Clay Gully Origin—13
December 31, 2015
While I was walking the path along Clay Gully, I thought, as I often do, about what I photograph and why. I’m aware that many photographers have clear social aims with their work. They draw attention to homelessness, poverty, world hunger, crime, war, discrimination and prejudice, climate change, and other problems. Me? Mostly I photograph what I find visually attractive in the material world. On December 20, the day I took the photographs in this recent extension of the Clay Gully Origin series, I wondered for the hundredth time: Is that enough? These are the words I used to query myself: “Are there more important things to say than that the world is beautiful?” The answer I heard in my head that day was “no.” There may be more effective ways to say it than my way, but no. That the world is beautiful is one of the most important things to say. For one thing, it can lead to saving the beauty, saving the planet so that humans have a chance at a future. No doubt I will ask this question again, and again. Maybe I will answer it differently the next time. What do you think? Are there more important things to say than that the world is beautiful? Please leave a comment below.
Romancing Reality 