Seeing is evolutionary. It does not come all at once and sometimes it comes too late, but mostly it is the cumulative result of ongoing experience that will hopefully be woven into the fabric of an organizing principle the gives form, order and ultimately meaning to the visual field. This was never more true for me than on my first trip through the southwest where I grappled hopelessly with the vast expanse of space and emptiness that was beautiful and hypnotic, but photographically uncomprehendible. It was only when I came home and found, in the midst of many useless contact sheets, one sheet that had three photos in a row that I did not remember taking but surprised me with myself and my unswerving sense the symmetrical a theme that has shown up throughout my work and asserted itself to impose the template necessary to organize my experiences in a meaningful manner, and they are as follows:
I loved Arizona , New Mexico and Nevada, and these three photographs were motivation to return to the southwest on a number of occasions and resulted in a show entitled "Signs of Life in Death Valley and the American Southwest". It was the human residue that provided the lynch pin that pulled it all together. Here are a sampling of latter photos from the show inspired by the above.
I have come to realize that this has been true of me on my photographic journeys which I often begin with no sense of where I am or what I am looking at. Sometimes I never see anything of what there was to see and sometimes the vision evolves so slowly that I am well along the way before it dawns on me what there was to see. Unfortunately, by the time you you are able to see, you may have already missed alot, but what can you do? If you are lucky and able, you can return mentally organized and ready to capture the vision. I did in the southwest as the following pictures show, and now I am hoping to return to Nebraska, where this blog was supposed to begin, with a greater sense of what I want to do.
Pablo
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