“I have the desire to photograph. I go out with my camera. I come across something that excites me emotionally, spiritually, aesthetically. I see the photograph in my mind’s eye and I compose and expose the negative. I give you the print as the equivalent of what I saw and felt.”
Alfred Stieglitz
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That’s just great, Igor. I’m half way through and I already are on so many things. It is very impressive what you have to say about your dream and your interpretation of it. I also find that we’re concerned with very similar things and I see a lot of what you see in your images. Can’t wait to read the rest, but the dog is reminding me we need to go outside. Right now.
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I like your image, Holger, particularly the beautiful luminosity of the foreground and the vividness of the footsteps in the snow leading the eye and the imagination through the corridor of snow-covered trees. I am immediately reminded of a painting by C.D. Friedrich which I like very very much, The Chasseur in the Forest (not that I can think of any painting that I don’t like by this great master of the contemplative landscape!)
But then the smaller tree leaning in the middle has a jarring effect to me. It does not have the majesty of the other trees, it breaks the harmony of lines, it screams for attention: it disturbs me not a little. I wish it weren’t there, but then I may lose interest in the scene without it (although probably not, as I really like the composition). So, to me your image conveys a sense of unease, of discordance and desperate need, of something we love and hate at one and the same time.
To the extent that it does this unmistakably and persistently, your image succeeds in conveying a powerful emotion. It may not be a pleasant emotion, but that is great because life is filled with not-so pleasant emotions and from this standpoint, your art comes across as deep and honest, certainly very expressive. Your image has given me an inner emotional experience, far from the superficial and the fake. It touches me, it does not leave me empty, and I am grateful for the experience.
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Thank you so much for your words, Laura. I find it particularly interesting when you talk about unpleasant feelings a photograph may convey. I have been experiencing anxiety, depression and panic attacks for the better part of my life and of course this finds its way Into what I do. I think that might be why I found this scene was asking me to record it. For one reason or another it resonated with you. For that I am grateful, I can’t ask for more.
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Oh I had no idea, and I’m relieved that my comment was well received because it is quite a departure from the title, which I must admit, I did not see as I concentrated fully on the image and let it speak to me.
I could not agree more!
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