Does this subject move you to feel, think and dream? Ansel Adams believed that a true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words. It is a moment when the ordinary becomes extraordinary—a privileged moment. Observation, seeing, is the first step; George Herbert, an early 17th C Welsh poet/priest, wrote that “The eyes have one language everywhere”. However, most important is establishing a relationship with the subject leading to interpolation, extrapolation, and interaction.
Over the years, I have experienced two types of privileged moments: the first finding that which I have been searching for (endangered species in their native habitats) and the second encountering the unexpected.
For example, in June 1996, I traveled to Gros Morne National Park, in western Newfoundland, to photograph wild flowers in their native environments. Discovering clumps of cypripedium reginae (right page) provided magical moments; the unexpected wonder, however, were the extraordinary tectonic plates (previous spread). Each layer represents roughly 10,000 years. Trilobite fossils indicate that these rock formations are 350 million years old. Standing on these ancient rocks generates a profound feeling of humility.
Many of the images, the privileged moments, come with lessons.
The hardest thing of all is to see, and feel, what is really there.