Is Or Was Or Will Be?
There must be an 'is' before there can be a 'was.'
This isn't about grammar; however, a Google search will yield many references to comma usage and nothing about the existential questions of life. What does this have to do with photography you’re asking? Almost everything.
I mentioned in one of my newsletters that I know the day I became a photographer. That is my ‘is’ day. The light was perfect for the subject. The object’s textures both contrasted and complemented each other. The lines and shapes blended into a pattern that forced the viewer’s eyes to move around the photo.
Understanding that the print I held in my hand, the photo I’d made the day before, and had just printed was more powerful than I’d first thought made every day before then my ‘was.”
Sartre believed that existence is defined through choices, actions, and the freedom of will, placing the responsibility of shaping one's future squarely in one's own hands.
Now, every photograph is the ‘is’ where I’ve committed myself to exploring my skills observing and making photographs. There is only this moment where I’ve my experiences have combined themselves from the ‘was’ to this moment. To the ‘is’ at the moment when the shutter is pressed. When all the previous exposures are the ‘was’ time and this photo, the one at the shutter release, becomes the ‘is’ time.
As told in a previous newsletter. “There is no bad light. There is only this light.” Each exposure is like the only light. The light that just ‘is.’ There is a collection of ‘is’ in every photograph. The composition is… The lighting is… The shutter speed, the f-stop, focal length, timing, and positioning. All are ‘is’
Understanding the ‘is’ moments requires abandoning the idea of control. Like Sartre, there is no meaning or purpose of our lives other than what our freedom creates, therefore, we must rely on our own resources. Our strongest resource is that creativity requires us to let go of trying to control our lives.
Letting go becomes the ‘is.’
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