"Studies"
A Collection of Published Projects
Studies X, 2019
Studies I 1994-2000
Studies II : Monk's Quirky Music 1994-2000
The Garage Series 1999-2001 /2006
Additional Studies Photographs 1994-2000 July, 2019
Studies III: Color Photographs 2006 - June 2013
Still Life: Homage to Morandi Studies IV 2013 (which includes the four "Walkabout" projects)
The Creative Process Studies V 2014
The Space Between Color and Black&white Studies VI 2014
Babysitting Photographs Studies VII May 2016
Studies VIII : Sufism 2016 Signs, Veils, The Symbolic Photograph
Studies IX : Lila 2018
Studies X : 24 Photographs, Meditations on "the Moment" Homage to V. Silvestrov 2019
Studies XI : Seeing the Blackbird, Photographs, Poems, Commentary, March 2020
Introduction
In recent years, when I have felt a need for renewed inspiration and refreshment, I have returned to one of my earlier, favorite projects entitled Studies I 1994-2000. The project, which was ongoing for six years, consisted of snapshot size 3.5" x 3.5" silver gelatin prints. I loved making those little pictures inspired by short piano compositions, such as etudes, preludes, etc. I didn't know at the time I was making the Studies images that indeed they were a kind of "preparation" for "larger" works. The Studies photographs had their own visual integrity--despite their size--and yet later they were to be used as source material for other larger forms: the Visual Poems for the Departing Landscape, and the Visual Poems for Triadic Memories, and the Chromatic Field photographs.
The attitude with which the Studies images were made is part of their power for me. For six years I worked on this project, generating over a thousand images, effortlessly, joyfully, with great enthusiasm, in a creative atmosphere of total freedom. The Studies are the abundant fruit of a spontaneous-intuitive oftentimes quirky sense of visual invention. There is a directness and immediacy about these little pictures which were quickly made, and thus represent a kind of seeing that comes when I am most fully in alignment with the un-knowable, un-namable force that is my Creative Process.
The Studies photographs often seem quite cryptic in their meaning, unsayable in their conception or intention. In general the images represent a willingness on my part to disregard any conventionally defined or disciplined approach to picture-making. The images are unbound by specific thematic ideas or any subject matter constraints. Anything was possible in the earlier Studies project, and I want to allow this attitude to continue to flourish into future projects.
Some of the little square silver gelatin prints were made with 2 1/4" square negatives produced by a reflex camera I sometimes used early on, but more often than not the small square images are cropped versions of the longer format negatives produced by a 35mm camera. The decision to crop the negative was quite a liberating act on my part; it enabled me to shoot more quickly, un-meditatively. I was free to decide later what to include and what to take out of any given negative I produced when I was printing.
The "concentrated" nature of the small, square Studies photographs seemed to intensify my experience of the Studies images. And the square format encouraged me to photograph with a certain kind of intense directness. In this regard the square format taught me to honor the center of the image (as opposed to long established compositional conventions that insist that the photographer avoid placing things in the center of the frame). I have become even more interested in the center of the image now that I have discovered and studied Islamic Sacred Art and Sacred Geometry which is based on the Origin Point, the very heart, and source of Islamic Sacred Art. (See my 2011-13 project "An Imaginary Book," especially its Preface.)
When I am making Studies photographs I open my heart as wide as possible to the intuitive, guiding spirit of my Creative Process. This "seeing with the eye of the heart" requires a letting go of old visual habits and rules; in other words, it requires "Not-thinking" and it requires responding from a deeper inner place within myself that transcends mind, intellect, and language--the interior place of the Heart. Photographing in a thought-free state is a form of meditation in action, and in this state of being I become very receptive to the grace that wants to give visual form to Itself. That is to say, when I am photographing I allow the images to come of their own volition.
This approach to the making of Studies photographs allows me to observe in awe, surprise and amazement at what the Creative Process wants to give me. I watch with fascinated awareness that something greater than myself (my ego, my mind, my intellect) is directing the work. In this regard, I enthusiastically encourage you to view the Studies photographs in the same spirit with which they were created.
Since the 1994-2000 Studies project, many other Studies projects have followed. At the time of this writing (early June, 2019) there are now nine Studies projects, and I am in the process of working on Studies X. The more recent digital Studies photographs share in the same attitude and visual qualities of the earlier Studies photographs, though when I make them into prints they are not as small in size as the earlier silver gelatin prints, they are not always square images, and many are now in color as well as in black and white.
The Studies projects made after 2011-13, after the completion of the multi-chaptered project "An Imaginary Book," have often served as transitional projects within my creative process. They have been times of renewal and preparation for the more concentrated, deeply focused work typical of most of my Sacred Art Photography Projects.
Some of my Homage Photography Projects often qualify as Studies projects. Indeed, studying the work of other artists is a form of studying my own self, my own Creative Process. The Steve Lacy project, for example, and my Homage to Paul Klee are no less Studies projects then my Morandi Still Life project which, I have designated as Studies project number IV.
My Creative Process is essentially a visual manifestation of grace, images that come from an Imaginal world that celebrates the Oneness of Being, that unitary reality which transcends the limits of the dual world--the world of mind, intellect, language and time. In this regard I must conclude this project page by saying the Studies photographs, in their many and varied incarnations, are (for me) no less a form of Sacred Art than those projects which I have more recently (since 2013) been designating as such. I invite you to visit The Sacred Art Photography Projects and all of my other theme related-projects which can be seen at this link: The Complete "Collections of Theme-Related Projects and Photographs".
The Garage Series 1999-2001 /2006
Additional Studies Photographs 1994-2000 July, 2019
Studies III: Color Photographs 2006 - June 2013
Still Life: Homage to Morandi Studies IV 2013 (which includes the four "Walkabout" projects)
The Creative Process Studies V 2014
The Space Between Color and Black&white Studies VI 2014
Babysitting Photographs Studies VII May 2016
Studies VIII : Sufism 2016 Signs, Veils, The Symbolic Photograph
Studies IX : Lila 2018
Studies X : 24 Photographs, Meditations on "the Moment" Homage to V. Silvestrov 2019
Studies XI : Seeing the Blackbird, Photographs, Poems, Commentary, March 2020
Introduction
In recent years, when I have felt a need for renewed inspiration and refreshment, I have returned to one of my earlier, favorite projects entitled Studies I 1994-2000. The project, which was ongoing for six years, consisted of snapshot size 3.5" x 3.5" silver gelatin prints. I loved making those little pictures inspired by short piano compositions, such as etudes, preludes, etc. I didn't know at the time I was making the Studies images that indeed they were a kind of "preparation" for "larger" works. The Studies photographs had their own visual integrity--despite their size--and yet later they were to be used as source material for other larger forms: the Visual Poems for the Departing Landscape, and the Visual Poems for Triadic Memories, and the Chromatic Field photographs.
*
The miniature Studies images have a particular magical power for me . . . perhaps because of their small concentrated size. They invoke within me the Epiphany of 1955 which I experienced when I was nearly ten years old (and just before my father died) when I saw a hand full of snapshot prints being offered to me by my cousin. (See my essay Epiphany of 1955 which is included on my blog's Welcome Page). The attitude with which the Studies images were made is part of their power for me. For six years I worked on this project, generating over a thousand images, effortlessly, joyfully, with great enthusiasm, in a creative atmosphere of total freedom. The Studies are the abundant fruit of a spontaneous-intuitive oftentimes quirky sense of visual invention. There is a directness and immediacy about these little pictures which were quickly made, and thus represent a kind of seeing that comes when I am most fully in alignment with the un-knowable, un-namable force that is my Creative Process.
The Studies photographs often seem quite cryptic in their meaning, unsayable in their conception or intention. In general the images represent a willingness on my part to disregard any conventionally defined or disciplined approach to picture-making. The images are unbound by specific thematic ideas or any subject matter constraints. Anything was possible in the earlier Studies project, and I want to allow this attitude to continue to flourish into future projects.
Some of the little square silver gelatin prints were made with 2 1/4" square negatives produced by a reflex camera I sometimes used early on, but more often than not the small square images are cropped versions of the longer format negatives produced by a 35mm camera. The decision to crop the negative was quite a liberating act on my part; it enabled me to shoot more quickly, un-meditatively. I was free to decide later what to include and what to take out of any given negative I produced when I was printing.
The "concentrated" nature of the small, square Studies photographs seemed to intensify my experience of the Studies images. And the square format encouraged me to photograph with a certain kind of intense directness. In this regard the square format taught me to honor the center of the image (as opposed to long established compositional conventions that insist that the photographer avoid placing things in the center of the frame). I have become even more interested in the center of the image now that I have discovered and studied Islamic Sacred Art and Sacred Geometry which is based on the Origin Point, the very heart, and source of Islamic Sacred Art. (See my 2011-13 project "An Imaginary Book," especially its Preface.)
When I am making Studies photographs I open my heart as wide as possible to the intuitive, guiding spirit of my Creative Process. This "seeing with the eye of the heart" requires a letting go of old visual habits and rules; in other words, it requires "Not-thinking" and it requires responding from a deeper inner place within myself that transcends mind, intellect, and language--the interior place of the Heart. Photographing in a thought-free state is a form of meditation in action, and in this state of being I become very receptive to the grace that wants to give visual form to Itself. That is to say, when I am photographing I allow the images to come of their own volition.
This approach to the making of Studies photographs allows me to observe in awe, surprise and amazement at what the Creative Process wants to give me. I watch with fascinated awareness that something greater than myself (my ego, my mind, my intellect) is directing the work. In this regard, I enthusiastically encourage you to view the Studies photographs in the same spirit with which they were created.
*
Since the 1994-2000 Studies project, many other Studies projects have followed. At the time of this writing (early June, 2019) there are now nine Studies projects, and I am in the process of working on Studies X. The more recent digital Studies photographs share in the same attitude and visual qualities of the earlier Studies photographs, though when I make them into prints they are not as small in size as the earlier silver gelatin prints, they are not always square images, and many are now in color as well as in black and white.
The Studies projects made after 2011-13, after the completion of the multi-chaptered project "An Imaginary Book," have often served as transitional projects within my creative process. They have been times of renewal and preparation for the more concentrated, deeply focused work typical of most of my Sacred Art Photography Projects.
Some of my Homage Photography Projects often qualify as Studies projects. Indeed, studying the work of other artists is a form of studying my own self, my own Creative Process. The Steve Lacy project, for example, and my Homage to Paul Klee are no less Studies projects then my Morandi Still Life project which, I have designated as Studies project number IV.
In 2023 I created a four part Studies blog project entitled 12x12" Studies Photographs. It consists of four separate Books (Collections) of images, each containing 48-60 images which in May, June & July of 2023 I had made inkjet prints of with my new Epson 6000P inkjet printer. Each print is 12x12 inches in size including the surrounding mattes. The project as a whole was intended to provide an overview of some of my favorite images posted on my blog, representing over 100 blog projects, most of which were created since November, 2010 when I initiated TheDepartingLandscape.blogspot.com The 12x12" project celebrates the printed image once again, after such a long period of time publishing only blog projects. And inversely, the 12x12" project celebrates the vast range of work that blogging not only facilitated, but also encouraged and inspired. Indeed, I am grateful for both, the blogging process and the beautiful printed versions of some of my favorite blogging images and even some digitized versions of some of my favorite silver gelatin print images. And . . . I am even more grateful for the grace of my Creative Process that made it all happen.
My Creative Process is essentially a visual manifestation of grace, images that come from an Imaginal world that celebrates the Oneness of Being, that unitary reality which transcends the limits of the dual world--the world of mind, intellect, language and time. In this regard I must conclude this project page by saying the Studies photographs, in their many and varied incarnations, are (for me) no less a form of Sacred Art than those projects which I have more recently (since 2013) been designating as such. I invite you to visit The Sacred Art Photography Projects and all of my other theme related-projects which can be seen at this link: The Complete "Collections of Theme-Related Projects and Photographs".
Note: This introductory text has been revised on June 5 and 6, 2018
on the occasion of realizing it is time, once again, to begin
making another Studies Project: Studies IX.
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