This Blog Because
I TAKE PHOTOS for the story,
not for the art.
Strange
thing to say, especially since this specific blog-o-mine is intended to be essentially
phoTocenTric, expressing how passionaTTe I am about all things quinTessenTially
T&T (Trinidad & Tobago).
Yes,
photography was part of my graphic and applied arts education, and I’ve taken
multiple “refresher” courses since; not to mention having had to call upon this
handy skill-tool in my long multi-media career. But I am not a photographer.
I am a storyteller.
Words
will always be my first love, and every story I tell with photos I firmly feel
I could deliver with words well enough to make people see. However, some things are just easier to say with imagery. As I
have gotten older, it has become convenient to tell some of my stories via the
visual.
That’s
what this blog aims to do: show life and my nation with more emphasis placed on
sight than merely insight.
In
my book (pun intended), the best writing tool is perception. Being able to
perceive occurring action gives up the fare a storyteller can turn and dish back.
Each encounter holds possibility untold and to be told.
Practicing
perception, life becomes far more full of fantastic or effortless features than
most people let themselves be conditioned to acknowledge. Things that, like
fables of old, can teach us how to better navigate a world sometimes fraught
with threat.
Would
it sound flaky to insist that any blade of grass can hold out magic or metaphor
to broaden us, add to us, open our eyes to something more?
Listen, I am aware of my world, and most times I walk around conscious in it. That is to say: I know the world is there and I know that I am here.
Seeing
out facilitates looking within. Seeing within helps us better look at all the
world and all of life.
Thus,
this blog is more than a window to my land. It is a searchlight into the soul
of existence. And, as George Orwell pointed out in his book 1984:
“Existence is odd.”
I have three categories for my photos:-
- The Scoop: When I set out to look for and capture some subject specific in tone, energy or theme and achieve success
- The Seize: When my path crosses what can only be described as a “photo op,” and I don’t let the opportunity slip by me. That whole carpe diem thing, nuh
- The Snatch: My intrepid media maven forte. It’s the same set-up as The Seize, but without the luxury of focus time. This is point and shoot on adrenaline. Or clicking with fingers crossed. Or whistling while looking the other way a la misdirection
For an example of each, link to: Storyteller, I
