Listen Visually

I went fishing several days ago with my son, Shawn. Every year we try to go up in the high Uintah Mountains of Utah and fish the lakes as the ice is just about melted off of the water. The fish are usually very hungry, and we have a great time catching brookies, rainbows, cutthroats, tiger, and albino trout.

This year after catching quite a few and keeping only a couple, I stopped and started looking around at the beautiful lake and mountains. I looked and listened for quite some time.  The beauty of these mountains and these high mountain lakes never ceases to amaze me. This, in turn, caused me to say a quiet “thank you” to the creator for allowing me to share in this part of the incredible, multi-faceted world that I live in.

Then as the photographer in me finally fought to the forefront of my thoughts, I started wondering how to capture this moment not only for me but maybe for others to share in this experience. An experience that borders on what I was feeling is very much like a spiritual experience.  It probably is after all is said and done.  (No negative comments here, please).

That is what we do as photographers.  We look for different perspectives. We look at the ordinary and try, through the use of different lenses and different perspectives, to see this ordinary place as something extraordinary.  Looking and seeing are really different attitudes and mind-sets.  As I have developed my art of seeing, I wonder what angle and perspective will give me that extraordinary view.  Will it be a peaceful shot of the lake with patches of snow on the mountains behind, or will it be a shot of the young child in the throws of excitement as she pulls a fish out of the water and shows it to her parents and siblings? One thing we need to understand as image-makers is that there is really more than one right answer to every photographic problem. Everyone can find one right answer.  The ability to be able to find more than one right answer is key to the development of the creative image-maker that dwells within each and every one of us.

Several years ago I was walking through the streets of Sorrento in Italy.  It was nearing dusk, and my senses were overwhelmed with the beauty and ethnic diversity of this beautiful city by the sea. I had been sitting for close to 30 minutes as I watched a lady with a cane talking with various people. I really wanted her to walk away or be alone on this beautiful side street where I was sitting and waiting. Soon the people she was talking with went into their shop, and the lady started walking away from me. As usual for me, I had gotten so involved in watching that the photographer in me wasn’t quite ready so I grabbed a little Canon point-and-shoot and snapped the photo that you see second in this post.  After some post processing in Photoshop and the creative use of a few plug-ins to help show what I had really seen that day,  I had an image that I was pleased with and that matched my memory of that day in Sorrento.

As photographers we often wait and watch. Then when we have taken it all in and considered the perspective and points of view, that is when we publish this image in our life through the use of the tools that we have available to us.  Through my abilities in photography I have developed so many more ways of loving life. Through our creativity I think we actually allow ourselves to fall in love with the world around us. That in and of itself makes me want to do the happy dance.  Life is surely richer as I look at it through a creative photographer’s eye, another reason to be thankful and refer to this whole thing as a spiritual experience.

The last photo was a grab shot taken by my daughter, Amanda. My son, Shawn, the fisherman/paramedic, was babysitting his niece and nephew. As usual he was trying to be creative in his duties so he decided it was time to teach the kids how to “Fish for Crocs”.  As my daughter returned home she found her brother and two kids on the driveway deeply absorbed in the act of fishing for crocs.  So my daughter has credit for the last photo with the title “Fishing for Crocs”. Often we need to have our tools available so when the creative bug nibbles at our senses, we are ready to answer the call.  Creative juices often flow at the strangest times, and we need to be ready. Photography gives us another a special way to love life and those around us.