This post was first published on Thursday Dec. 14th. On a subsequent read I concluded that my thoughts were good, but the writing lacked bridging. Today, Saturday, I revised the post.
This sequence of posts began with a quartet of “near day” photos. It is therefore fitting that this series ends with these “end day” photos.
“Mountain Liight” was one of the books published by the late great photographer Galen Rowell. Sebastiao Salgado is a Brazilian photographer known for his large self-assigned documentary projects. Bedsides his incredible photos with and of people, he has also some great mountain photos that hearken back to masters of black and white photography such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.
Given the body of stunning work from people like Rowell and Salgado, a not unreasonable question would be, why bother taking another photograph at all? There is an answer in my past and there is my current answer. Once upon a time I could answer this question using verbiage that was all too self-important, and all too precious. Now, I treat myself a lot less seriously, and with much more humour. The current answer is not nearly as hevay handed. I get pleasure and satisfaction from the photographic process and walkabouts. The photographic process compliments my appreciation of walkabouts, and the walkabouts contribute to the photographic process.
In a world in which humanity consistently demonstrates it has no moral right to continue, it is a gift to be reminded of the marvel of living.
Cheers, Sean