“To see a world in a drain is grand.”
I’ve enjoyed articles by Robert Hecht in the past, and recently discovered one, The Maturation of Individual Seeing, originally published in LensWork Magazine. Hecht ponders William Blake’s poem about seeing the world in a grain of sand, and wonders if, as photographers, we can touch the infinite in just about anything – humorously adding the subtitle “to see a world in a drain is grand.” This inspired me to spend some time photographing the drain in my own bathroom sink.
The Stages Summarized
- Emulating admired photographers
- Striving to become technically proficient
- Producing perfect and beautiful landscape images
At this point, he felt a little emptiness in his photography and moved on to the next step.
- Seeing beauty, rather than looking for beautiful subjects
“I believe now that my growth has involved a subtle, yet profound, shift from perceiving beauty as something outside of myself, as separate from myself, to that of experiencing it internally, as fully integrated within my self and my values. I had been mistakenly looking for beautiful subjects, for things that were already dazzling and amazing.”
They key is being more present and having fewer preconceptions about what to photograph. This opens up possibilities for photographic subjects exponentially.
I can relate to several of these stages, although I’ve never mastered taking perfect landscape images. However, learning to photograph anywhere not only opens up possibilities, it also expands our definition of beauty. I’ve found that I see beauty where many don’t. That greatly increases my appreciation for life. On the flip side, it also makes me feel greater sadness when I see things dismissed, unappreciated or uncared for.
By sharing the beauty we see through the lens of our camera, we help others to see in new ways.
“The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is…” ~ Marcel Proust via The Improvised Life
For me, a new stage was the discovery of abstract photography and how colour and design can express beauty and emotions. My current stage is exploring the psychological aspects of photography, or what our photographs have to say about us.
Greetings Kim and thank you!
I haven’t so much translated your very inspiring columns into actual images as such, but there is an ever increasing folio of virtual images in my mind that have the very real advantage of the ability to be seen in glorious colour or beautiful monochrome tones even with my eyes closed. Now those are ‘mega-pixels’ that no digital sensor can hope to emulate!
May I add, I just love Hecht’s title for the drain image. That is my weird sort of humour !
Thank you, Peter, for this intriguing comment!
“seeing beauty, rather than looking for beautiful subjects”. YES! Also seeing with ‘different eyes’.
I loved Robert Hecht’s Still Life photography, there a lot of force behind the images, yet a gentleness in the play of light.
I like the creamy texture and colour in your bathroom sink image and the abstract quality.
Thank you Kim, this was a really interesting read. I must say my kitchen has always been a photographic source for me, usually when washing dishes something pops out wanting my attention and oh when I look amongst those soap suds I can see wonderful things….
I love your image…so beautiful. And it really illustrates the idea that we should look for beauty not beautiful things.
Hmm. In my timeline, I’d say I just popped out of the womb:) so, that just means I have it ALL in front of me. And I love that:) Laura
Washing dishes has always provided me with mindful moments…so there’s no surprise to find beauty in a bathroom drain! My five years of photographing continues to be a journey…every day my eyes open wider and wider…thank you again for such a thought provoking post!