Power lines of pictures by Supreme Master Ching Hai in her book "The Noble Wilds"
In a short commentary such as this one not every picture can be appreciated for itself, but rather that which characterises all of them. That is why I will turn to the pictures of swans in order to show what is special about all of them.
Seeing the swans glide over water one thinks of them as unreal, transcendental white beings with white wings. If they come ashore you recognise them by their feet as fellow inhabitants of this world. And yet, their bright outside appearance is the reflection of the divine spark residing within all of us. This is what the pictures of the Supreme Master make me feel which she has taken of, or rather, with the swans time and again. Fortunately, she has included plenty of them in her book “The Noble Wilds”.
There are three things that come together in a good picture: being at the right place at the right time; when theme and object move you so deeply that they lead you to the right frame; and also pushing the release button at the right moment.
Then the fleeting moment of a tenth of a second can be captured at which the inner self of the photographed, their soul, is unveiled beyond the outside image and can be sensed by those who view the picture.
That way, a good picture transfers the emotional and spirtual relationship between the photographer and their object, the swans, to the audience. But in this case, with the pictures from “The Noble Wilds”, much more is going on. A force which is hard to describe can be felt. But where does it come from? From beyond the picture frame or from the invisible photographer?
Does her – the Supreme Master's – unconditional, spiritual, great love to all beings transfer over to us in vibes? Does this light the divine spark within us so that we, too, can feel the higher form of pure deep love connected to it? Whom do I have to thank for that? The photographer, the author, the Supreme Master? All three of them, I think.
In “The Noble Wilds” there are many more pictures to be discovered which have caused this inexplicable feeling of lightness and happiness in me. I chose to talk about the swans because their beauty and elegance help my inadequate efforts at explaining by which I want to inspire the readers to discover for themselves what effect studying “The Noble Wilds” and the pictures within have on them.
Any good photographer knows about the effect of taking a picture at such an angle that the important details of the motif appear along an imagined diagonal. Through this diagonal composition everything along the invisible line or in its vicinity gets especially emphasised, attracts the attention of the observer who is drawn into the depth of the motif.
Regardless of whether the imagined line dictates an almost vertical or merely very slanted composition of the details the picture attracts not just the eye but the whole observer and his attention and feelings. In their imagination they will wander into the picture, happily feel deliverance from their earthly weight and maybe have an inkling of a different consciousness awakened deep inside. The strength of the diagonal picture composition lies in its following universal laws given by the Heavens to humanity as a help for orientation in nature.
The Supreme Master – who has more important tasks than going through photographic theory school – approaches her motifs with her absolute love for animals. As, however, the heavenly laws are also within her – within whom else? - she, lo and behold, intuitively took a picture that plays with two diagonals even because the 'path of feathers' takes a turn in a different direction in the background.
Apart from the beautiful text by the Supreme Master on the feather path picture I believe I keep hearing, “Look for us. We have scattered feathers for you so that your feet are protected. Please come.”
The pictures on the preceeding pages make it clear that the calls are coming from the swans hiding from possible dangers because they can't fly away anymore.
On the following page 272 we see two individually photographed swans showing themselves with their wings pruned by the loss of feathers in side view almost like on an ancient Egyptian frieze. Two side views of swans could have meant a group of swans having lost their wings in ancient Egyptian times. This could suggest that they were going through moult. Is the ancient Egyptian of the pictures a coincidence or is it a fragment of memories of a life thousands of years ago?
Thousands of years is the keyword to get to another aspect of the subliminal effect of the diagonal composition of the pictures.
For thousands of years, humans have been asking, “Where do we come from? Where are we going to?” The old religious masters of painting saw the diagonal composition as a bridge to the otherwordly and the transcendental in answer to the “where to?”. And the word 'bridge' still touches our spiritual subconscious today without us always knowing. The bridge has become an archetypical expression for the adventure of crossing, of the departure for the unknown.
Is that the other bank or the other world already. It's exactly there, on the other side of the suspension bridge across the lake, that the Supreme Master put up her tent to guard the swans (p. 248). This picture, taken in frontal central view, is not really an example for my theory, yet the edges of the bridge and its ropes make up four bent diagonals running into the background.
In the picture on page 276 the bridge is clearly portrayed in a diagonal way. The pictures 'duck path' (p. 3), 'way' (p. 32) and 'path of the deer' (p. 195) also follow the principle of the diagonal.
Together with the two pictures of the bridge taken by other people which feature the Supreme Master there are four pictures with the same motif in the book which implies that the theme of bridges is of special importance to the Supreme Master as well.
It is very difficult to comment on individual pictures because that means taking them out of their contexts with the beautiful texts by the Supreme Master and with each other. Nevertheless, I hope that these few thoughts about the pictures will not bore the Supreme Master.
~ Helmut Nitzschke, World-renowned Film Director from Germany
No comments:
Post a Comment