Waiting To Be Shot Down

I hunt for shots like this. I’m a hunter waiting to be shot down by the hunted. (Photograph by Jerry Katz)

An online dictionary says, “A hunter is someone who seeks, pursues, or looks for something.”

That definition applies to my ventures in nature as a photographer. I’m a hunter, yes, while at the same time waiting to be shot down by beauty, by the hunted, taking my photograph as I fall to the ground.

I read Christopher Alexander’s book, The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and The Nature of the Universe, Book Four, The Luminous Ground. In the chapter Pleasing Yourself, he writes, “To create living structures, we must please ourselves.”

Though Alexander defines it in his words, in my words, a living structure is whatever is recognized as your own true life or being or self. To create that in art, you have to please yourself, not some arbitrary standard of beauty, not someone else or some team or committee.

When something is seen as good or decent work but not pleasing me, I must remember what it means to be pleased. To be truly pleased is to recognize that work contains beingness.

Having fun is essential. Every aspect of photography has to be fun and turned into a work in which beingness is recognized.

The world distracts us in thousands of ways. It is attentional work to remember who we are. It is unstopping work and must be brought to our art and the whole of our lives.