Where we no longer are

The haze
  has us
     in a slow, pink
       and gray

confusion; everything
  we know---
     the horizon,
       for example,

and the distant
  ridge of land---
     has vanished,
       the boat

glides without a sound
  over a sea of curled
     and luminous glass,
       there are clouds

in the sky wherever
  that is, and clouds
    in the water,
      and maybe

we have entered heaven
  already, the happy boat
     sliding
        like a bee

down the throat of a huge
  damp flower.
     Some birds,
        like streamers of white silk,

approach us crying.
  Ah, yes,
     how easy,
        how familiar

it seems now,
  that long,
     lovely thrusting up and down
        of wings.

              ---At Sea by Mary Oliver

Comments

[sfmike]

If that's your own photo, I must tell you it's your first great one. It's all about light, and there couldn't be a better illustration than your "where we no longer are" photo.

[Lance]

Thanks, Mike. Means a lot coming from you. Of course, like all my pictures, good and not so good, this is an accident. I need to take a class, I think.

[Rana]

I dunno about the class, unless you want a bunch of feedback from fellow students and a lot of rules (half of which should be broken, anyway). You've got a good eye, which is the hardest part. Now what you need to do is practice, a lot, until you get to the point where the good stuff outnumbers the crap by at least 60-40. Play with the camera - see what it does, and doesn't do, and when you don't like a picture, try to figure out what didn't work, and when you do like a picture, try to figure out what did.

Then practice some more. ;)

[Rana]

I will add, that classes can be a bit fun, if the group is good and the instructor helpful. But, really - there's about 10% technical stuff, 10% native talent (which you have, based on the pictures you have chosen - even if they're not typical yet, your choice of them shows that you know what's good), and the rest is playing and goofing up until it makes sense without requiring conscious deliberation.

[Kathleen Maher]

It is such a great photo, Lance. And it fits perfectly with Mary Oliver's At Sea.