Six Thing-Centered Photographs
With
An Exercise in Reading Image Juxtapositions
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#1 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Illuminated Light Bulb, lamp and lampshade"
#2 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Inkjet Print 18x18"
"A Box of tissues on a small table with a misty picture window a meadow and woods
in the background, colored with the warm colors of fall leaves and the light of sunrise"
#3 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Inkjet Print, 18x18"
"The Messenger" from the project Elegy.
#4 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Inkjet Print 12x12"
"Circus Elephant inside a tent pulling a heavy weight with chains"
#5 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Quirky Portrait of a frightened child"
#6 Thing-Centered Photographs & Image Juxtapositions Symmetrical Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Blue snow drift with an almond shape"
Abstract Symmetrical Photograph
Juxtaposition: the placement of two or more things--such as concepts, characters,
objects, or images--side by side (or above and below each other). This
technique is used to compare or contrast the two (images), highlight
unexpected similarities, or emphasize their differences in order
to create meaning, suspense, humor . . .
Merriam-Webster / internet definition
A Thing-Centered Photograph: A photograph of a thing or object in which the
primary object is placed in the center of the picture's format, which,
in my case, is usually a square.
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Introduction
I began making Thing-Centered Photographs in a conscious, intentional way around 1982 and I have never stopped making them, as my blog project Thing-Centered Photographs explains in some detail. One interesting problem with Thing Photographs is that even if the thing is placed in the center of the frame, it may at times be difficult to identify what exactly the thing is. Without a "name" for a "thing" we often find it difficult to know what to do with the picture, the object pictured, and, for example, how to identify some degree of meaning for us.
In this brief collection of six mages there is a good variety of examples of things I am willing to include in my ongoing collection of Thing-Centered photographs. Half of them are quite obscure when I stop and really look at the images, here. And, in fact, I do find that interesting, and have become use to the challenge of dealing with this issue.
The square format is of course perfect for making Thing-Centered photographs, because the place of center within a square format is very obvious to us, even if the object's location in the square is not perfectly centered, because it's not hard to understood intuitively that the thing I am photographing is being seen with extreme, or even intense interest simply because I have put the image not only in the "center of my attention," but also in the center of the square format.
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Also, in this project, I am going to try to deal with one other equally complicated, and perhaps more subtle issue. When I place two images next to each other, or in other words, when I juxtapose images within a sequential line of images--no matter whether it is a vertical or horizontal format--I usually do so with some more-or-less conscious intention, though the impulse may be so intuitively felt that I may not have a good intellectual explanation for the juxtaposition. The pleasure for me in this kind of situation is enormous, for placing two images together can unleash all kinds of new ways of seeing, and experiencing new meanings through their silent (visual) dialogue with each other.
I have already presented (above) a vertical presentation of the six images, together with their titles; immediately below, I have placed five sets of with commentary on each image and their various relationships I have discovered and can write about. I enjoy this early part of the contemplation process, though it must be made clear that there is a big difference between commenting on a photograph, and the process of contemplating a photograph.
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The Pairs of Photographs
~ with Commentary ~
#1 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Illuminated Light Bulb, lamp and Lampshade"
#2 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"A Box of tissues on a small table with a misty picture window, a meadow and woods
in the background colored with the warm colors of fall leaves and the light of a sunrise"
First juxtapostion: The image I have identified as "An Illuminated Lightbulb, lamp and Lampshade" is a wonderful display of multiple variations on the curving line. Each example, beginning with the shapes of the light bulb and lampshade, are echoed in all the other curves we can discover in the image. The warm gold color of the light pervades everything we can see in the photograph. I especially like the way the top part of the lampshade not only goes into black space, but its space merges with the dark tonal matte space surrounding the entire square image. That event has, for a long time, been something that I have pursued with intention in regards to my thing-centered photography project. And, you will note that images #2, #3 and #4 share that same event, namely, the dark space in the image and the dark tones of the tonal mattes being the same identical tone, an thus their merging into each other.
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Regarding this pairing's second (bottom) image entitled "Box of tissues . . .", I enjoy the bottom edge of the image, the way the black space--the shadow of the box--merges with the matte's black space a the very bottom edge of the little table the box is sitting on, the ambiguity of spaces that occurs, including along the other three sides of the image as well. ("Where does the square image leave off ? and where does the matte's space surrounding the square image begin?").
I mentioned the warm gold light in the first image, I like the way that warm light seems to continue down into the top part of the "Box of tissues" image. You can see the warm light of the sunrise in the mist covered windows which, in part, is also partially due to the yellow and reds of the early fall leaves in the woods in the background, beyond the meadow which is behind our house and which interfaces with our back yard.
I pointed out the repeating curving lines in the lamp image, and interestingly, in the second image there is a similar repetition of the square motifs and straight lines (both vertical and horizontal straight lines) recurring between the box and the square format of the picture, and the geometry of the tables and their decorative lines, plus the left side of our "picture window" which looks out over our back yard and the meadow and woods beyond.
The tissue paper sticking up out of the top of the box is the most animated thing in the photograph. It looks alive, like a flame, or perhaps a bird's wings about to transport itself into the sky above. The transparent tone and texture of the tissue on the right side is very similar to the mist on the picture window. Also, similarly, I like seeing the reflection of the tissue on the inside surface of the picture window, and its tonal and textural similarity between both the actual paper tissue and the mist tones collected on the outside surface of the glass.
There is a table on the left side of the picture with glass placed on top to protect the wood surface below. I like the way the glass reflects the sky and the left side of the window frame; and I like the way the "weeping tears" of mist on the picture window echoes the other vertical lines in the picture.
The square tissue box itself is certainly worthy of our attention as well. I love the little "stars" on the side of the box which invoke the mystery of the universe as they are seen emerging from within the luminous shadow tones of the box, with it's totally black shadow immediately below the box which merges into the surrounding black matte space.
In past photography projects I have often assigned a particular meaning to the black space surrounding the image, and merging into the black space within the image. The merging and continuity of the the two spaces is for me a metaphor for the yogic idea of the Oneness of Being; and black space represents Silence & Stillness which has relevance to me in terms of trying to create visual symbols related to my experience of various forms of music. And in the yogic path that I practice, Siddha Yoga, Silence & Stillness are of great significance in relation to the concept of the divine Self and the longing a yogi feels to merge or become One with That divine Presence--which in Siddha Yoga, is said to dwell in the center of every human heart.
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#2 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"A Box of tissues on a small table with a misty picture window a meadow and woods
in the background, colored with the warm colors of fall leaves and the light of sunrise"
#3 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"The Messenger" from the project Elegy ~ The Messenger
This image #3 is entitled The Messenger, and is the title photograph for the blog project of the same name, with the added word Elegy, the title of a musical composition by Valentin Silvestrov. If you click on the image once and then once again, you will easily see in the magnified image of a framed photograph of a figure, covered with a blanket, walking in a landscape. The vertical knife-like reflection (of a ceiling light) in the glass of the picture frame is repeated in the sky tones hovering above the tree line in the landscape behind the figure; and these forms, and the figure's form also, echo the form of the tissue in the box in the #3 image above. The frame surrounding the walking figure is centered in the square format of the image, as is the box in image #3. And the frame's glass covering the photograph is similar to the picture window with a similar horizon line of the trees in the background beyond the meadow.
Again, the black space surrounding the picture, it's frame, the reflections and the figure--which occupies multiple center spaces (within the picture, within the picture frame, within the square format of the photograph)--is surrounded by black space, which for me signifies Silence & Stillness. The figure is Bhagavan Nityananada, probably India's most beloved and respected modern day Siddha Gurus--one who lived in the constant conscious awareness of his union with God, Supreme Consciousness, the divine Self . . . from the time he was born.
It is said in the many yogic traditions that when the world becomes too overwhelmed by hate, anger, greed, corruption, etc., holy beings (or saints) like Bhagavan Nityananda are born into this reality to provide teachings and experiences to those living on the planet regarding the divine Truths. In other words, they are Messengers of the Truth . . . of a divine presence that pervades all created things; and they inform us through there teachings, and through their ability to shower their grace upon those who want and are ready to receive it, which can actually give people the experience of The Onenss of Being, that transcendent presence or reality which exists beyond and within every created thing in this apparent dualistic world . . . including the heart of every human being.
I had a stunning mediation experience in 1987, a few months after I met Gurumayi Chidvilasananada, and received shaktipat initiation from her. One night after getting into a meditative state, I saw, spontaneously before me, a life size living likeness of Nityananda; then my mind went completely blank, still and silent. Then some time later (a few minutes?) I saw Nityananda again; this time he was laughing and laughing so hard he had to sit down on the ground in the bright sunlight against a white washed building; and then he was laughing so hard he rolled over onto the ground and laughed and laughed some more.
Though I had just met Gurumayi and had begun a very disciplined practice of meditating twice a day, I was still carrying a lot of fearful baggage I had gotten from some meditation books I had read before I had met Gurumayi, books which warned that there were dangers in the practice of meditation; that if one went too deep into meditation, one could "loose one's self" in process. ~ Foolishness like that.
My experience of Bhagawan Nityandanda, was--I believe--intended to send me a message of assurance that I would always be protected and guided in my meditation practice by this great saint's divine presence and his grace--for indeed that was my experience! After I experienced this Great Being's darshan (spontaneous visionary experience) I never felt fear again while meditating.
Bhagawan Nityananda was Swami Muktananda's meditation teacher and one who would became world famous after his Gurudev commanded him to establish an ashram in Ganeshpuri, India, originate the Siddha Yoga Path, and take the yogic teachings to the Western World. ~ In 1982, just before Swami Muktananda passed away, he transferred the power of the Siddha Yoga Lineage--the grace with which he was able to give shaktipat diksha--to his very special student, and later, his translator during his world tours, to Gurumayi, who is my beloved Meditation Master.
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#3 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"The Messenger" from the project Elegy
#4 Inkjet Print 12x12"
"Circus Elephant inside a tent pulling a heavy weight with chains"
This is an image I made in a circus tent that was being raised in Milwaukee, where I was living and teaching and making photographs in the mid 1980's for my blog project Family Life. The image in that early blog project appears in the longer horizontal 35mm format, and in this project it appears is the square format, which is typical of most of my other Thing-Centered Photographs. I like the concentrated visual nature of the square format, and I naturally place things in the center of the square when I am seeing a thing with intensity--a thing that has initiated in me the desire to the make a "Thing" photograph which (I hope) will unveil the thing's living consciousness, a consciousness very much like our own.
There are some pretty obvious graphic similarities between this image and the framed photograph of Bhagavan Nityananda: both contain a "walking figure" and both have a vertical form that is reflecting the light of an invisible source. Also, both images are dominated by black space with similar--though very minimal--information in the Thing's surroundings, or background.
Also, I have a very personal association that links these two photographs together (for me): it has to do with the fact that Bhagavan Nityananda was well known for his odd way of walking-- with a swagger very much like an elephant's--that many people who loved and revered Nityananda, would intentionally (and even unconsciously) imitate when they walked. It was there outward visual expression of their love, gratitude and internal identification with this great yogic saint.
(Note; in a wonderful book published by the SYDA Foundation, entitled Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, a beautifully edited collection of stories and essays written by Swami Muktananda in remembrance and in honor of his beloved Gurudeve Nityananda and his teachings. Muktananda shares in one brief writing included in the book that when he was a young but very devoted disciple of Nityananda, he humorously expressed his earnest disapproval of those who emulated his Gurudeve's manner of walking . . . He insisted: "The identification must be experienced on the inside, in the Heart, not outside."
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#4 Inkjet Print 12x12"
"Circus Elephant inside a tent pulling a heavy weight with chains"
#5 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Portrait of a shaken, frightened child"
In this pairing of the circus elephant photo with the shaky, vibrating image of a frightened young child, I first noticed what appears to me to be a threatening dark shape that looks like a side view of a very large face, perhaps a monster's mouth and chin, which perhaps the child is afraid of, or what its reacting to.
Another leap of the imagination: perhaps the child is shaken or frightened by the elephant's heavy footsteps as it pulls a heavy piece of circus equipment (perhaps a metal ten pole) inside a darkly lit circus tent with its small lines and bursts of ("star") light in the tent's background.
Perhaps the child is overwhelmed by its first experience of a living elephant or being inside a large, darkened circus tent. Perhaps the elephant is the child's mental Imaginal projection as it tries to find a image to fill out a constellation of the brightest "stars" visible in the top part of the tent's dark canvas.
The child's face--a tonally inversed negative image--has been placed in the very center of the image surrounded by white space with no discernible way of determining the scale or the depth of the white space except the dark face in the top right corner of the frame, which really does not help us much to know where we are, or what the black thing is . . . except our own imagining that . . . perhaps it's part of a child's nightmare in which the white space represents the Unknown.
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#5 Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Portrait of a shaken, frightened child"
#6 Symmetrical Inkjet Print 18x18"
"Blue snow drift with a vertical almond shape in the center"
Abstract Symmetrical Photograph
In this last pair of images, the "frightened child" image is paired with an abstract symmetrical photograph, an image constructed with four identical images of a straight photograph I had made of a blue tinted snow drift. Though the two paired images are pervaded by a dominance of light tonalities--the one, mostly white, with the image of a child's shaking frightened face in the center of the square; the other, a white a vertical almond-shaped form surrounded by two light-blue-gray, breast-like shapes. ~ And it has just occurred to me that the vertical form could also represent the the womb in which a child is experiencing--at a subliminal level of awareness--its Union with its mother. In any case the two images appear to represent two opposing feelings: fear, or anxiety & movement, vs. peace & stillness, or stasis.
I often associate my symmetrical photographs, and the color Blue, with a yogic* concept often referred to as "Unitary Reality," or "the Oneness of Being," or "the divine Self" and "the Blue Pearl."
(*Note: After Iexperienced Shaktipat initiation from Gurumayi, my usual practice of making photographs became, for me, a way of "seeing with the eye of the Heart," and a form of "meditation with eyes open" [both quotes are Gurumayi's words]. ~ Regarding the color Blue, I invite you to visit my blog project The Blue Pearl.)
The symmetrical photographs are quite literally a visual representation of Unitary Reality, and when the image is pervaded by a sacred creative energy (grace, or shakti) they attain an ineffable visual power which can transform images into what I call True Living Symbols, photographs alive with the grace of my Creative Process. True Living Symbols can open my entire being into a transcendent, mysterious and transformational space which some call the Heart.
When I contemplate a True Living Symbol with closed eyes and "the eye of the Heart" I can often experience the transforming power of grace, for grace can still or silence my mind; grace can help me enter the great mystery of the Heart . . . in a conscious way, such that I can tap into the very palpable sacred silence and ineffable knowledge which the ancient yogic scriptures say dwell in every human Heart.
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The Four-fold Symmetrical Photographs are constructed by placing four identical straight photographs in relation to each other such that each image becomes mirrored into and merged with the other--both above & below and left & right. The process often magically manifests an unexpected and entirely new image--which is literally a Unified Visual Field--and which I hope will provide a contemplator with an experience of their own divine presence; their own overflowing fountain of sacred energy (shakti).
My experience of Gurumayi's grace (shakitpat) began and concluded with a feeling of profound calm and peace pervading my entire being; and at the very center of that experience was an unexpected intense feeling of being overwhelmed and profoundly shaken to the very core-center of my being by feelings of an ineffable transformational process.
I have to say, the image of the shaken frightened child comes surprisingly close to visually portraying that central part of my shaktipat-initiation experience. And I am grateful for the experience . . . beyond saying . . .
*To learn more about my Symmetrical Photographs, please visit these two links: All about Symmetrical Photographs and
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Epilogue
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#6 Alt. Symmetrical Inkjet Print 18x18"
"The Witnessing Eye"
Blue snow drift with a horizontal almond shape in the center
(an abstract symmetrical photograph)
In the yoga I practice, the saints of the Siddha Yoga tradition say that every human heart is
the abode of God, the abode of the divine Self, the abode of Supreme Consciousness.
Also, the ancient yogic scriptures say that the all pervasive Consciousness is
constantly witnessing everything that is thought, felt, dreamt, said, and
otherwise experienced within Its Divine Play.
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This project was published on my blog's
Welcome Page on August 11, 2026
It is Project #6 in an ongoing
series of mini Inkjet Print
Thematic Projects.
Here is the list of the 2026 mini Inkjet Print Thematic projects published so far:
"It Is Always ONE" June 5, 2026
"Seeing Things" June 19, 2026 =
~ The Spark ~ "A Flashing Forth! July 1, 2026
Seven Windswept Symmetrical Photographs" July 19, 2026
"Nine Quirky Photographs" July 23, 2026
"Six Thing-Centered Photographs" with An Exercise in Reading Image Juxtapositions August 11, 2026
Related Blog Projects:
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape blog-website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography blog projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, Introductory texts, and more.
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