26 Newts...and Susan Sontag

Ok...so the every day posting didn't happen over the holidays. We'll see what the new year brings. One of the first things the new year already brought was a hike around Lake (either Bon Tempe or Lagunitas??) with some good friends and their kids. It was a really nice cloudy, moist day. They told me how they have been seeing and counting newts on their family hikes. So we started counting. Their previous record was 23. We lost count, and think it may have been closer to 30, but 26 was our official number. Counting newts...something new for the new year.

One would think that 26 is an ample number to have gotten at least one photo...but no...no newt photos. Though there is this one of Heidi with Carly and PJ. Sometimes you need your mom and big sis to assure you there are in fact no sharks in the big puddle...contrary to what dad said.

Which is the perfectly unplanned transition to my next topic, mentioned in my last posting...Susan Sontag, On Photography, a collection of her essays. I knew Susan Sontag's name, but I'm not sure if I've ever read anything of hers or not.

Side note which began as in parentheses but was too long for that:

Interesting article recently in the NY Times, How to Train the Aging Brain. Contrary to longheld views, 40% of my brain cells (potentially containing memories of Sontag's writing) are NOT lost! Apparently I'm just lacking the correct stimulus or prodding to bring them back to life. So we're supposed to be stretching our brains in ways we're not used to. "The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can." So there,  youngsters! (And no, I have NO idea why the spacing is off or how to correct it. Apparently copying and pasting from the Times brought along some unwanted code. Just another GORGEOUS, random inconsistency...if you've been reading my previous posts you'll understand my joy in them.)

But I digress, back to Susan and photography. I LOVE her writing. I'm on page 11 and fascinated by her concepts. You can tell that she's incredibly intelligent. Her writing is fairly meaning dense, but she doesn't rub your nose in it. She just makes you want to keep reading. Yes, I had to pause to confirm the definitions of a few words. Her writing is definitely stretching my brain in a way it isn't used to.

"To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge--and, therefore, like power."

"Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing...It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power." Now this was written sometime in the early 70's and photography is even more prolific now.

"Not to take photos of one's children, particularly when they are small, is a sign of parental indifference...Through photographs, each family constructs a portrait-chronicle of itself--a portable kit of images that bears witness to its connectedness...a rite of family life...to restate symbolically, the imperiled continuity and vanishing extendedness of family life."

"As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure...It seems positively unnatural to travel for pleasure without taking a camera along. Photographs will offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, theat the program was carried out, that fun was had."

"This...ubiquity--of the photographic record is photography's 'message,' its aggression."

Photography is something aggressive...in its pervasiveness and in the pressure to use it. Wow. Of course we don't have to subscribe to all of her assertions...but what amazing writing to challenge me to think about what I do and why I do it.

In a previous post I wrote about how there can be a universe in a single "shot." And then I shared a photo of some flowers glowing in the winter sun and wrote about that moment. Combine this with thoughts about being present...REALLY being in the moment and enjoying it for all it is worth. I've been thinking about the relationship between photography and presence...and realizing that photography, while in one way can bring me into a particular moment in a much deeper way, can, in another way take me out of being present to the entirety of a moment. By focusing in on one thing I am missing everything else that is going on around me.

Is this a bad thing? As with almost everything else, I think not if done in moderation. Balance between enjoying everything--the sights, sounds, smells, feelings--in a moment and times when I explore the visual and dive into the infinite in a single shot. I love how her writing allowed and challenged me to think about what I've been doing--to make sure I don't let my camera come between me and truly enjoying a moment with my family or friends, or a walk down the street.

All that and I'm only on page 11...and only beginning week four of my new adventure.

Am I seeing a bigger picture (excuse the pun, but that's the word that the NY Times used) now than I would have earlier in my life? Is all this thinking thanks to the incredibly dense network of neural pathways built up over 45 years? A nudge or coincidence from the universe? Maybe some of both.

Wow, life is amazing!