YOOHOO

(Just shouting into the wind?)

This blogger rarely wonders who, if anyone ever reads this drivel, wisdom and data I put out most days. I suspect the same is true of newspaper people and authors in general. Hey, throw in radio people (although they do have ratings week). The point is, all this stuff gets done with no knowledge (and little expectation) that it will ever be seen by another human being. Why, then, bother to do it?

I remember an instructor in a writing class passing on to us the mantra of all writers:

Writers write.

I write because I am a writer. Same with photography. I studied with Ansel Adam's students and have boxes and boxes of mounted 11 x 14 fine art black and white silver prints stashed around the house. I have shown some in juried art shows, but most have only passed before my eyes and a few have been shown at workshops attended by like minded people.

I understand that some will view these acts as rather futile, dare I say artistic masturbation? (I dare and I did). Why write, paint, photograph or what ever if no one will ever see it?

The answer is simple and as above. Writers write. Photographers make photographs. Painters paint.

I remember a poster that proclaimed, "Doing a good job around here is like urinating while wearing a dark suit: it feels warm and no one notices." Maybe that's not the best analogy.

More simply and to the point, we write, photograph and paint because we have to. Most of us who do such things are right brained. That is, we think conceptually and cannot keep ideas from just popping into our minds, often at the oddest times. You see a young boy learning something from an instructor, and you see nothing more. I, in turn, see the reenactment of the mythology of an elder mentoring a boy to get him ready for initiation into manhood. What? you ask. Well, don't ask. It cannot be explained to you if it is not obvious because, chances are you are (like the majority of people) left brained.

You think step wise, logically, like a computer; and, when you get your conclusions, you can explain them step-wise and logically...like a computer.

I see the entire concept at once, in its entirety, like an artist; and, if you ask me to explain it to you, I often can't. I just see it and know it as it is...like an artist. Then, I either take its picture, write about it or both. And, I let it go. It is done. It has been expressed, and I am on to the next thing.

The left-brainers will look at photos and analyze them and talk about composition and croping and contrast and the like. I can do that, hell I made the picture. Or, I will look at it, relive the joy of what I felt when I made the image and be satisfied.

When soemone looks at one of my photographs, they often ask, "Is that what it really looked like?" I, like all photographers, will respond, "No, that's what I saw."

Now, I feel satisfied. I have gotten down what formed in my mind this morning. I will hit the publish button, and this will go to the elctronic cosmos, just as my photos have gone to the boxes. Will anyone ever read this?

The real question is: will anyone else every read this? Fact is, the most important person just did.

Paddle safe.

DS