Color was returning to reclaim the world from black-and-white. It started on Sapsucker Ridge and spread down across the field. Soon it was right in front of my doorstep, where it paused for a while. I took that as a signal to go out, camera dangling from the strap around my neck like a shrunken head. It can see things I can’t. It can steal souls. I point and click, and sometimes, when I am looking for nothing in particular — “just looking,” as I always say to solicitous sales clerks — the miraculous appears. Or at least the pretty darn interesting. Or the mildly engaging. Or… well, you get the picture.
Why “Visual Soma”? Because when a regular reader of Via Negativa visited the then still tentative photoblog for the first time the other day, she thought I must be smoking something. And because a name like that will give me something to try and live up to: photos that alter consciousness. Can it be done? I don’t know, but I’m going to try.
This is not a resolution, mind you, but an aspiration, keeping in mind the multiple meanings of that word. The breath itself is enough of a wonder. Who needs smoke?
Again, for those unfamiliar with the photoblog format: the front page displays the latest photo only. Click on it — or use the Previous or Archive links at the top — to go back in time. I’m paid up for a year, so the blog and all its archives will stay online at least that long. In addition to new photos, I have two years’ worth of photos that need a second look and in most cases re-processing.
Fantastic photos, as always, Dave. I’ve learned a new meaning for soma, a word I only knew as a biology term … interesting!
Here’s a toast (or a smoke from Amsterdam) to Visual Soma!
I first assumed you meant the biological term, too. But it could work either way, I suppose. Have fun! Looking forward to viewing…
I knew
immediately
you meant
the psychotropic!
Very nice! And yeah, those are kinda trippy….
Thanks, y’all. I should’ve said that I was also influenced by “somatic,” inasmuch as the sorts of photos I’ve been featuring and would like to continue to feature there take a sort of tactile, texture-rich approach to imagery. Quoth the Wikipedia:
tactile, texture-rich approach to imagery
Ack! And I call myself a poet…
Some nice work there, Dave.
Thanks, MB.