Anatomy of a Composition - knowing what we don't know
Five years in and a few things are the same yet many, many things have changed.
Humility is one of those wonderful and beneficent teachers that we get to encounter on any journey. Working through a creative journey has offered so many opportunities to sit with humility, to come to terms with it and to ultimately learn from it. In 2019 much of Colorado experienced a “super-bloom” during the wildflower season. This was only my second season out shooting throughout the state, so a distortion of perception that occurred and seems to re engage in the times that I go out to explore this fascinating and beautiful place.
In that first real attempt to photograph the “Wildflower Capital” there were so many scenes and compositions to photograph that in effect it was too easy it seems. While creating an image isn’t intentionally difficult, the reality is there are often far more “almost” images than there are actual images. In part this is beneficial. The more times we are out with our camera, the more often we practice this craft, the more attenuated we can become to the craft, the setting and the scene and the more likely we are to settle in and find the composition we were hoping for.
The most recent trip to Crested Butte in search of wildflowers was another exercise in humility. It seems that no matter how much I’ve gained, how many experiences I’ve had, the events and expectations become muted, even distorted. A trip like this is a reminder that time not only binds but eludes; wanting to be at the perfect place at exactly the right time is not as much about planning, but more specifically about accepting that the moment and place are right, because they are “now.”
There is real humility in knowing what we don’t know, the challenge is to not become overwhelmed by this, to in fact seize on humility and to keep working forward. That seizing on “time” is about accepting now, and not losing oneself in a mythical past or future.
Sony a7riii w/ Sony FE100-400GM - ISO 100 | F/6.3 | 1/500 sec.