This morning I was reading LensWork #50 and on reading the Statement of Ownership was struck by a thought, affirmed by the numbers on the page. LensWork only publishes ~ 12,000 copies of each issue! That number had the power of affirming my own individuality and uniqueness, indeed it attests to the unique nature of every human being.

If for example, I consider only the United States and Canada (the two countries named on the journal cover) as a population base, that's 322,549,667 people (approximated, as of June, 2003). Assuming that each copy of LensWork is read by only one individual (big assumption, likely false, but I'll proceed anyway), that means that I can count myself in as one of the LensWork readers who make-up 0.004 % of the above population base. Wow!

Now, consider that I also have a number of interests and desires which further distinguish me from other LensWork readers, one can quickly come up with a description of me as an individual which is entirely unique. I thought that this would in fact be incredibly hard to do! Considering the population of the world, there must be others like me, but if you consider that I read a journal with a very small copy number, it is now quite conceivable that I can rapidly distinguish myself from all other LensWork readers and by this from all others on the planet. This doesn't mean that we are all different from each other, but we are unique, with gifts that only we have because of our very different experiences and life stories. It is the similarity of all human beings which can bring us together, but it is the uniqueness of our own individual vision which we must share in order to expand the very boundaries of our vision.

This brings me to my second observation. In the aforementioned journal, Brooks Jensen (BJ) interviews Michael Kenna (MK). BJ asks a question regarding the differences between an original photographic print and how the print is known based on reproductions in books. MK's reply is one which I feel all those who create should consider in their own creative lives. He is not concerned with the discrepancy between original and reproduction because as MK sees it, all the pieces of the creative process (from negative to print to book) are reflections and interpretations of himself. They are not pieces to be owned or controlled by the creator, rather they are works to be let free. The works of the creative individual should be sown so as to flourish, so as to touch as many lives as possible, open to interpretation, allowed to touch a person but not necessarily to create a fixed defined impression. All pieces of work are defined through the relationship which the piece develops between the creator and the viewer. One creates to let loose their own slivers of interpretation, only to have these slivers transformed into the possibility of a distinct interpretation as provided by the viewer of the creative piece. This process is by definition undefinable. In fact, as MK suggests, one should not create with an aim to define, one should simply create and allow for the unknown interpretations which come. The interpretation is not to be a concern of the creative individual.
- posted by the Tourist @ 20:35UTC - want to

 
"Nothing can justify what is happening,
but so long as it happens,
it is necessary that it should be taken up,
because it is necessary that the inner life of man,
that the life which he creates within his mind, resemble as finely,
that is to say as truthfully as possible the actual world..."
John Berger

This is a quote from the film, "The Spectre of Hope" in which John Berger talks with Sebastiao Salgado about his 2000 book, "Migrations". The quote tells us that we should look at all things in the world with equal concentration, that we should not allow our own understanding to become biased because we refuse to look at everything around us. It is the responsibility of the human individual to establish an understanding of the world. Without this attempt, we are left hollow inside, unable to to comprehend, unable to show compassion, we are left in the sidelines of the human condition.
- posted by the Tourist @ 16:46UTC - want to

 
A Beginning?

I've begun a blog! It's just an experiment for me, to see where it might lead to in terms of thought or clarity of thought. What happens when an individual puts their thoughts online?




- posted by the Tourist @ 05:14UTC - want to