Falling out of the habit of writing
Not that I’m running out of things to talk about … quite the contrary, my mind is often full of ideas and thoughts all competing to get out. Sometimes in conversation I am so internally focused on the discussion that the conversation has moved on by the time my bit is ready to go … other times I hear someone talking, think ‘that sounds interesting I should listen to that’ only to find it is in fact me talking! Thankfully that weirdness doesn’t happen too often.
Writing, I find, gives me an opportunity to focus, to concentrate, to refine in a way that conversation doesn’t. The poems, the haiku, the questioning and searching … it all makes more sense when written down rather than floating as abstracts in my head. That once I chose a subject to write about the rest just flows … it’s the choosing I find difficult. Like what image to post next(?) … that is the hardest decision for me with regard to this blog. There are so many to choose from but which one conveys what I’m trying to say now? Once I decide I can find something to write about it. I do like those blogs where only the image is placed … sometimes no text at all. They have a minimalism that I admire but still I sometimes wish I knew more about the thoughts behind it. It lends a level of understanding of what the photographer is trying to say … what did they want you to see by placing this image in a place where you are going to see it? Why put an image up if you didn’t want people to ‘see’ something in it.
Today, it’s a picture of a mesh fence, the background fernland dissolved into a warm bokeh. The fence for me is that barrier to my mind … the filter that lets thoughts in and out … it’s a little rusty like my writing skills of late … I’ve fallen out of the habit of writing you see.
I can feel myself falling back in too … thankfully.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
There are plenty of excellent photography blogs out there, but not many good ones that combine it with excellent writing. I think that’s unfortunate. It also makes me wonder if photography isn’t easier than writing. Or at least, if getting good at photography isn’t a lot more pleasant than getting good at writing. Who wants to spend hours on perfecting a few words? And where is the instant gratification in that? Also, writing is the act that makes you more vulnerable… you can attack and twist someone’s word much easier than someone’s photos..
Anyways, I enjoy coming along for the ride…
Perhaps it’s the nature of the photo forums that they don’t invite criticism unless invited … there are very few people who go around saying ‘that image is crap … what were you thinking?’ (though we often may think it … well I do…). I think you hit the nail on the head with the vulnerability aspect. Without some sort of explanation, the image is just that … an image. Without context it is ink on paper. The vast majority (if not all) of what we see in a picture was packed by our good selves long before we arrived to stand or sit in front of the picture. Context, whether it be historical or an artist statement is what informs us. By writing something down about our image we do leave ourselves vulnerable by providing something that people either agree or disagree with …something that may challenge in a tangible way. They’re our thoughts and feelings and they are what makes us who we are.
One day we’ll likely be able to plug directly into each other’s heads … there’ll be all sorts of instant gratification then 😉
a creepy thought that is….
I agree and quite horrifying despite the ability to share a thought or pass an experience (or an impression of an experience) on to someone else. I could create an image say, a haiku and all the myriad things that went into its creation as an experience or I could do the same with someone else’s (it would be kinda cool). It’s the potential abuses that make me uneasy – perhaps the surrender of control … though people seem happy enough to sign away privacy now.
oh no, if anyone would know what I think on a daily basis …. they would lock me up. they would probably lock up a bunch of people. might solve some of this world’s problems too. so maybe it’s not a bad thing after all… I often wonder what politicians or business people really think when they make decisions…. that would be a lot less fascinating than to know what artists or writers think…
I’m sure it’s all meadows and buttercups Petra 😉
When I read this, Geoff, I immediately thought about how perfect this would be for our Vision & Verb site, with you as one of our rare male guests (the site is a collaboration of 21 women). Every so often we do invite a male guest. And since I am the main one who does the inviting…would you be willing to use this as a post for us for the next time we have a hole that needs filling. I LOVE what you have written here! Please get back to me on this!
Wow … my first guest blogger opportunity! Of course I should probably act all-professional like and make out that this happens to me all the time … but stuff it … it’s exciting. Thank you Ginnie 🙂
It’s a ride worth taking, Geoffrey.
I’m afraid that I’ve never gotten into the habit – I find that, to paraphrase Richard Hell, my writing comes in spurts. It’s a frustrating thing that sometimes yields satisfactory results. Perhaps I need to change course and make the practise of writing habitual. It could be a good thing for me.
Thanks Paul. I’m enjoying the ride and it is exciting because I don’t exactly know where this one goes but it certainly feels right and it’s fun 🙂
I found the hardest thing was to start.
I love the pictures and not only because I’m fascinated by withered and rusty things at the moment. I like the contrasts of light and dark, the blurring at the edges somehow make it seem endless and curved. It also reminds me of the structure of the Buckminsterfullerene (or bucky balls), guess that’s the chemist in me 🙂
I think you are doing great with your writing and if you still feel it to be a bit rusty, you will likely find it going smoother with time. When I created my blog about a year and a half ago it was mainly to get all that stuff out of my head, all the ideas that were bouncing back and forth, give them a room to play, share thoughts with my friends. I only got into photography a few months later, slowly, and now it seems impossible to publish anything without a picture or more, maybe because I got more readers and recognition for my pictures than for my writing.
Personally, I prefer photo blogs with words, as even though the pictures might be good, I found that I get bored if they always stand alone and honestly I’m also not that much interested to hear all the technical details or read comments in which people get lost in criticizing every single bit. As you wrote, it also happens that we will see a lot of pictures we don’t like or just can’t relate to but I would never go that far and tell somebody ‘That’s crab.’ Taking pictures for me is sharing my view of the world, not only what I see but also what I think and feel. Sometimes the words come first and other times the pictures. And for both it is difficult to choose which will be next, I can totally relate to that as well.
The ‘withered and rusty’ … the decay of the strong into its new identity and the buckyballs … it’s the hexagons … you know the old saying ‘you can take the girl out of chemistry, but you can’t take the chemistry out of the girl’ 😉
When I first started I was thinking that this blog was going to be a visual diary of sorts … somewhere for me to park all the things I did that weren’t ever going to make it to the galleries on the website or to Google+ or Flickr. Over time I started to appraise what the blog was becoming and then started to prune … to become more selective about what I posted and why … it was about this time I changed the title of the blog to better reflect this. It was also about this time that I started adding the poems and then the writing. Perhaps the desire to write things about my images was there all along and subconsciously that is why I started a blog … it just took a little time for myself to catch up with my subconscious self … I think there’s a post in that!
Thanks for the encouragement too … with regular use the rust falls away and things become shiny again 🙂
ps did you mean ‘that’s crab‘ 😉 I think I might have to do a substitution in my own vocab and start saying ‘Oh crab!’ I kinda like it 🙂
No, of course I didn’t want to say your picture is crap…I was referring to your comment to Petra: “there are very few people who go around saying ‘that image is crap … what were you thinking?’ “. I’ve seen such comments and I was simply trying to agree with you that even though we might think it sometimes, I’d never say this to somebody. Though I like your final saying, I think there is an expression in English ‘Holy crap’ which is can be good or bad but in generally is simply expressing surprise.
And the ‘old’ saying is a good one as well 😉
I didn’t think for a minute you were! I was having a play/tease at the spelling is all 🙂
Haha, it really is time to head into the weekend for me. I thought it might be a typo as this crab-crap thing happened to me before but still I couldn’t spot it earlier 🙂
Sometimes I can stare at words for a while and still not see them, my mind playing games. I think I need more sleep.
Haha … I know that feeling! Sleep well 🙂
Before I wrote, I read the other comments, and I have to agree. The combination of words and pictures makes for much more interest. You captured mine. After visiting your site yesterday, I added you to my feed reader, and I’m picky.
I can’t say I’m much of a writer. I’m more like a “typist,” but I do know how to get my creative energy back, and that is to get out and do stuff that’s fun, simple as that.
Sitting and staring at a blank page/screen and not feeling it means I just need to take a little time to breathe in. That’s all.
It might amuse you to know that when I was looking at the picture but had only read the first paragraph and a half, I was trying to figure out why you picked that picture, and I was thinking, “barriers of the mind? caught in a web maybe?” I didn’t really pick up on the rust though.
Then I read to the end and was pleased to see I had pretty much gotten it. Fun!
Cheers,
Rick
Hey Rick, I’m glad you got the rust. A typist is a writer, simply a more spontaneous one. Your blog is chock full of interesting ideas, thoughts and reflections about your artistic journey and there’s a certain honesty about the way you write that appeals to me. Thanks for the add and welcome to the blog. Guru Adrian says ‘Having fun is half the fun’ how true that is!
Cheers,
Geoff
Thanks. I got that line about being a typist from Truman Capote, who said that of Jack Kerouac. 🙂 Never much cared for Capote’s cold, perfect, perfect style.
Here’s an idea: If you ever get stumped in the future, you might want to invite your readers to put words to your pictures.
I like that idea! I’m going to
steal itmake that the topic of a future blog post 😉Nice! Reading the comments here, I saw that you have some articulate and thoughtful commenters with genuine things to say rather than simple reactions, so I suspect it would work.
And notice the amount of comments? Interesting, huh? You must have hit a nerve/played a harmonious chord.
I accept only the most thoughtful and articulate commenters on this blog Richard 😉
Thank you , Geoffrey, you made some very good points especially about image plus writing. I very often just put an image out there with not writing but to compensate I try to reveal my thought in a quirky title that reveals my thought re the image but nonetheless, you have made a very valid point. We are all animals of communication – starving to understand that which around us and express that which is deep inside with the hope of being heard and understood. Sometimes I go to the side of hinting or bare bones because I remember in high school studying Bernard Shaw (Joan of Arc) . I tell if ever a total dislike could be developed , I sure developed it. The play was fine, I got the point but no – he had to come back and belabour the point by showing us how even if someone even greater then Joany (Christ, in this case) were to come back today, we would not recognize or appreciate him. That was it. Shaw , for me, became mud. I don’t claim to be the sharpest tack in the box but I don’t feel I have to have everything pointed out to me just because some writer thinks I am too stupid to figure it out for myself (apparently, this is what he thought of his readership or audience). So you see, sometimes, I hint and let someone else’s mind take it from there where it may go. Funny how the things (which strike us to some core) of the past can influence our lives deep into the future, eh?? (This is my Canadianism coming out – gggg as my sister would say when she wants you to know she is giggling or smiling in a funny sort of way!) But, in the final analysis, I want to repeat, thank you for your fine points and will bear them in mind (no, I don’t take your words as a directives, reprimands or musts but just as good points worth noting.) in the future.
The Jane Reichhold website you pointed to was very useful. I am glad to discover that haiku is not so rule bound as I thought. Thanks.
It’s a good one huh? I was glad to discover that the rules are a little flexible too. There’s a compactness to the form that I find spectacular and I’d very much like to get a grip on it … most likely by letting go! 😉
you are for sure falling back in, seem to flow and dance with your words more than anything! but like they say, silence is gold right?!
beautiful shots again.
Thanks 🙂
Silence can most certainly be golden … heavy and shiny and communicating only through its presence…
Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy taking the time, viewing a picture and deriving my own narrative to accompany it … making up stories, lives and experiences.
Interesting post and fascinating comments! I think that Petra is correct. It’s unusual to find a blog with both excellent images and writing. No pressure now Geoffrey;)
No pressure indeed! 🙂
One day a hole will replace the rusty wire and everything will be free to flow! I love to read text from visual artists on the process of art/photography – if there is only a photo I feel I probably shouldn’t comment for some reason. Keep doing what you are doing and all will be well, I am sure.
Funny Gabe, there was a hole just a little further along in the fence but I didn’t take a picture of that! I find that taking pictures of the absence of something leaves me a little unsatisfied 😉
Thank you 🙂
Geoff, thank you for taking us along for the ride through the thoughtful beauty of your images and words.
I have just finished reading an excellent piece about a cache of photos found on the street in Detroit -http://littlebrownmushroom.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/found-photos-in-detroit-reviewed-by-vince-leo/ No words, no context, just pictures in a puzzle to be put together.
With blogging we can choose to add a narrative of context or sometimes we might send it out there on its own, a message in a bottle, getting caught from time to time in our own rusty fences. . . .
Thanks Patti for coming along with me. I love stories like the link you posted … like wandering along a beach and finding treasure! A box of photos like that is an amazing find … I wonder sometimes how all our digital memories will be found or dug over and why is it we find it so hard to throw out a photograph?
Your topic is one close to my heart–the question of arts for art’s sake or the back story added to the work including what is past and present in the visual arts. As you well know, I combine my photographs with commentary. But my writing is not usually about the photographs. I do find it hard to articulate about my photographs, because it is very much an intuitive process. The act of writing is so many things to me, including processing life’s experiences and possibilities. I’ve been thinking lately that I’d like to start being more articulate about my photographs, even if I do it just for me. Writing is a learning process. Does a photograph need text? In a forum such as “our” blogging community, it can add insights into the person’s intentions or not. But others also can learn about a photographer’s technique. Thanks for inspiring and creating a dialogue, Sally
Thank you Sally for coming along and being a part of it 🙂
Good points. I’ve no idea where to draw a line here. I mean there are photographs which are art most definitely and by that I mean they are interpretive or abstract representations of the world (or another world) that invite us to create our own narrative to accompany them. In those cases it’s interesting to have some idea of what the artist is trying to convey with the work. The other alternative is say nothing and let the viewer form their own from the
detritusthoughts and experiences we all carry around in our heads.The light is superb !
Thank you always Marie 🙂
omgosh, what a fab image, the mesh, keeping thoughts. some thoughts out and limiting the writing, I love it, may have to compose a poem about this, then create a visual art image because it’s fab! thanks for triggering the creative juices for me, glad you’re inspired again namaste! 🙂
I look forward to reading your poem Roxie 🙂
Thanks.
I really like what I see, a very dramatic tone that joins perfectly to the subject, expresses, for me, a sense of restriction, amplified by the perfect selective focus, really like!!!
Thank Fabrizio … it works for me too!
words first?
or image?
Does it matter?
I’m enjoying the ride and the rust
Which one first? Generally the image but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the words weren’t simmering away in there beforehand 😉
Nice to have you along Ally 🙂
“Why put an image up if you didn’t want people to ‘see’ something in it?” Handy advice for any blogger, wouldn’t you say? (Possibly handy advice for any creative person, artist even.)
Indeed Nigel … indeed. It has been suggested to me that the difference between a ‘creative’ and an ‘artist’ is that an artist feels the strong urge to put their efforts out there for the world to see. There’s a blog post post in that … I’d better start making a list 😉
I don’t consider myself to be a writer or a photographer though I do occasionally manage to combine the two successfully.
As a ceramic artist I work intuitively within a structured framework. I find with the blog, that is also the case. Sometimes an image will demand to be shared and the words will follow, other times the words just fall out of my fingertips and land on the page and call the images to them.
Thanks Kim, I like that … the words ‘calling’ the images to them … very apt 🙂
Es gelingt mir selten die passenden Worte zum Foto zu finden. Fotografieren fällt mir deutlich leichter als das Schreiben. Am besten gelingt es mir, meine Gedanken in CH – Deutsch zu schreiben. Deutsch wie es in Deutschland gesprochen wird, ist für mich eine Fremdsprache und musste in der Schule gelernt werden. Privat schreibe ich immer alles auf CH – Deutsch.
Weiter könnte man fragen, warum es zu einer Fotografie noch Worte benötigt?
Gruss
Claudia
Google translate version: I rarely manage to find the right words about the photo. I find photography much easier than writing. The best way I manage my thoughts in CH – German writing. German as spoken in Germany is for me a foreign language and had to be learned in school. Privately, I always write everything on CH – German.
Next, one might ask why it needs to be a photograph or words?
greeting
Claudia
A great detail of this fence, so well framed!
Have a nice day.
It’s remarkable what can be rendered picturesque 😉
I know exactly what you are writing about, that mental barrier to the mind. And the way you describe your part of conversations is just how it is for me, too. Sometimes it’s so much easier to write when you can indeed focus and turn the words around. Your certainly picked a perfect picture for the post.