striated texture
smooth flowing lines
the texture demands
my touch
as my eyes are caught
in the web of lies
that I cannot escape
I am required to touch, as its leaves lure me. The afternoon sun laid its sensual touch on everything. I am not familiar with the plant, but it commanded me to look, to come closer, to experience its mundane beauty.
when the artist does
nothing but observe what
nature allows her to see
I find that the more I look, the more I see. We often say the following: "I listened but I did not hear". Hearing is akin to attentiveness, while listening is this passive state in which you are merely allowed to be penetrated by the strangeness of life. In the example, it might be that listening is worse than hearing, but this should not be seen as a mere binary of the one is good and the other bad.
If we apply this to looking vs. seeing, we can say basically the same: many people do see, but they are not looking attentively. The more I look the more I see. It is almost as if the world allows herself to be seen by the few who dare (or care) to look.
In one of these rare moments, I was allowed to again gaze upon the beauty of her texture, and in this case what I call striated texture. The lines form ridges and valleys, but they all seemingly flow in the same direction, like muscle fibres, like the lines in the sand drawn by the wind that blows in the same direction, like the rows and rows of trees that we plant in neat lines matching the contours of the earth.
I was allowed to see because I dared (cared) to look. Nature revealed herself to me in this beautiful autumn afternoon sun that touched everything with a sensual light. These rare moments are what I live for. The photographic journey that I have been on for the last 15 or so years, culminates in these moments when everything seems to be "perfect".
Over the years, I have had multiple of these rare moments, and the more I look the more I see them, hidden in plain sight. Again, those who dare or care enough to look will see the beauty all around them. And isn't this the reason why we have artists who paint, poets who write, and photographers who try to capture these fleeting moments?
The sun only sets once a day, and at around certain moments in the setting sun, a small window of opportunity is opened for the artist to look, the poet to write, and the photographer to create art. One might come to term this hour the hour golden-hour. In my kitchen, for example, I know that at certain times of the year, the setting sun hits a rare spot in which poetry occurs in the kitchen. But these are rare moments - and sometimes they do not even arrive.
And luck has so much to do with it as well. As I got out of the car, just having arrived, I saw from the side of my eye the plant, the texture of the leaves. I did actually not look for them, they imprinted their beauty onto my eyes, and they forced me to look at them. It was a moment of pure luck, the setting sun, the timely arrival, and the quick access to my camera. I pressed my shutter and the poetry merely flowed from life itself.
Looking plays a role, but luck as well. The more you look the luckier you get, as you will have more opportunities to find poetry written in the mundane. But you need to listen, hear, look, see, and attune yourself to the vibrations of the silence of the world - the silence that seems so tangible, so real. In this silence, we might begin to hear the poetry of the world, whispered to a select few.
Life gives and life takes.
Life allows us to see her sensual textures, but we are not always there to see. But she is patient. She will wait for the poet to write, the artist to paint, and the photographer to photograph.
But we need to care, we need to have some concern over the mundane moments because they are fleeting, even though they are covered in everydayness.
I hope that I made you look for a while.
All of the musings, writings, and meanderings through the leaves are my own albeit inspired by the striated texture of this strange plant. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and 50mm Nikkor lens.