Photo Prayer 2021-31 -- Climbing Vine
I saw a vine climbing a fence searching for sunlight. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, I saw something more — call it a symbol alive with associations, links to dimensions coexistent with our own. That is a verbal representation of the experience but not a very good one. Better is this image, all in purple. I do not remember the experience being colored in deep wavelengths but somehow the photo works better painted purple. I do not pretend to know why. Let me say this: Artistic representation is often better than the real thing. Want to see the real thing? Visit me sometime. We will cross the street and walk up the Milky Way Path. You will see the real vine and fence and compare it to my representations. Maybe it will become a pilgrimage site, “the place Danny saw something more.” Dress in purple.
Photo of a vine climbing a fence, Milky Way Path, Arden, Delaware.
Image copyright 2020; text, 2021 by Danny N. Schweers.
You can subscribe to these as they are created, and comment. Click here to learn more.
Comments
Donna wrote:
Beautiful sentiment and image! Another winner, Danny! [DANNY REPLIED: I struggled with this one, and it got few comments, confirming my own worst fears that I am a hack writer and photographer. Your words help! I often think my work is trash, so I am in the company of some fantastic artists and writers. That, too, is a consolation of sorts. At my best I look to see what God will provide rather than my poor brain.]
Alice wrote:
Beautiful photo and messge.
David wrote:
Thank you for filtering this, it highlights the plant's vital search for light. As the plant does this, we search for the shade during this tropical summer stretch, curbing temporarily our search for light, truth and purpose.
Tom wrote:
I like the purple. Lomography makes a film that colors everything purple. Must try it sometime.
Bill wrote:
Want to see the real thing? Look up in the sky and watch the real Milky Way. Nice piece, in any case. [DANNY REPLIED: A friend of mine has been photographing the Milky Way, traveling to get away from city lights and going out in the middle of the night. Sometimes, often in fact, beauty and wonder find us, but beauty and wonder are very often the goal of a quest. We only see them when we get out of our ruts. Is it an accident that “ruts” and “rust” use the same four letters? In any event, you are reminding me of an evening sitting with two Catholic priests high on a mesa at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, watching the Perseid meteor shower while taking sips of brandy. The Milky Way was glorious! That experience was the result of a quest, but the quest was something else entirely, to be with other Christian writers and artists. The priests, the meteor shower, the brandy, the Milky Way — none of that was in my planning.]
Craig wrote:
We all see thru the eyes that we have, whether it’s midriffs and navels or purple vines. We all see thru the light that we have. Come back in a minute or hour or year, it will be changed. What we see is reality at the speed of a shutter. Come back 1/250th of a second later and it will be different. We all see thru the space that we have. Take a step to the right and the scene recomposes. Endlessly. In 20 years or so the boy will be shooting lives, not navels. Ever read Rilke's Duino Elegies?
Ian wrote:
Me too, Danny, me too.
Jeanne wrote:
A true optimist!
Beverly wrote:
I'm right there with you!
Connie wrote:
My life in a nutshell.