Vividly liquid and the golden Feel, Eastern Sierra Ca

I watched an old documentary on Ansel Adams recently.... for the first time.
I've never been the kind of person to get caught up in glorifying other peoples work.... or even getting obsessed with what they have accomplished, as wonderful as their work may be. I think we're all that special. Having said that, I have great respect for art, hard work and the real people who have obviously perused that dream, in spite of all things and regardless of cost. Adams would undoubtedly fall into this category and I admire and appreciate his work with great awe. I have my heroes, some known and some unknown, some alive and some dead. Perhaps even YOU! Comparing my own work is natural I guess. We all were influenced by something or other. Our own personal course slightly steered this way or that way over time by some unseen force. "The dream is real!" Ultimately folks, we're all headin down the same rabbit hole. I was captured by David Muench at a very young age... i came across a book of his and I drooled all over it. I still do actually. My eyes were glued to the pages.... The lines, the contrast, the colors. Page after page. Better than any photography course out there, IMO. And at a glimpse, I was hooked. That began my journey as a photographer, and it's been quite the "twankly" journey so far.... hardly begun really.... one fraught with many twists and turns, ups and downs, highs and lows. Seems I also caught the music bug at a very young age... which ultimately sent me spinning thru the world of the music business, managers, lawyers and sharks... OH My. I took Opera lessons for years, obsessed with training my vocals cords in much the same way I'm sure Ansel trained his dodging and burning techniques. I signed a solo record deal with Virgin records in my late 20's, a monumental feat for me, one that took the better part of a decade's work, only to watch it vanish in the blink of an eye, I toured the world, I met my childhood hero's, countless bands and projects came and went while crumbling music companies, the internet and "Free Music" seemed to unravel the very idea of everything i built, sleeping couch to couch and in rehearsal studios with pennies in my pocket was a way of life for me to a long time, hell, I was even a drum tech for Tommy Lee of Motley Crue for a while. I fought most of my life for a dream I was sold as a kid but somewhere along the way i think i lost the point.... or maybe I just became to bitter to remember it. Suffice it to say, somewhere in all that mess, I actually became a songwriter. Not book taught, but life taught. A task, I'm sure, anyone with the ability to reflect and learn from their own experiences is quite capable of achieving to some degree or other.

In some way shape or form, photography has always been there too. I mention this all to you today because it's relevant to this photo and the strange coincidences i see in my life and with Ansels. From what i could gather on his thoughts regarding music and the business of music.... lets just say I can relate to the quietness and calm beauty he felt in the high country, the simple and effortless poetry of natural occurrences taking place between light and dark.... that feeling of truly living.... the magnetic lure of the Sierras..... as well as his own struggles and observations between the two mediums. Not to compare myself with him at all.... it's just that it was nice to hear it from someone else for a change.

Lastly, I mention all this because the color performance of this image has always bothered me. It was always missing something..... it's wasn't until I made a black and white version that it hit me.... "the felling" so aptly put by Ansel in his documentary. I mean, I knew I liked the B&W version, but up until I watched the documentary, I didn't really know WHY i liked it. The "FEELING" of this moment. It was late in the day and sharp angled sunlight was painting over this field... like sparkling ferry dust... so vividly liquid I swear I could drink it up at the moment. These ashy golden grasses swaying in the sierra breeze, sprawled out over acres of loose sandy earth.... twinkling. The wind was so deafeningly loud, yet I felt so small and overcome with quietness..... Just a part of it all now. What a feeling... i reached down and grabbed a handful of sand and admired it slipping thru my fingertips. I think this black and white image, void of any golden color, feels right to me. Yes, it just feels right and that's good enough for me today.

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Taken on: May 19, 2011

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