Monthly Archives: August 2020

Wabi-Sabi Mandala

Wabi-Sabi Mandala was constructed—mostly—using the blossoms from Flowers from our Pandemic Garden, with the addition of some time passing. “Wabi-sabi” is the rendition of a Japanese concept (侘寂) indicating the beauty of imperfection, impermanence, time passing, and decay—particularly in the context of nature.

I have been thinking about creating an online course in visual mandala construction. This class would be small, and meet over a period of time with analysis, exercises and assignments, discussions, and critiques. All details are still TBD, but if this might interest you (no obligation of course) please drop us a line. In the meantime, current webinar listings can be found here.

Wabi-Sabi Mandala © Harold Davis

Wabi-Sabi Mandala © Harold Davis

Posted in Photography

Flowers from Our Pandemic Garden

It was great fun yesterday to construct and photograph this light box composition. The dahlias are the first from my new dahlia raised bed on the southwest side of the house, which is beginning to produce numerous flowers. I think the next crop of dahlias will be white!

Flowers from our Pandemic Garden © Harold Davis

Flowers from our Pandemic Garden © Harold Davis

Exposure data: Nikon D850, Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4, eight exposures at shutter speeds ranging from 6.0 seconds to 1/13 of a second, each exposure at f/16 and ISO 64, tripod mounted; exposures combined in Photoshop and adding to a scanned paper background.

Posted in Flowers, Photography

Nature versus Vision

Nature versus nurture, er, nature versus vision?

I love being in, and photographing, nature and the wilderness. But on the whole, I subscribe to the philosophy of artist, solographer, and photographer Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky in 1890) who wrote “I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions.”

Agreed. Even when the visions are of nature. Indeed, if everything comes from nature then Man Ray’s statement is tautologically true. There is no such thing as an artistic depiction of nature, such as a photograph, without a vision of what the image is to be, to convey, and to portray.

Calling Alice © Harold Davis

End of Days © Harold Davis

End of Days © Harold Davis

Related: My “Impossible” album on Flickr; upcoming Finding the Mysterious in Photography webinar, scheduled for October 24, 2020 in time for Halloween. 

Trouble with Tracks © Harold Davis

Trouble with Tracks © Harold Davis

Posted in Writing