This week, I received the author's proof for my new book "SOLITUDE". While it is small in number of pages, only 20, it is larger than a regular novel, 8 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches. It represents a number of years in pursuit of a particular image message that captures a vast landscape with a solitary human figure.
The forward for the book reads:
This artistic series
“Be not lonely, but feel the richness of your solitude”
is offered up as a visual conversation spoken in the timeless language
of monochrome.
Photography's relationship with solitude is paradoxical. Though photographers savor the isolation needed to create their best work, the final image begs for a viewer to interact with that image, and indirectly with the photographer. Otherwise, why take the photo in the first place?
Photographers in pursuit of that perfect image are frequently overcome with dreaded loneliness. The mere sight of another human, though far beyond speaking distance, introduces a comforting sense of safety to their solitude.
Abandoned backstreets or vast ocean beaches can make interesting snapshots, but they lack that touch of relatable warmth all humans embody. Including one human figure in a photo can initiate that interaction. No matter how minutely portrayed the human figure, that person creates a thread between the photographer, the photograph, and the viewer. The human figure is a visual magnet, drawing the viewer into the story presented. Compelling the viewer to witness the power of one person.
These selected images invite you to be where the photographer stood when exploring this wonderful world. Be there, when loneliness became solitude when a stranger appeared.
It allows both you the viewer, together with the photographer,
to indulge not in a lonely pursuit, but in the richness of solitude.
The book cover
"Waves of Sand"
White Sands, New Mexico, 2021
"Plaza Belgrano Shadows"
Lujan, Argentina 2009
"Cathedral Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion"
Valladolid, Spain 2022
"Sea Wall"
Casablanca, Morocco 2013
"Arno River"
Florence, Italy 2022
"Low Tide"
Llanes, Spain 2022
"Seas Stacks"
Black Sand Beach, Reynisfjall, Iceland 2020
"Mision Santa Rosalia"
Mulegé, Baja California, Mexico 2022
"Desert Queen"
Imperial Desert, California 2021
"Calle de Santo Domingo"
Valladolid, Spain 2022
Some photographers get mad when a stranger appears in their camera viewfinder.
I welcome strangers to intrude on my shots. It lets my viewers know that we are not alone in this world.
No matter where we roam, or where we go, a fellow human is often nearby.
If even only a spec on the horizon, I am not lonely.
I relish the quiet solitude.
Ride safe, ride far...
CCjon
p.s. Sorry for the blog being out of service for a week month or so. Ridingthehorizon.com was registered with Google Domain names. They sold their domain service to SquareSpace, where the annual fee was about to be increased. So I moved to a different, less expensive domain registry.
No one mentioned that when you moved your domain name from one host to another that you would lose the link to your blog. The blog was still there, no content was lost. But the internet could no longer make the link. That has finally been corrected.
Am an analog person trying to survive in a high tech world. Did I ever mention how much I hate the computers built into motorcycles these days...?
More Solitude Mo' Better. As to computers, I hate them too. Glad you figured out the DNS and domain hosting crap.
ReplyDeleteThant you Dom, is good to be back online.
DeleteI can feel the quiet solitude in these pictures… they speak. The Low Tide especially tugs me to walk out and explore.
ReplyDeleteThank you, am pleased that you were touched by the images
Delete