quotes of the day

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 / mobius faith

“τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ᾽ ἐσθλὸν τῷδ᾽ ἔμμεν’ ὅτῳ φρένας θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν”
“evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction”

~ Sophocles’ play Antigone

“Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”

~ William Anderson Scott

Degrees – Factors

February 16, 2019February 16, 2019 / mobius faith

degrees & factors

… on… my disappearance….

November 16, 2017November 16, 2017 / mobius faith

Identity presence existence metaphysic existential reality:
these are the issues.

“Life is an illusion and we trick ourselves into thinking and believing it’s real.” ~ mobius faith diaries

When I took this photo (below) I was fascinated by the door handles, lock and chain. But as is often the case – after I got home and started processing the image I realized something quite disturbing. I was standing directly in front of these doors but nowhere in the image. No reflection of the photographer. Where had I gone? Where was the photographer? I suddenly began to question my existence for some reason. I began to doubt all that I thought I knew was real. I just could not fathom…. logic told me that when someone is standing in front of an object that is casting a reflection that person should be part of the reflection. But here, the glass doors were reflecting the street behind me but showed no interest in reflecting me – the reflected image was not interested in my narcissistic obsession. Okay so this is the stuff of nightmares. I actually did have a nightmare about this the night I processed this image. There had to be some logical explanation. There was NO “photoshopping” of this image to remove my reflection. I had simply disappeared at some point in time between the time I pressed the button on the shutter and when the shutter closed again. This was during the day so there was no time-lapse – I was shooting at full speed.

Locked Between Two Worlds

I noticed the crack/space where the two door meet. Had I disappeared into the crack of dark space. And if so how come I have no recollection? If we cease to exist do we have no recollection of what came before? If we cease to exist on this plane do we just start some other existence with no remembrance of the existence we had when we were mortal corporeal beings? Had I crossed some astral plane to the other side of the doors and was looking out? At one point I did actually wonder if I was looking out or looking in thru these doors. One can see the windows in the vacant dark space which contrast with the reflection of the street. But again, I began to question – is this a reflection of the windows or reflections of the street?

Your music moment today is provided by Khôra featuring their track ONE IS THE OTHER from their album Silent Your Body Is Endless on my favorite Canadian Label (Constellation Records).

***The truth of the matter – destroy your illusions – reflections have a way of bending. And that’s exactly what happened in this image. As you can see in the photo there is a space between the doors which means they were not sealed tightly shut. They were bowed out slightly reflecting the sides of the entrance and the street behind. The doors were bowed out enough to allow me to stand in the crack or space between without being in the reflection. You can figure out exactly how much if you measure the angle in the reflections which seem to close in behind me. Also logic tells me (and you hopefully) that there is no entranceway like this that narrows then gets wider as you get closer to the door. Think of a theater – outside on the sidewalk the entrance is wide and then funnels you into the doors not the other way around.

Bottom line. I no longer have nightmares about getting lost and disappearing. I CAN understand, appreciate and enjoy when it does happen. 🙂

… on … love & destruction….

January 21, 2017January 22, 2017 / mobius faith

“Love is what happens to us when we are graced by the absolute destruction of everything we hope for.”

– Rabbi Rami Shapiro

mobius faith imaging

June 28, 2014 / mobius faith

I’d like to say that the creative muse has abandoned me. But I cannot say that in all honesty because she hasn’t left she has just been trying to help me understand my own work and take in new directions. I have no idea what the end result will be like.

I once wrote,

The photographic image is the tabula rasa up on which I ‘paint’.

And in the introduction to my first book I described my process thus,

I’ve never cared or desire to learn about my camera and it’s functions…. I am much more interested in the creative process and things that come from imagination and the human mind….I am interested in the “paints”, “brushes”, “strokes”, “Hammers and chisels” that allow me to sculpt and paint something new digitally. The images I create…in some cases…dissected,distorted and destroyed.

I’ve come to believe that the photograph in itself is not sacred, not art and just represents a fading, record of a moment, a memory, an occasion that is an illusion and pretends to be truth. Now I know a lot of people will want to argue and fight about that and that’s fine. I still take photos and am interested in abstract photography which I post on 500px.

I recently watched a film (only for the first time) and discovered that when it comes to creativity I definitely have Lettrist tendencies. That film was Lettrisme founder Isodore Isou. The film was VENOM & ETERNITY. In the film he states,

Photography is too banal… All attempts at angle shots, low key shots, double exposures… prove that one must go further…One must go beyond the image… And attack the film stock… Before anything, Photography must rot!

He then goes on to state that genuine film and photography as art must be destroyed and rebuilt outside of established conventions and expectations.

This really struck a chord with me. It’s what I’ve been doing for some time. I suppose it started in college when I was into punk and began to research surrealism, dada, situationist philosophy, etc that began to subconsciously shape my understanding of what is art and creativity.

The digital revolution has done two things. It has turned everyone with a cell phone into a photographer of the banal. If I have to look at just one more photograph of flowers, sunsets and cute children and animals I will become violently sick. But that is what has happened. The technology has turned everyone into a banal image taker. HDR photography has made it even worse because it pretends to be something it is not.

That was just the down side. BUT!!!!
There is also an up side to this digital revolution. It has given people with imagination new ways to destroy the image to manipulate it beyond recognition and create something completely new. I’ve always like Picasso’s quote (paraphrased), “The first act of creation begins with destruction”. That’s what I do. I destroy in order to create something new.

Here is an example of that work:
BUNGLE AND BOGGLE

With this clarification and understanding of my work and process I’ve started doing something different. Not content to just have prints of my digital work I have started manipulating the prints themselves. I have started creating “photo weaves” for lack of a better term. I’ve been taking the prints I have and cutting them into strips. I’ve then been weaving the different strips together to create a wholly new and different work. I did the first photo weave about 10 years ago when the photo processing lab started giving me double prints and I didn’t know what to do with the extras. I only created one at the time out of two 4″X6″ prints and then set it aside as something to remember. Now, this notion has come back to me. Here is a photo of 2 recent works that I made. They are not framed (yet) so apologies for the presentation but at least you will have some idea of the result.
PW#3 and PW#2