Civilized, crying how to be human again: this will tell you how. Turn outward, love things, not men,
turn right away from humanity, Let that doll lie. Consider if you like how the lilies grow,
Lean on the silent rock until you feel its divinity
Make your veins cold, look at the silent stars, let your eyes Climb the great ladder out of the pit of
yourself and man. Things are so beautiful, your love will follow your eyes; Things are the God, you
will love God, and not in vain,
For what we love, we grow to it, we share its nature. At length You will look back along the stars’
rays and see that even The poor doll humanity has a place under heaven.
Its qualities repair their mosaic around you, the chips of strength And sickness; but now you are free,
even to become human, But born of the rock and the air, not of a woman.Robinson Jeffers — “Sign-Post”
I flew out of the Northwest a few days ago with my son to visit my parents. One of the only things I enjoy about flying these days is the view out the window. Every now and then, I can catch sight of a Cascade volcano…one of my favorite photographic subjects in the Northwest. I asked my son to take this picture of Mt. Adams since I gave him the window seat! Isn’t this an ominous and beautiful looking land form? There are so many powerful processes involved in such a formation.
I was also shocked to see that my parents (found out it was my mom) had actually hung up some of the black and white prints I developed eight or nine years ago. I didn’t even know my mom had these prints. These prints are really sign-posts for me. They are also points of awkwardness — my parents didn’t support my desire to dedicate myself and energy to landscape photography. But, this will be covered in some upcoming journal posts. I had to take pictures of these framed pictures (would never pick black matt for framing!!!) so there is some glare that distorts the black and white shades. The images are much clearer and better contrast when viewing in person…but oh well. These photos were taken with my 4×5 Arca Swiss and I processed the prints at a community dark room.
Contemplating The Human Direction 
Beautiful images. A good start for the week.
Glad u liked them Gerard…have a good week.
I like the tones and the compo in these pictures. They need bit of photoshop to erase the reflections.
oh christ…I’ve got a real photographer commenting on these photos of photos…lmao…these need more than photoshop dear…they need some billowing white clouds…dusk or dawn…just to name a few things…those things that require numerous trips to lofty peaks in order to capture 🙂
:)) ok… challenge accepted: send them via mail please 😛
lol…u want to be my assistant…hahahahaha
Did you realize that a woman’s “I’ll be ready in five minutes” and a man’s “I’ll be home in five minutes” are exactly the same? So, let´s say that I am the assistant of my assistant. or… whateva´… lol.. 😛
hahahaha…that was funny…thanks for the belly laugh this morning…assistant master 😉
The photo your son took came out really clear :)…that is a spectacular landform, never seen anything like it….I love looking out plane windows when flying, mostly to look at the clouds 🙂
I’d say that is sweet your mom hung up your photographs, but maybe it’s not as meaningful if she still hasn’t changed her mind about supporting you…?
Cafe…I too love to look at the clouds out the window…and I always feel good that there appears to be much land where man hasn’t scared…of course…if we set earth aside…it appears the universe is very clean…no scars from us…hahahahaha….you should see these landforms cafe at different times of the year…from a plane view…they sprawl like an octopus…and there are many of them stretching from northern California…through Oregon and
Washington…then through Canada…then through Alaska…and on…and on…ad on….so powerful and beautiful.
Sweet my mom hung them up…and it wasn’t here choice about support or not…we kind of lived under a dictatorship…a dictatorship that provided very well for the family.
Hmm, I see. Well, I’m glad she put them up 🙂
Wonder what it would be like to actually see the landforms up close and personal. …Yes, we are lucky that we can still see a lot of beauty left in this world.
come west and I will show you…hahahahahahahahahaha
Nice photos … They have an Ansel Adams “feel” to them.
haha….you know he is my favorite right?
As I recall, however, they were hung up in a hidden corner in the guestroom bathroom, in the toilet closet. This choice of where to place them is representative of their perceived significance and value–almost as if they are an embarrassment; or something to look at, like a Reader’s Digest magazine, while one is taking a shit. The philistines are ashamed of their artistic son and his creativity, which they denigrated and never supported. The products of this creativity are then placed in meaningless if not degrading places–a kind of guilty compromise that subconsciously puts them “in their place”.
I’ll say no more, because it disgusts me too much. You–and your work–deserve better.
Lmao…the beach scene is in the shiter…lmao…the volcano pictures made to the office or guest room…of course we will see how long they remain there:)
Love the photos but the Jeffers writing overwhelmed them and me – such glorious power, such sensitivity to the human condition…