WALK TWO - Vision
Every One Hundred Steps
"The stumbling block for people who are familiar with an area is a selective gaze that ignores everything but what is necessary for the task at hand. We see only what we expect to see. It takes a certain detachment to be able to look for a thing and find another fortuitously.” Karen O'Rourke, Walking and Mapping, Artists as Cartographers
The following are the photographs taken when counting to 100 steps and stopping ( a variation on the instruction for timed stops). As I warmed up to the process, I found that I kept walking by things I wanted to take pictures of, but because they did not fall at the right step-count I passed them up (practicing letting go). There was one exception when the color was just perfect and I thought it might not ever be that way again. I didn't include that image here, just to keep the exercise honest.
I found that I did not linger after taking the shot but moved on quickly. This was my way of lessening attachment to a view or to perfecting the shot. I figured out of all of them I would end up with a few that were good - a few that would get me thinking and I didn't believe that would improve much if I over-thought things.
There were a few themes: things out of place, stick debris, textures, mosses and lichens, color. I tried to vary the viewpoint with some close up, some long views and some in between. I looked down, up and at eye level.
Here you go...
Click on image for larger view
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Carrie,
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned on my blog, your photos and mine really are very similar. And by your description, again, we seem to have had a very similar experience (it was very difficult for me as well, to move past the things that I really wanted to take pictures of but weren't at the right step count). And not lingering/moving on quickly, varying the shots, not perfecting the shot, I felt exactly the same, trying to focus on the walk rather than perfecting the depiction of it.
All that said, there are some of your photos that are very interesting to me compositionally - the two roots criss crossed and the single spot of red leaves among that mass of green in particular. And the photographs of the bright pink tape are somewhat jarring - based on your earlier description of Walk 1, it seems that you've pretty accurately encapsulated the actual emotion of the first part of the trail.
I feel like the variety of photos gives a good sense of what the actual walk was like - even without including a single picture of a trail itself (assuming a physical trail exists). Although I may be layering on top of your photos the feeling I have that where you were walking looks uncannily similar to where I grew up.
But whether it's that, or whether your own comfort with the trail is coming through the photos, it all looks and feels very familiar to me.
Look forward to seeing how your walk progresses.
Hi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteI like how your blog page is set up! I enjoyed clicking through your photos rather than scrolling, which seems to be the default.
I was drawn to all the various textures and colors in your photos. Being a printmaker, imagining visual texture and creating texture is a particularly developed 'notice' for me, drawing my attention every time.
Your photos convey a sense of curiosity about your surroundings.
Thank you, Laurie
Thanks Laurie. I appreciate your comments.
DeleteIf you are interested, I left a forum post last week with a link to instructions on how to make the photo gallery that I used. It was quite easy.
Carrie
ReplyDeleteI was drawn to the juxtaposition of images of the natural environment with elements of human interventions and the choices you made of what to capture at each chance juncture in your 100 step parameter. I’m also drawn to the vibrancy and variation of color within the series.
Lisa B
Thanks Lisa! We'll see where this goes...
DeleteI really like the way that all of the photos give me an idea of what the environment was like when you went for your walk. I think the photos you took are all interesting viewpoints and they create nice textures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaun.
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