One of my favorite chants constantly on my lips and in my heart begins with the words “O Great Spirit, Earth, Sun, Sky and Sea. You are inside and all around me.â€Â   In particular these words resonate within my being when I am at the water’s edge and all these cosmic elements are present.
Wanting to photograph the evocative feel of this Native American tune I spent time on the Sonoma Coast. The wildflowers and spring color-fest at Duncans Landing is often waning by June. But for some reason this past week they seemed more explosive than earlier in the year.
How blessed we are to walk on such sacred ground and listen to the calling of Shekhinah (the female presence of the divine) from the ocean lapping at the sand beaches and rock coastline while the wind’s song creates a whistling harmony.
Plump red ice plant spears are interspersed in the blooming Lizard Tail’s shrubby mounded clusters. Native Americans once dried and ground Lizard Tail seeds into flour. This hardy plant is helpful in controlling coastal erosion. Although I don’t think the rising ocean level will be held back by the robust Lizard Tail. Perhaps it is time to work more diligently on modifying our habits that are speeding up climate change?
Using a full frame Canon 5D and a 24mm tilt-and-shift lens allowed me to keep in focus the near foreground and miles away background.
Quite often I have overheard visitors in the A Woman’s Eye Gallery saying of the photographs that they are (supposed to be) “true captures of exactly what we see.â€Â  While that is possible that kind of end result ignores 95% of the ways in which one can use a camera to create an image. Perhaps it is time to get out of the “green†zone on your camera and play with all the settings available to you. If you don’t know what that means I will be happy to help you. (That is after my sabbatical journey to Alaska which begins in one week.)
Notice the same lupine scene that I have placed side by side. If you understand how your aperture works you can choose what portion of your image you want in focus. My eye never saw the image on the left – but my imagination did. Photography is about creating imagery that presents emotion – visual spirituality, if you will. Earth, Sun, Sky and Sea is inside and all around me/us.