Organic Light Pan

From The Hip 1

I had to take my truck in to the garage today for some maintence and to correct a brake problem. I took it in later in the afternoon and decided to walk home. It was only about 4 miles away and I thought it would give me an opportunity to see what lies along the road that I drive nearly every day with my camera in hand. I was not terribly inspired by anything until I crossed a freeway bridge. As the cars whizzed by beneath me I thought it would be cool to try and capture some car headlight or taillight trails. However, it was still to bright to get a photo with the shutter open long enought to capture good trails.

So I walked on. Then I began to take photos of the cars that were pasing me by on the street. It seemed like a good idea, but I did not want anyon to know I was photographing their car. So I began to shoot from the hip. Here is what happened.

From The Hip 2

From The Hip 3

From The Hip 4

From The Hip 5

From The Hip 6

From The Hip 7

From The Hip 8

I know… not my usual fare. But I found them interesting. Let me know which one you found the most interesting. I’d love to hear from you – Peace.

It’s been another month. Yesterday I went out to look for the new crescent moon of Rabi’ Al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic year, the month in which the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God Upon him) was born. It is a good time. Unfortunately however, the moon was not seen yesterday. The clouds in the sky were thick and only a small window through the clouds was visible for us to look into. Nonetheless, the month has come to an end and today with clearer skies the new crescent moon was easily visible and I had the good fortune to spend about an hour with it as it slowly sank into the western sky.

Rabi Al-Awwal Crescent

When I photograph the moon I always think to myself, these photos will not be very interesting. The sky looks plain, the moon too thin and I think to myself how great it would be if the sky suddenly erupted in a blush of color. But after I return home and start working with the images, I am utterly amazed at how beautiful the moon is with all its subtleties.

Subtleties of the Moon

And then when the color does appear, it makes the moon stand out even more. One of the beautiful aspects of the moon is that it cycles. It always returns to this moment, like clockwork every month. It’s dependable, even if we can’t see it due to clouds or weather or some other reason, it always returns. It’s a promise that you can bank on. At the same time, it, just like everything else in creation is in a state of evanescence. It will vanish just like everything else. Here today and gone tomorrow.

Crescent in a blush of pink

Just like the light that lights the sky vanishes, so to will the moon and everything else for that matter, everything.

However, its only in the absence of something do we realize how important that thing was to us and what a blessing it was. And just when you think that you can’t do with out that blessing, you find that in its absence you can see things that you were never able to see when its brilliance was blinding you. You realize that even though all you can see is a small sliver of its light, its true nature is hidden by the make-up that covers it and in the shadows its true nature is revealed.

The Moon Revealed in Earth Shine

As the day came to a close and the final photo taken, I realized that no one is an island. Even though the moon tonight was the most brilliant object in the sky, it was not alone and could never be our moon if it was alone. For sharing the sky with the moon was Venus, our closest neighboring planet. Everything in nature has its counterpart – night and day, sun and moon, husband and wife, right and wrong.

The Moon and Venus

One cannot exist without the other. Everything in creation exhibits this quality. And it is only with this very quality can anything be perpetuated. If one side of the balance is upset it will upset the other side as well and send everything into an out of control chaotic spiral downward into destruction – May God protect us from that.

I was sorting through some of my digital images on my hard drive and came across this photo of my son and I during the 2008 spring wildflower season in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. It was the middle of the day and we had been out since sunrise. The wind was howling and with sustained speeds of 20 to 25 mph! Finding it difficult to work under the darkcloth without my son’s help, I took his digital camera and placed it on a tripod. Pointed it back at us and we started to pose.

Camera Man and Lens Boy .

So here Camera Man and his faithful sidekick, Lens Boy, are out catching rogue light rays among the fleeting moments of time.

We had so much fun that day goofing around together, bonding, and falling in love again. Its hard at times to be a kid, to play as a kid or to even bring our persective back to that of a child. But it is what keeps the heart young, seeing the world through the eyes of a child. And what makes moments like this so magical and important is that it brings a parent and child very close to one another, so close in fact that very deep inner thoughts are shared. And through that sharing we discover so much about each other.

On the last night of this specific trip, after dinner as we snuggled up in our sleeping bags amidst the absolutely silent darkness, my son said something to me that will stay with me forever. He said, “I don’t want to go back home tomorrow, and I wish this did not have to end”. I asked why and he replied, “out here we don’t have anything to worry about”.

He, at only 11 years old, figured out what most people will never figure out in their entier lives – that in the wilderness a soul can find peace, while back in the material world all we do, day in day out, is toil and worry. Building that foundation of love for the natural world starts young. And I hope that someday, when he has to explain his life philosophy, that he will look back on this trip and make it a pivotal point in his life.

It is again with great pleasure to announce that Organic Light Press has released a third Calendar for 2009. The “Mauritania: Dar Essalam School Project 2009 Wall Calendar” This is a non-Profit project headed by the Al-Alusi Foundation.

The Calendar features photos from the Organic Light Photography Mauritania Collection and many others not included in that collection that highlight the landscapes and areas surrounding the school, which was established on the outskirts of Kifa, a medium sized city in south-central Mauritania.

All proceeds from the calendar go to help establish and maintain the primary school. To purchase a copy visit the Organic Light Photography website and place your order TODAY! Quantities are Limited!

It is with great pleaseure to announce that Organic Light Press has released another 2009 calendar publication.

The “In the Name Of God 2009 Wall Calendar” with 12 stunning Islamic Calligraphic art works by artist Nabeela Sajjad. Her work can be viewed at her website

A portion of the proceeds go to support the Non-Profit educational Tayba Foundation

To purchase a copy visit the Press page on the Organic Light Photography Website – Quantities are Limited.

Time passes by so fast.  This evening marked the beginning of the New Islamic Year, Year 1430.  Tonight being the first evening of the month of Muharram and tomorrow the first full day.  The Islamic calendar is one based on the lunar cycle.  Each of the 12 lunar months is marked by sighting the new crescent moon.  Three times out of the year it is a big deal throughout the Muslim world with the start and end of Ramadan, the month of fasting, and with the start of the 12th month in the year which is the month of Pilgrimage.  For the rest of the year, the moons go pretty much un-noticed except for a handful of dedicated die-hard moon-sighters.

Muharram Moon in Pink

I however have made a point to go out and search for the new moon every month since 1990.   Some months I see the moon and other months I don’t.  And I don’t always get a photo, even though it was photographing the moon that got me interested in and steeped in photography to begin with.  I had marked this day, the 28th of December in my calendar from one month ago at the last moon sighting trip and ingrained that date in my head.  It came upon me quicker than I thought.  Then a few days ago, with the 28th a brainworm in my head, I forgot why the 28th was important and for some reason I thought 28th was a Monday.  Then about a half an hour before sunset TODAY it suddenly occured to me that this evening was the night for seeking out the moon.

Muharram Crescent and Mercury

As I scrambled to gather myself and my gear I realized that there would not be enough time to make out to my usual location for sighting the moon.  As I raced down the street to the gas station to fill up before my ascent to Skyline Hwy along the main ridgeline of the Santa Cruz Mountains, I decided to take my chances and stay right there in town and hope that I would be able to see it above the mountains’ skyline.  So I gassed up the truck and then drove a whopping 150 yards and pulled into the neighborhood shopping center, parked and pulled out my camera gear and prepared for the show.  Twenty minutes later, faintly appearing in the sky the crescent emerged, and even though I have seen countless new moons, it was just as spectacular as any that I have ever witnessed.  As the evening progressed and the moon slowly sank closer and closer to the skyline one of its neighbors in the sky, Mercury, appeared to join the moon and usher in the new year. 

I then thought how amazing it is that the new Islamic year begins with such a heavenly event.  It saddened me to think that most of world in a few short days would be celebrating the new Gregorian year at loud heedless parties in a semi-drunken stupor.  No heavenly event would take place marking the new year, only the click of the mechanized hands of the clock, an invention of our own making, and then we would continue to party making more and more noise until we either pass out drunk or finally give up to fatigue.  In contrast, even though I was standing in the middle of a bustling city, all was silent as that moon made its way to the horizon.  In all the grandure of the universe, I again remembered that a simple event like the appearance of the moon and witnessing it come into existence links me with all of it.  Its both humbling and enriching at the same time.  I never tire of feeling like I am a part of something greater than myself, and grateful to the One who made it all, that I could be there and to share it with everyone else.

Muharram 1, 1430 - December 28, 2008 5:34 pm PST.

Happy New Year and Peace to All!

I went out today to photograph a seasonal waterfall in one of the lesser known and traveled canyons of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  I had discovered this waterfall in the dry early autumn while leading a workshop through that very canyon.  A ravine termineated at this rcocky drop off and it seemed at the time that if there was enough water flowing in that ravine, a nice waterfall could develop.  So after a couple of weeks of pretty consistent rainfall here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided to go out and try my luck with that waterfall.

Well I was right on the money with that terminated ravine becoming a waterfall, although only a small ribbon of a falls, not enough rain yet.  As I set up the camera and prepared to focus it, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my focusing loupe!!!  I was using it in my studio this past week to critically check tranperancies for focus on my light table.  And so it was near impossible to focus the large format camera.  I did my best and then stopped down the aperture to f/90!  This required an exposure time of — 8 minutes!

So for the rest of the afternoon, I was an observer.  Unable to record the light that I saw accurately, I let my eyes, mind and heart record the glorious light that filtered into the canyon and danced with the green ferns, tall redwoods and bare red alders.  And later as I drove along the coast, watching the sun play hide and seek between the clouds with rainbows appearing periodically as cloud bursts occured all along the coast.  The sea was tumultuous with small breakers peppering the surface of the Pacific for as far as the eye could see and it glowed with a luminance that was nearly indescribable.  A truly memorable day that has sparked a longing to return very soon to capture that light forever.

As a photographer I feel a certain amount of responsibility to record the world as it is. I always looked at what I thought were manipulated photos as somewhat of a desecration. That it was untruthful to portray the world in a way that it was not. I think my first foray with this line of thinking was against those photos that were heavily saturated in color produced by the use of a polarizing filter to make a scene look more enticing than it really was. I have always enjoyed the outdoors and I never saw that dripping off the page color in “real life”. I was satisfied, and in some respects arrogant, in producing the dull and lifeless photos that I knew came out of a camera.

Then as I became more serious about portraying the natural world as it “really” is, I railed against the heavy-handed use of the now popular and almost indispensable Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filter. Used improperly and you could tell that it was a lame attempt to try to make film capture something that it could not. However, when used properly one could hardly tell a GND was used, and the photograph showed a scene that faithfully captured what one’s eye would see. For at this point I had learned that film was limited, it was a poor medium in trying to portray the world as we really experienced it. What I did next shocked my closest confidants; I whole-heartedly accepted and started using the GND. Although now I was branded as a hypocrite, a liar, a fake. I was shocked. Had I created such an environment around me that I had galvanized people into thinking that what the camera and film produced were truth? Had I built around me a glass bubble so fragile that if I tried to grow as a photographer and break through that bubble I would send shards of broken glass at myself as to render me dead? What had I done?

The more I photographed the more I learned that the camera cannot see what my EYES see. The camera cannot feel what my heart feels. The camera cannot smell, hear or touch what my nose, ears and fingers can. As I wandered this beautiful world with my camera photographing I became aware that I was actually being unfaithful to the beauty that I loved so much in my photos.

Even though I was recording the light faithfully, I was not conveying the euphoria that I felt in the presence of that beauty. And thus I embarked on a path of trying to convey the multi-dimensional experience of being out in nature onto the two-dimensional plane of a photograph. What resulted was sometimes very different from the straight record of light that was present. For now, the images transcended into the realm of my feelings. All photographers, as they photograph, are steeped in emotions at the time the shutter is tripped. Recalling those emotions when looking at the resulting photos at times leaves the photographer somewhat let down as the photos appear lifeless. I had to learn to not judge an image until I brought it into my photo editing software environment and apply the standard adjustments – tonal dialation, adjusting contrast and setting color balance – first. Then if it was still lifeless, a number of other adjustments from applying a softening blur or artistic use of dodges and burns to eliminating color entirely and going balck and white. If, after all that, I can’t reproduce a pale shadow of the euphoria I felt at the time I tripped the shutter, then and only then is the image a flop and destined for the trash can, otherwise known as the ‘Round File’.

And thus, you have the photograph that graces this post. A rendition of the euphoric state of my heart as I stood there under these delicate trees as thier leaves shivered in the light breeze and danced among the sunbeams that filtered through them. Maybe I am not a true photographer anymore depicting the world as seen through the lens of a camera, but now, at least now, I feel that I am finally writing with light.

I have been silent for some time. Not to sure why. I have been busy conducting two workshops, one in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California and the second in famous Yosemite Valley. Both were in search of the lovely autumn color. However, earlier I spent several days on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in search of autumn color there as well. I was there during the inital shock of the financial melt down and I guess I had internalized the fear that was rampant and it was reflected in my images. For the images that were appearing to me were somewhat foreboding in nature. Like “Strangled” from my previous post and this image below titled “Death’s Hand”, both have a deeply foreboding qaulity to them.

Yet on my return from the Eastern Sierra, I found that my heart had eased as I found the mountains still there. They had not shaken, they were still as firm as they have always been and still served to hold the Earth together. And so even though my heart was seeing what it felt which led me to these images, in reality there was nothing to worry about at all.

Sometimes an image just happens to come to you. It appears as if by magic at your feet, and in this case it literally did. Even more amazing is when an image just captivates your imagination and conveys to you exactly what you are feeling.

Such was the case with this photo of twisted sage brush in the Eastern Sierra. Continue Reading »