Photopoems

Field Notes XXX: Artful combinations of images and words

Welcome to Field Notes!

This past week was Thanksgiving and I have been very busy, so no grand adventure story this time. Instead, I would like to present images and words from a different perspective.

But first, if you haven’t seen it yet, I now have a 2024 calendar available for purchase. Proceeds directly support Field Notes and all of my efforts here. Take a look-

Now, lets go!

I like to think that each photograph I present contains a story. Sometimes the essence of that story is an unanswered mystery that only you, the viewer, can fill in with your own imagination. Thinking beyond the immediate subject, questions arise. How did we get to this place in order to see this view? Is there more or less to be seen from a different place? Why is the eye drawn here? Why does this image generate this feeling?

Some of the stories and explanations I write in Field Notes answer these questions, or at least give the images context, but I don’t think this is necessary. Everyone can answer these questions differently based on their own background and experience, and the answers are equally valid.

This applies to creative words as well. Since starting Field Notes I have renewed my efforts at writing evocatively and, occasionally, poetically. I am enticed by the act of paring down words to only the essential, and by doing so, conjuring intriguing ideas or feelings.

Even in the writing of prose and poetry, mystery exists between the words. Every reader provides their own context to the lines, and can create their own answers.

Lately, I have been fascinated by the combination of photography and poems or short prose passages. While each tells its own story, their combination is synergistic. The photo can answer questions that the poem leaves silent. The poem describes what the photo does not show. Yet somehow, together, the juxtapositions ask more than they tell, creating deeper enigmas.

Here is an earlier version of one such photopoem, created in January of 2022, combining a photo and creative prose-

There are times that the half-lit morning does not call. Sodden and cold, the woods loom. A tracker of mysteries must still follow, undeterred. The world is the attainment and discipline is the way.

Constellations hang, suspended at the tips of twigs. Truths of the Universe cradled by the surface tension of water. Amplified and re-directed Starlight. It has traveled for the lifetime of the earth, over unknowable distances. To be captured in this place; in this moment. In a droplet.

The icy water is shocking on the skin. It wakes the mind, so that the starlight will continue to shine in the eyes of anyone there to see it.

Those of you who who use Notes in Substack may have seen my more recent posts I call 50mm Haiku. Haiku poems are a minimalist form of Japanese poetry that include seasonal words and a twist of thought. They pair perfectly with the 50mm prime lens for my camera.

A prime lens is one that does not zoom in or out. For me this means I need to reposition myself in order to get the composition I want in the frame. However, the advantage is that, with its simpler construction, this lens has much wider aperture capabilities, meaning I can achieve the ‘bokeh’ effect of having the subject in focus with the background blurred. This is accomplished much easier than with other lenses. The lens tends to have a sharper focus overall, and is a much smaller lens than my others.

The 50mm lens allows me to take pictures of intimate scenes I encounter throughout the day. I then do a relatively quick processing of the image in the Lightroom app on my phone. This also pairs very well with the concept of a haiku, which is intended as a relatively spontaneous composition in response to a scene encountered in nature.

If nothing else, these photos and poems are an exercise in focus and awareness, prompting me to think about the subject or scene at a layer or two below the superficial. I highly recommend adopting a similar practice in a way that is relevant to you.

Below are a few from my 50mm Haiku series. Some of these have been shown before and several are new.

Bending to the sun,
her golden pollen scatters.
Bees will not remain.

Sunlight caught in dew,
Ensnared by gossamer web.
Spiders trap the stars.

Approaching winter
Abated by autumn warmth.
How long does it last?

Reflections of sky.
Lost leaves gravitate to earth.
Trees will soon be bare.

Treasured seeds held high
Offered freely to the wind.
Love by letting go.

Leaves crunch underfoot
While walking along the fence line.
Crows in the trees laugh.

Mist coated meadows
Awaken to autumn sun.
The rain did not come.

Depleted corn fields
Under tumbling sun rays.
Rapture of silence.

Wet sycamore leaf,
recumbent on forest floor.
Returned to the earth.

Thank you for reading! I highly enjoy making these 50mm Haikus and photopoetry in general. Hopefully it is of interest to you, as well! I would love to offer more posts like this in the future.

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