photography

‘Look beneath your feet.’ ~ Zen Buddhist proverb

I have long been fascinated by ideas of connectedness expressed in Eastern philosophy and its attempts through both art and poetry to be in the present moment (notably with haiku and haiga traditions), alongside its concept of ‘the beauty of the blank space’. I love the Zen Buddhist question ‘What is right before your eyes?’ Such a deceptively simple inquiry cuts right to the essence of art, not least photography! I was taking a lot of long walks on Dartmoor initially recording images/videos by Smartphone (see below) before investing in a camera to explore the potential of combining my love of walking in nature with the idea of synthesising form and emptiness in the present moment (this relates somewhat to the existentialist notion of being and time: rooted in experience while simultaneously existing outside of it). I am particularly drawn to the mysterious beauty held in the asymmetric textures and patterns found in nature, especially trees, alongside developing a curiosity towards the symbolism of the river: how it’s evolved in a personal sense over the years (a place we used to swim as kids, party as teenagers and find quietude as an adult) as well as how it appears as a universal metaphor in other cultures (e.g. Taoism and yin-yang). I take a notepad with the intention of complementing each picture of various scenes, sketched through the written word laying the basis for a haiku or poem, which sort of mirrors the technique of shooting an image in RAW before post-processing. For now, I am allowing this project to develop, but I like the idea of exhibiting a series of photos with accompanying haikus. In the meantime, I am sharing a selection of work on Flickr.