Last night I watched a live Zoom conversation between father and son photographers, Paul and John Paul Caponigro. It was such a beautiful conversation. Paul Caponigro, a film photographer, who is 89 years old is still making photographs, marveling at the magic of the photographic process, and sharing his wonderful insights and wisdom about
That Ineffable Something More
I loved the conversation between father and son and also loved that they talked more about becoming present, and going into the silence than about photographic technique. In fact I don’t think they talked about technique at all.
Photography is a medium, a language, through which I might come to experience directly, live more closely with, the interaction between myself and nature.— Paul Caponigro
Even after over 60 years of making photographs, Paul Caponigro, experiences the process of making photographs as magic. Though I don’t do film photography myself, I too feel the magic of the photographic process myself.
At times I make photographs for the sheer magic of its process, and the good feeling about the very stuff needed: light, chemical combinations, some imperceptible forces at work behind the scene. I am part of the drama which takes the guise of photography— Paul Caponegro
The Artist is Reflected in Every Creation
This morning I went back to some of my earliest photographs and re-worked some of them. What I discovered in the process is that because of what I’ve learned and also because of what I have discovered about myself and what I love, the end results were quite new and different from the original photos.
The key is to not let the camera, which depicts nature in so much detail reveal just what the eye picks up, but what the heart picks up as well.— Paul Caponigro
Every artist can experience the magic Paul Caponigro talks about.
Photography’s potential as a great image-maker and communicator is really no different from the same potential in the best poetry where familiar, everyday words, placed within a special context, can soar above the intellect and touch suble reality in a unique way.— Paul Caponigro
The work of creation is its own reward. Doing the work feeds me. I find myself savoring life more. I don’t find the magic every time I pick up my camera. But it is one of the best ways for me to connect with my heart and to experience that ineffable something more.
May you walk in beauty.
If you’d like to watch a video of the presentation I watched last night, HERE is a link to it.
Photos in today’s post are old photos from 2013 that I re-worked today.
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