I began with a picture of two of my cats in a patch of sunlight and ended with a video involving the photographs and their origin. You can see the video by clicking the text in the last sentence at the bottom of the page.
The process of changing the image is fascinating. It helps focus the mind. While concentrating the mind is freed to act independently by the spontaneous choice of tools. Mind, body and tool work together.
The interesting aspect of doing this kind of thing with images is seeing how color and light affect an image.
I decided to stop with the image below. 'A Barrel of Cats'
And when I thought I was all done I decided to make a video. In the original folder I found video of the cats in the picture. It includes 'Five' who was born on April Fools day 1996 and died while I was away over Christmas in 2010. It felt funny to see him moving again when I know he's sleeping under the grass in the yard. Click here to see the video.
Images and text (C)2012 David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind
Toward evening I went out with my camera. The light was 'different' from what it had been all day and it made me think I might get something a little different. I like to take natural themes, settings scenery etc and then just look into them and see what else is inside. By merely rearranging the original components something can be enhanced or something entirely different can be made to appear. The concepts behind that premise intigue me.
I understand the human situation to be one that is bound up in a continuously unfolding process. Some refer to it as the 'Way' that can be seen or named. It is not the real 'Way', but the one that can be approached and understood in some degree. There is a Tao behind the visible Tao that is teaching the meaning of itself by the visible Tao. The Lao Tzu or Tao is a fundamental building block of my overall spiritual worldview. From the understanding of the empty bowl, or untooled block of wood I bring the concept of unlimited potential residing in every image.
So I stepped out for a few minutes and took some pictures. I had been attracted by the black and white pair of ducks.
This is the one I began with. It was not sharply focused. But I liked the sensation caused by the reflection and the ripples on the water.
I worked on it for a while and came up with several variations. One of them is below. It is interesting to look at, but has a befuddling effect.
Meanwhile, after returning to the yard I took a picture of some cherry blossoms. The ones below.
You're not going to believe what came out of these cherry blossoms.
A serpent! I began by simply covering the image in small tiles. I put four sections of sligtly different sized tiles over the cherry blossoms and began to manipulate selected portions with different tools to distort shape and color. The only thing from outside the original image is where I painted it's tongue and put eyeballs in. All the rest are just original parts moved around and recolored. It blows my mind to see it turned out to be a snake. I was just as surprised as Eve.
I never would have guessed either of the original images were hiding the second image. The potential was evidently there, it needed the addition of consciousness added via software to provide the 'intelligence' necessary to manipulate the individual increments of the original images. That is an example of the interdependence interlocking all things.
The picture below is made from the photographs of a cherry leaf, a flame and my consciousness combined with the use of a software tool. Too many other factors are involved to mention, but lead to the conclusion of all events being interdependent and the result of karma reaping previous sowing.
I've been reading creation stories; Hindu, Jewish and Christian sources. Each source reports creation resulting from sound.
I needed to go into town. A friend dropped me off and I found my way home by bus.
This was the first time in my life since the 60's I've used the bus to get around. I had many choices, these were the top three; all associated with using the bus. I could walk from Camp Rilea, or from the opposite direction walk from Sunset Beach, or not walk at all but ride the entire route and get off at the end of the driveway. It would be the same fare in $$$$ but cost me an hour or more in time.
I chose to get off at Sunset Beach. The walk was nice. It took 15 minutes to get home. The next time I’ll walk from Camp Rilea and see how that goes. I estimate it as being the same distance. I may have a better opportunity to spot oncoming log trucks from that direction as well.
The walking experience was enjoyable. As I walked I recalled being a kid riding my bike to the store or walking with mom. I’d go alone, or we’d walk together for a candy bar on a gravel path lined with maple trees alongside a highway. That’s your Norman Rockwell memory for the day. The maple trees are gone, the store is gone, and candy bars are smaller and no longer a nickel.
Back here in reality there was a bottleneck in the road made by the restriction of a bridge and I tried to avoid it by taking a side loop. There was a dog that did not want to be friends so I crossed the bridge. You can wait for trucks, but you can’t reason with dogs is the way I saw it at the moment.
Overall the trip to town was a positive experience. I didn’t get terribly wet. There was absolutely no dangerous or unhealthful exposure or discomfort from the sun. To top it off I returned from town with some fine photographs on this drizzly morning in Astoria.
The area is blessed with spectacular beauty associated with the totality of its environment. Four miles across the Columbia River by bridge is Washington State. (It’s probably the same distance by water.) The topographical gap between the two shores spreads out, opening until it blends seamlessly into the Pacific Ocean.
High humidity is partly responsible for the dramatic lighting effects.
The opening of the lands natural contours on each side of the river into the ocean seems to invite the weather in. It took a while for me to get used to the rain from November to May and appreciate the sun as much as I do today. In New York sunny days are as plentiful as pebbles on a path, here they are as rare as diamonds. I guess that's why I enjoy them more.
The sporadic and sudden appearance of the sun on the North Coast is a grand delight. The river, coast, bridges, and hillside spattered with houses as well as the heritage of the area are all treasures the sun illuminates differently through the many lenses the weather provides.
There’s weather humor that goes with living here. The funniest bumper sticker I have seen in the area had “Pray for Rain” printed on it. It might have been an old bumper sticker I don’t know. But the irony struck me and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Anyhow I had to run an errand in town and brought my camera along. Take a look. These are from along the river near the bus station. I was fascinated by the structure in the first photograph. The lines and reflections spoke to me. Afterward I walked along the streets a bit and was wowed by some commonplace objects I mistook for art materials.
I am not sure what attracted me to this. I suspect it was the sense of illusion present in the way object and reflection became merged.
This one spot had lots of photographic potential.
I began to fiddle with some images a little.
An old Chubby Checker song came to mind upon seeing this development.
I am fascinated by the city. Its architecture and ambiance simply charm me. The history is fascinating. I wonder if Walt Whitman ever got here. He would have loved it.
I had time to use waiting for the bus. On the streets I found a few images that required their photograph be taken. One was a grate in a sidewalk with glass or glass-like squares.
The image below turned out to be my favorite. It was just a few steps down from the where I photographed the grate. I saw it on the wall of a building. I surmise it was a community bulletin board at one time. The only indication of its past function is the outline of the place sheets of paper were placed. The outline as well as staples and the rust streaks below them remain as a testament to elapsed time.
This is the variation of the original image I like the most. I placed a 50 percent smaller image beneath and melded them together. I was hoping some kind of neat effect would occur. I think it did.
All images can be enlarged by clicking on them.
Images and text (C) 2012 by David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind
Failing to find an empty mirror means we are left with the transient changing face we see every day. A face with a certain appointment with disease suffering and death.
In the mirror I see
a visage of flesh, a once familiar face, a refugee
from yesterdays classrooms,
workplaces,
dinner tables,
and bedrooms;
days spent denying the longing for a mirror
with no reflection.
'Karmic Mirror' (C) 2012 by David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind.
I began with an image of a rusted railroad car. As I worked on it the theme of the blog, Trucking My Blues Away, came to mind. The final image seems to capture the feeling. If you click on the images they enlarge.
I began to monkey with it and found this lurking in the rust.
It is quite a bit of fun to discover what is hidden in an image. I find potential in shapes, designs, angles and colors. The white portion in the upper background was removed and the bridge image with a darker background was put in its place.
At this point I decided to add my logo character to the scene as the concept I was uncovering began to reveal itself. It is now a night scene.
In the final version I added a 'Spirit Bird' and a full moon. The 'Spirit Bird' is an image I captured while at Crater Lake. I use it often as a symbol of 'Spirit'. The moon I took the picture of at the end of the driveway. I use the moon image often also.
Images and text (C) 2012 by David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind.
While waking this morning the sun was rising. There was condensation beaded on the glass. In the background a mile away are the foot hills about 3 miles inland from the Pacific. The sun burned its way through the passing scud. I took the following two images of the scene thinking they would hold some interesting features. Well before I was done with the pictures the moisture had evaporated. Click on the images to enlarge them.
The image in the window opened itself up with information consisting of light, angle, temperature, refraction and consciousness.
I like to work on an image in increments that build on each other. Always looking for more in the image.
At some point I saw a figure in prayer emerge. The changes come about as a result of fiddling with the tools that alter what is present. For the most part I did not add anything.
As the image revealed its contents I had the idea of adding a few ducks and a moon. The 'pond' was there already due to the splotch of white made by the blaze of the sun. I placed the ducks into it and because the scene had changed into a nightitme scene I put the moon in as well.
Our impermanence is a link to our greater self. We should ask for wisdom regarding how to see it that way in order to find liberation.
The answers Jesus gave when it was enquired of him how anyone could give up their life for his teaching made many walk with him no more.
The history of the human race is told in the Judeao-Christian format by means of the concept of wisdom. Man's trouble began, according to this creation myth, with obtaining wisdom. Human history is the result of him using that wisdom.
The teaching of Jesus was not easily explained to people who knew life only as flesh and blood mortals. So when he makes outrageous statements such as denying Mary and his siblings are his mother and siblings it appears to make no sense. Everyone knew darn well they were his mother and siblings.
But his teaching of the Kingdom of God was intended to take them into another paradigm in which the concept made sense. Old wine Old skins, new wine, new skins. Flesh spirit. The knowledge of Christ is meant to do this. But the wise let wisdom do what wisdom does and do not take charge. The Christian calls this faith in Christ. In these passages Jesus reveals the basis for the blessed hope.
In 1970 I still liked rock and roll the way Elvis did it. It took a while to realize Jimi was a genius. If Elvis was 'rock', Jimi is 'God'. That's the facts and no disrespect to the 'real' God intended.
The image above (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT) I made to go with the video below: 'Red House' containing what some think of as representative of Jimi's greatness as a bluesman with the axe. If it's the best that is in question, if it is 'good' that is not in question. Enter the Red House. It's Saturday night and you've got dollars in your pocket.
I hadn't realized that Jimi had written Red House The song sounds like it could have been written by any of his many predecessors.
The blues do not reside in one heart only,
the blues, live in the heart of man
which is the current of a river
continually shifting.
How many have got to this place and could go no further?
As long as she's been doing it right.
Text and image (C)2012 David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind
To begin with the first three images are ordinary street scenes taken at mid-day. You do not see the original. I began to transform the original. I like to think of the process as turning the image inside out. Sometime I invert the colors. Sometime I run them to their extremes or change them altogether. The intent behind the activity is to see what is inside. The three images are part of a development titled "Visitation".
There is a sense of mysticism involved in that I approach this with a transcendentalist perspective. The lecture 'Nature' by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a fine, if not long winded, consideration of nature from a transcendentalist perspective. The complete lecture is available as an audiobook free of charge from LibriVox.
I also approach this artifice playfully. It's like going for a walk and finally seeing the dragon who, up to now, has always been in the adjoining county. I'm always surprised at the change from the original. And, to refer back to the transcendental aspect, I view this as the illumination of the object on some level.
The process itself is quite absorbing.
The last image is an inversion of two images melded together. That and color manipulation produced a surreal effect. I began with this as my 'canvas'. From there I added stock images of my own creation and enhanced several features I had made note of in the original.
I felt I could achieve the effect I did achieve and was glad of that. The last image is titled "Enchanted Evening".
All the images and text (C) 2012 David H. Roche
a Clear Running Water state of mind
I took two photos of one daffodil and from it came numerous images. Here are a few. I would like to explain the process I engage in when I begin to alter a picture such as this daffodil.
I begin with the understanding that unlimited potential is at my disposal. More accurately the limitation is my software, whatever that happens to be; but the 'effect', at present, is of being unlimited.
The daffodil was blooming along the opposite side of this pond. (Click on any of the photographs to enlage them.)
The image below is a horizontal view and while it is not evident now, this defines the flower for you in your mind. A photograph taken seconds before (or later does it matter?) allows another look. Differences of perspective are increments of reality.
I began to monkey with the picture above. The detail takes on some emphasis after adding the feeling of moonlight and sharpening.
The next development is a quantum leap... (so to speak). I like this one a lot. I applied the polar inversion tool and this appeared after playing with it.
A transformative metamorphosis of perception occurs within this process. No added data is included. The changes result from the rearrangement of current data into something other than the original. Think about that.
The software lends a sense of automatic writing or auguring. speaking of imminent possibilities; a tortoise shell baked in a fire... or, as in this case, a daffodil at the edge of a pond!
I have heard of sculptors who claim to see the image in the rock and that they release it with their hammer and chisel. I find images like this hiding in a lovely flower blossom and coax them out with software. Can't help but think it is a similiar art / technology.
Here is another image of the daffodil. I edited it by zooming in and positioning it. There is a sense of inner light that is present.
