A Light Within

So much is happening, effecting so many, any discussion starts with where to begin? Before getting to any specifics, there is one point of entry to any discussion of crisis: we are in this together. Even though the scale of the issues we are confronted with daily are national, or also international, as well, you may know someone who needs help or has already benefited from your help right now, directly. But I wonder if it’s also possible to help indirectly, just by creating something that shares a message of hope?

You might guess that I’m rhetorically asking that question to prompt the following: Is it possible to capture and portray, perhaps even embody, a message within the image of a silent landscape?

Of course, a beach at sunset can convey a message. But would the recipient of the message think the intent was to depict adventure? Romance? Solitude? The intent of an artist using a still medium is limited to line, color, form and other elements and principles of design, within the context of depicting textures, moods, and settings.

During a recent cold spell, it took nearly an entire day for the temperatures to warm enough for battery-powered drones to fly, after consecutive days when the temperatures remained stubbornly below freezing, preventing flight. Despite the afternoon sun, it was cloudy and dark when I arrived at Hutchinson Park. Atmospheric haze softened the distances and the landscapes seemed almost alien.

After flying at around 380’ (or 115 meters) above ground level, I returned to land, only to discover that the outlined silhouettes of the trees in front of the sun seemed to reach out, circle the sun, almost to touch it, or even pierce it with their branches. I had set the camera’s configuration to low ISO values, cool color settings and the contrast was nearly monochromatic. In reality, the day was dark, but not that dark!

I was using the camera’s settings to make an editorial statement to match the message I had in mind. The landscape in the image was no longer a specific location, but represented any location. The time of day wasn’t a specific time, but represents any time where the Sun (or, is it the Moon?) could be visible against a vague and restless sky. The ground no longer represented a specific verge, but any dormant thing, reaching out against or surrounding the focus of the composition, the brightest and most important element.

The day itself, despite the cold, was pleasant. Without reflection, it could seem like the status was still quo and all was normal. But within the normal sights and sounds of Hutchinson Park in Lakewood, Colorado, I could see the potential for a message of hope during a time of crisis. That message wasn’t meant to be isolated, or contained only within itself. For that, I try to portray an image of self-containment with the “Tiny Planet” panoramas. The full 360° vista of the landscapes surrounding the drone become converted from cartesian coordinates to polar coordinates to transform and enclose the entire vista: first within an outer frame of the image, then, within an inner sphere depicted in the image itself.

Unlike the panorama above, most of my photos are representational. Earlier that same day while running errands I took some photographs of Denver’s Central Business District from the south, in Littleton (where I lived, once or twice). But a photograph of a city skyline becomes almost abstract in the density of development, and the complexity of representation, both in and around the city center. Here, I also try to layer the composition with color, separating the desaturated distance in the perspective of atmospheric haze from the foreground of subtly saturated colors.

That diversity, at an almost overwhelming level of detail, makes all this possible. The city itself can be abstracted, with the message and its interpretation meant to convey almost anything, in that almost anything is possible. In contrast, the message that day at Hutchinson Park I found was contained within a single focus.

Within a few days, the sun rose within a completely clear HIGH SKY! The effect is similar, but not at all the same. A message of hope can take many forms, and I hope you find yours to share. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!