Monthly Archives: November 2016

Disappointment

disappointment

Cape Disappointment, WA

At the extreme southwest corner of Washington rests Cape Disappointment, so named by fur trader John Meares when a storm forced his ship back from a voyage that nearly led him to discover the mouth of the Columbia River. So close, yet so far, from the long-sought. Four years later, George Vancouver found the entrance to the Columbia, one of the foggiest spots in all of the United States. On all voyages there are setbacks and triumphs. Something about the human spirit causes us always to set sail again.

Roots

childhood-home

Rural Nebraska

Searching through family photos today, I found to my complete surprise, negatives from my first camera. At ten, I earned points for selling magazines in a school fund drive. The points could be spent on items in a catalog, and I chose a plastic Brownie camera. I had forgotten it used medium-format film and yielded square prints. Half a century later, I’m still doing the same thing. It reminds me, in more ways than we know, how close we remain to our roots. In this time of upheaval and uncertainty, I encourage you to revisit your roots and be nurtured by them.

 

Web of life

pt-lobos-toward-carmel

Point Lobos, CA

The more fractured our current political situation, the more I am reminded of the wholeness of nature. The newest biography of Alexander von Humboldt called “The Invention of Nature” traces his lifelong quest to understand the relatedness of the natural world – the web of life. May we not tear it asunder through short-sighted, misbegotten actions!

“The full and the felt”

leaves-and-roots

East Sierras, CA

Walker Evans was a photographer noted for his straightforward, but touching portrayals of rural people and places. Best known is the classic “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” about sharecroppers during the Great Depression with Evans’ photos and the writing of James Agee. Evans once said: “…the matter of art in photography…is the capture and projection of the delights of seeing; it is the observation of the full and felt.”