that’s fabulous!’
But is it touching anyone?
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.
If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it.
Your life will be impoverished.
But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."
Frank Lloyd Wright
It is almost unimportant whether a work finds an understanding audience.
One has to do it because one believes that it is the right thing to do.
– Pina Bausch
Author Niall Williams in his novel of rural Ireland, "This Is Happiness" describes the essence of art:
"It seems to me the quality that makes any book, music, painting worthwhile is life, just that. Books, music, painting are not life, can never be as full, rich, complex, surprising or beautiful, but the best of them can catch an echo of that, can turn you back to look out the window, go out the door aware that you’ve been enriched, that you have been in the company of something above that has caused you to realize once again how astonishing life is, and you leave the book, gallery or concert hall with that illumination, which feels I’m going to say holy, by which I mean human raptness."
The world changes according to the way people see it,
and if you alter, even by a millimeter,
the way people look at reality,
then you can change it.
– James Baldwin
"I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate.
I thought, that's interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist… not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision."
– Joni Mitchell
“ It is incumbent upon every human being to invest himself in his landscape.
It is significant and a means of identifying himself.”
– N. Scott Momaday
