“His Sails Unfurled”
I have been a “Trekky” since episode one of the original series. Like everyone else, I have my favourite episodes. The one that has had the most impact on me (and my work) is “Darmok” – specifically, “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.”
“Creation of Adam” Siena, Italy 2023
The premise of the story was that TNG Captain Picard was trapped on a planet with an Alien Captain Dathon. While the words spoken by both were English, they couldn’t understand one another – Dathon spoke in Metaphor, and one would have to have some grounding in Tamarian culture to start to understand what Captain Dathon was saying. As the episode unfolded, Captain Dathon presented Picard with a knife in almost a challenging way. Picard took this as a challenge to a fight to the death. However, Captain Dathon was extending an olive branch to Picard, offering to join forces to slay an alien demon (which was not yet evident). Watch the episode for its ending. For me, it resonates, especially today.
Turn a page. Most of my career, I have been story-telling and truly believed that it was my purpose, through my personal work, to continue to tell stories. A noteworthy professor of mine, David Heath, offered to review my early work. He held up one of my photos and asked me to describe what the photo was about (almost 50 years ago). I must have gone on for 10 minutes telling him in great detail what the image was of, what it meant to me, what the background was, and why I shot it the way that I did. How I posed my subject, and then he stopped me. He let me know how touching I thought my story was – a photo of my brother, but that he did not see that story – how could he?
I must have forgotten that review as I climbed back into storytelling mode, only to be reminded that the instances we record are split seconds. The ensuing interpretations belong to the viewer, not the creator. Heath said at the time that while I may not be able to fill my images with my life-observations, I should never lose the desire to bring out those stories as they connected me with my subject. The resulting images would only benefit from this retrospection. I keep this in mind to this day.
We have all seen great portraits. Getting the light just so, the focus, and the environment perfect. In my experience, there must be something more to motivate the shutter to trip. It is a connection with the subject. I must add that this happens to me with all subjects, the hunt for a connection.
Look deeper and find those connections and challenge yourself each time. Compared to many, I make few exposures (a habit of shooting with a view camera, I suspect). A few photos I make, I would consider good images. Each time I shoot, my mind’s eye lets me know – this will be a good shot. This doesn’t happen often, but I feel it when it does. By the way, I do believe that a series of connected images can begin to tell a story.
Recently, I shot a photo of a somewhat iconic balding man sitting at a table near our café. He was sitting in an archway in Siena, Italy. I wanted the image to be a good photo. There was no story per se, but there was a unique juxtaposition. He sat opposite a poster of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. I can’t tell you what it meant to me to create this image, but other than my story, the metaphorical connections I make with myself rest with me. The juxtaposition adds to the visual language I present for the viewer to engage with.
“Mirab, his sails unfurled"
