Quote of the Week...from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pictures must not be too picturesque.                         ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

After reading off the TV (Music Choice's Soundscapes channel) a quote from the nineteenth century American philosopher/poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, I went to the BrainyQuote website to look for it to use on today's blog. Instead, among the multitude of his cool sayings, I found this quote that pretty much captures the essence of my philosophy when it comes to taking pictures.  When reading quotes, especially the really brief ones, you're often never quite sure what their creators had intended...but I'm just guessing as to what Emerson meant here.  When I want to capture the essence with my camera of whatever setting I'm in, I don't necessarily want to crop out the "ugly" aspects to it and only include what my limited artistic abilities regard as aesthetic.  So within a nature scene I might deliberately include roads, vehicles, people, buildings, power lines, etc. to place it in its true context....the above pic I took from a mountaintop on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands last week is an example.  To me, I'm more interested in helping out my memory of my experiences by including more within my pictures that can more comprehensively restore how I felt at the time.  And this all reminds me of a movie I saw (more than once)...

The 1982 movie Koyaanisqatsi, beautifully scored by Philip Glass and containing a collage of stunning video sequences of the American West, begins with what Emerson probably would have regarded as "too picturesque" views of nature, with humanity's presence or influence completely omitted in the footage. Then, a few minutes into the film they begin to show construction vehicles and high-tension power lines supposedly marring the landscape...the film's title is Hopi for "life out of balance" and seems to promote the idea that modern human civilization throws everything out of sync.  Maybe they're right with that up to a point, but when I'm out there in the "wilds" I want to incorporate it all when I'm shooting photos, and we humans...along with our effects on our surroundings...are a part of the real, legitimate world that merits inclusion regardless what purists may want to insinuate...