I’ve been back in from Brum for nearly two months now. Here are the final pictures from the trip. I have also placed them on a google map, showing where the pics were taken. While I’ve transitioned just fine—I was only gone 10 days—the trip and experience are still very much present in my mind on a daily basis.
The pictures are playing a huge part in this—I’m revisiting Brum with the editing of every picture. This time spent in post-processing is where I further immerse myself in the moment in which the photo was taken. Now, this may be a stretch but, in the time spent editing a photo I believe I enter into an ‘I and Thou’ relationship with the picture. There is a care taken in making sure I am re-presenting what I saw—the filter of the re-presenting being my mind’s eye and not necessarily the camera’s eye at the moment of capture.
Thus, this experience and the resultng images has prompted me to pause more than ever to reflect on what it is I want from photography. Earlier I mentioned the “I and Thou” relationship, a philosophy of dialogue and existence by Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher. In addition, I am finishing a biography on Henri Cartier-Bresson, and I want to compare Buber with Bresson’s “Decisive Moment” and also look for other philosophical thoughts about taking a pictures and capturing moments, or photographic practices, e.g., Miksang (Tibetan word that translates as ‘Good Eye’) and contemplative photography.
So that’s where I’m at!
Cheers!
