The Metaphysics of Photography: The Art of the Unseen

 The Metaphysics of Photography:  The Art of the Unseen  by Glenn R. Steiner , Greek Island Workshops in Photography

     Light, one of the great radiant forces in our universe, is invisible.  That is to say that light radiation itself cannot be seen unaided by the naked human eye.  It may only be seen once photonic energy has struck something of substance or has passed through it.

     The artist’s world has ever been defined by light.  The painter works with paints made of dye and elemental compounds applied by brush onto surface textured and without blemish.  The sculptor shapes the earth and its materials with his hands into meaningful creation.  These are things of substance, of paint and clay, illuminated by light.  Yet, only the photographer is fluent in perceiving, carving and revisioning the radiation we call “light.”  Invisibly, it enwraps our world, powering all photographers’ artistic imageries, both natural in source and artificial.

     In nature, light energy exists everywhere around us.  Light fills the ether of space, cast out from the stars, racing to the earth, striking mother Earth’s atmosphere and far beyond.  As the darkening world turns and the hush of night becomes day, our first sensation is soft light.  Our atmosphere incandesces with gentle rounded illumination.  Darkness, the absence of “seen” light, becomes violet turning bluish, and then softly brightening until we can perceive it.  This is the chromatically cool worlds that we see during the times of awakening light.

     With the coming of first light, collimated radiant energy punches directly through the atmosphere to be perceived as the warming yellow-red rays of day.  Raking across the Earth’s surface at angles close to the horizon and then later, rising higher, we can see this point source focused light giving sharp, golden relief to the natural reality that is.

     Light serves the ardent artist scientist.  We, photographers, add and manipulate to the existing reality to create new ones mirroring the artist’s inner psyche.  The experienced artist paints with artificial light to great effect in their own works, emphasizing that which is important, leaving dark that which is not. 

     Like a modern day Prometheus, some photographers bring light sources themselves into the act, to direct the eye and to tell their tale.  An example of this might be an electrician holding a lit lightbulb.

     Studio photographers retreat to their own darkened sanctum sanctorums to create.  Eschewing all “natural” light, studio photographers exert the most complete control.  Employing artificial spot lights, large window light boxes, fiber optics and myriad other tools, studio shooters bend light to their will, using opaque scrims to feather and diminish and mirrors to enhance and embellish.  Their worlds are ones of the most exacting perfection where no lit detail remains that is not intended.

     All photographers are painters of light:  the alchemists of the invisible, the sorcerers of the unseen.

-©Glenn R. Steiner 2010

Happy New Year from the Greek Island Workshops in Photography

Xronia Polla kai Kala!
Rose’s and my best wishes for a successful and prosperous new year!
-Glenn,   http://Greekislandphotography.com

Happy New Year! © Glenn Steiner 1983

Kalo Xristougenna, Merry Christmas!

Kalo Xristougenna!

Merry Christmas from Glenn + Rose Steiner, and the Greek Island Workshops in Photography!

Janet Parrish, Sail The Wine Dark Sea 2009

It’s the heart of winter now, some six months since the June Workshops of the Greek Island Workshops in Photography.  We stand on the cusp of the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice.  The summer days and magical light of Greece and the Aegean islands seem very far away, a glimmer in the darkness.

In ancient Greece, this was the time when the lonely Hades stole the beautiful Persephone, one of ancient Greece’s fertility goddesses, down to his underworld domain to keep him warm.  Demeter, the goddess of the harvest and Persephone’s mother, searched relentlessly for her daugher.  The fields on Earth went fallow.  Zeus, upon hearing about Demeter’s woes from all-seeing Helios the sun, sent his messenger Hermes down to the Underworld to secure her release.  Hades agreed.  Ironically, before she could leave, Hades gave Persephone a final present: a pomegranate.  Unfortunately, upon eating a single seed from the pomegranate, Persephone became bound to the Underworld for three months a year.  The rest of the year, Persephone was free to return to the Earth, to visit her mother Demeter and the other Gods.  Demeter decreed that nothing would henceforth grow during the time that Persephone must spend in the Underworld.  And so goes the explanation of old, of the changing of the seasons and the yearly coming of the time of winter for the ancient Greeks.

This past June during the long days of summer, Rose and I had the shared pleasure of touring the Dodecanese islands with Janet Parrish of Philadelphia aboard a 55 foot sailing yacht.    Here’s what Janet had to say about the experience: 

 ”It’s taken me until this snowy blizzardy day (I think we’re getting 15 inches of snow by later tonight) to finally get the time to pull together some pix to send you for posting on the blog.  This past year was hugely busy for me — one thing after the next.  But one thing that still stands out like a shining jewel was the wonderful experience of STWDS.  I am still raving about the entire experience — the additional photographic knowledge and experience I gained, the patience and friendship you and Rose showed us, the way you fostered a congenial “team” atmosphere, and the emphasis on trying to experience the “real Greece” while we were at it (including the all-important food, drink, etc.).  I seriously hope to return for another workshop with you — whether it’s the Santorini one, or perhaps coming back to the Dodakanesa in the fall if you do that again.”

Together with our class “Sail The Wine Dark Sea,”  Janet, my wife Rose, five other students and I explored and sailed to many of the fabled Dodekanesa islands:  Kos with its crusader castle, Leros with its many harbors and quirky islanders, Kalymnos the sponge island, Lipsi with its two-hundred blue domed churches, holy Patmos of St.John the Theologian and his Cave of Revelations, and little out-of-the-way tiny Marathi where the goats outnumber the islanders at least fifty to one. 

Here are some of Janet’s photos from that magical week during the longest days of the year. 

-Glenn Steiner (instructor)

Old Woman, Kalymnos

Two Goats, White Church, Kalymnos

Fishing Boats, Kalymnos

Lone Gull, At Sail, Marathi

Solo Goat, Patmos

Pigeons Flying from Cross, Patmos

Greek Fisherman + Friend, Patmos

Greek Woman at Rest, Athens

At Sea, Dragon's Teeth, near Patmos

Gary Kipp, In Search of the Real Greece 2009, October

   October is often a quiet month in Greece and Santorini in particular.  The hard partying students have left back to school and the village people come out to play, although many Greeks choose to leave for the villages on the mainland or to Athens where the action truly is.

   This October during In Search of the Real Greece I had the great pleasure of instructing an advanced student, Dr Gary Kipp, who produced some extraordinarily sensitive portraits.  Gary has devoted his life to medicine and the treatment of the human condition.  He truly loves people and it shows in his work.

-Glenn, Instructor, Greek Island Workshops in Photography

On the church steps

Pride

 

Vangelis

Oia Church

Anafi Worker

Mary and Katherine, In Search of the Real Greece, October

This past October, Rose and I had the opportunity to teach a very charming Mother and Daughter, Mary and Katherine, during In Search of the Real Greece.  Mary and Katherine are beginning photographers.  They approached the Workshop with open eyes and grew photographically.  On the third day, Mary spun her ankle and collapsed near the top of the castle or Kastro of Pyrgos.  I carried her down down, “kato kato,” some 120 steps to the plateia to a local taverna for rest and a much needed big bag of ice for her ankle.  Despite her accident, Mary and Katherine still took some very nice photos during their stay on Santorini. 

Here are some of their photos.  Enjoy!

Best, Glenn

Kastro Passageway, Santorini

Sunset Through the Bells, Pyrgos

Greek Mermaid, Katherine Diving

Mana from Heaven, Yoghurt with Honey + Fruit

Santorini Cat, Blue Door

Dancing in Ammoudi

ISOTRG October Class Photos

Hi All,

   October’s In Search of the Real Greece 4 gave us a true taste of Greece without the tourist hordes, a Greece that is quiet and serene wherein the Greeks reinherit their islands and prepare for winter …or flee to Athens.  Not unexpectedly, many of the tavernas and shops had already closed.    Footsteps seem to echo further down the lava rimmed pathways, like a flat stone skipping along still waters.

   As with all things, the beginning of winter presented us with a special opportunity to shoot with a type of light that was gentle and enveloping.  Even as the days grew quickly shorter, the actual productivity during each day increased, the arc of the perihelion of the sun arcing much lower than usual, allowing us to shoot even at noon with excellent results.

   Here are the class photos of our students.  Use this link to take a look and relive the excitement.

Geia sas, Glenn and Rose Steiner

Ann Marie Sabath’s Photos, In Search of the Real Greece September 2009

    At September’s “In Search of the Real Greece” workshop, Rose and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ann Marie Sabath, a noted author and beginning photographer.  Ann Marie had a special gift in bonding with the Greek people, whether she spoke the language or not.  The Greeks on Santorini and Anafi took to her like bees to honey.  They loved her.  The results, her photographs, speak for themselves.  Enjoy!  “OPA!!”

Best, Glenn Steiner, Greek Island Workshops in Photography

 

Smiling Anafiot

 

Village Elder

 

Fisherman Reflecting

 

Greek girl in baseball cap

 

Greek food, come and get it

 

Young Greek in conversation

 

Greek housewife

 

Greek girl me Xara

Sylvia Patton’s Photos, In Search of the Real Greece 2009 September

Sylvia Patton, public defender in Los Angeles and a talented photographer attended ”In Search of the Real Greece“ this past September wherein we photographed and explored Santorini and unknown Anafi in the southern Kyklades or Cyclades.  Here are some of Sylvia’s images from this absolutely great workshop.   I especially enjoy Sylvia’s experiments in Infra Red digital photography.

Enjoy!       

-Glenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anemomilos (windmill) on Anafi, Greece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Church + Cliffside, Oia, Santorini, Greece

Ann Marie, En Passage from Anafi Wistful Cat, Oia, Santorini, Greece

Sailboat at Sunset, Santorini, Greece

Eydoxeia, Santorini, Greece