Often I have heard writers remind me to write as Emily Dickinson wisely directed us: “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” It’s quoted ad nauseam because it is the crux of writing: Even if you’re only adding to the myriad of writers making the same point, you’re going to have a unique filter through which to do it. Something you say will resonate with someone in a new way that no other person could, even if the general gist is a time-old truth.
In a moment of wild clarity, I realized that how I share beauty and truth through my photography needs that same directive, just slightly amended:
“Tell all the truth, but take the photo slant”
Looking back, my photos all seem to have that thread running through them: the ones I find the most compelling are the ones that only tell part of a story, show part of a place, make the viewer look harder, help them see something from a new angle or in a new light. This is not unique to me, so many photographers do this, but it was important for me to name it, to put a point on what it is that I most often do when taking photos of something that’s spoken volumes to me.
I’m working on a short course offered through the Black Barn Community to explore this a little bit more in depth, and after taking photos incessantly for over thirty years, it is joyful to look back and be able to see a common theme in how I’ve seen and captured the world and why it’s important to me. I’m no photography expert, and there won’t be a lot of technical details, there are actual experts who have spent years honing that side of the practice that can explain better than I what f-stop to use or what lens you need. But I’ll be explaining something I’ve been doing for 30+ years: finding beauty and sharing it in creative ways, even in the midst of hard things or seemingly mundane circumstances. The art of not taking anything I see for granted.
I’ll share more details on this course as they come up and we set up all the background stuff and open registration, but for now just consider joining me in an online space and sharing a week in June of just focusing on beauty and meaning and hearing a bit of my journey and sharing your own with us.