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8x10 Camera, Alt Process, black and white photography, fine art photography, Leaving Babylon, rhode island landscape
The image “Ah Yes, It’s Like That Too” illustrates a connection between temporal and eternal worlds. I wasn’t thinking that while making the actual photograph. That came later The day I made this image, I saw the wires differently. They represented more than what they were. Instead of cable and telephone wires, I saw the divine connecting with humanity…Seriously.
So, “Ah Yes, It’s Like That Too.” is not a nonsense title. It is a statement reflecting the wit and elegance of the divine around us.
I’m reminded of the story of Jesus’s transfiguration. This was when Jesus and three of his disciples (Peter, John, and James) went up to a mountain.The three took a nap and woke to see Jesus wrapped up in light with Moses and Elijah. After Moses and Elijah left, Peter (a disciple) said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
No one thought to use their camera phone.
The story of the transfiguration represents human nature meeting God, the temporal with the eternal, and Jesus serves as the connection. He is the bridge between heaven and earth. Of course, our natural desire when we encounter the divine is to preserve it in the temporal world. This is folly.
Transfiguration means “a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.” Art does this. Looking at telephone wires is nothing like the biblical transfiguration. God doesn’t always put on a show. God, while never hiding from us, can be found in all things.
God isn’t something that can be summed up in one experience and that is why, I think, Jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone. You can’t aptly describe a transcendent experience such as the transfiguration. It doesn’t stop people from trying, which is good. Religion and art, often intertwined, are the best attempts at this. Both have limited success but, that’s okay; we’re human and God isn’t keeping score.
