AN EPIPHANY 02-22-08
March 12, 2008
TRIP-2 ENTRIES 1 OF 2 – START
Hi!
A couple of weeks ago I walked out the door at 4:44 and headed for Oregon. I recorded the mileage in my notebook and the phrase, “out the door at 4:44,” turned on the headlights and set off into the still-dark night. Every time I’ve stopped at the rest area off I-5 in Corning, CA, I’ve thought how great it would be to be there at sunrise. I was surprised that this was the time. It was just like I pictured it.
The warm and cool colors dramatically changed from one minute to the next. Each of the olive trees had its own story to tell. I like the way their character as individuals and as a group are also revealed in black and white.
Mt. Shasta, at 14,179 feet, has such a large presence that it stays with you for hours after it first comes into view until it finally disappears from sight in your rear view mirror. The much smaller peak that the arrow is pointing to is called Black Butte. I had never seen it covered in snow. This volcanic cap normally looks like its name. It’s easy to imagine this immense valley 300,000 years ago alive with multiple eruptions and lava flows.
It’s also easy to see why ancient Native Americans felt Shasta to be the center of the earth and the point of creation, and why over a hundred New Age sects and groups regard Shasta as a sacred place, one of the nine sacred mountains of the world. It is considered by some an entry point to the fifth dimension. It’s understandable to see why and how we make something special over another thing because it appears to be unique. All people around the world have their own “sacred mountain,” that is the center of the earth and the point of creation. In South Dakota the sacred mountain for the Lakota Sioux is Harney Peak. Atop this mountain a Lakota shaman named Black Elk had a vision. He saw the hoop of his nation as one of many hoops. He said, “I saw myself on the central mountain of the world, the highest place, and I had a vision because I was seeing in the sacred manner.” And then he said, ”But the central mountain is everywhere.”
I reached Salem just as it was getting dark. I was there to celebrate my niece Kiera’s 15th birthday and see my nephew Patrick perform in an all-city middle school orchestra performance. Both events would take place over the coming weekend. While they were in school the next day, I took a trip to the coast 60 miles away. Just down the road I spotted a scarecrow in a spot of light. By the time I got out of the car and set up the tripod the spot of light disappeared behind the clouds. Since I was all set up I though I’d take a closer look at the playful figure. As I looked through the viewfinder a bird landed on the scarecrow’s head. The clouds stayed pretty constant as I passed through the temperate rainforest over the Coastal Range.
Once I hit the coast I checked the map and saw that the coastal town of Newport was only 20 miles down the road. I turned south hoping to meet Goody Cable, who requested to be added to my mailing list after receiving an essay from my friend, Julie Golden, in Boulder. She is the co-owner of the Sylvia Beach Hotel which bills itself as “A hotel for book lovers.” Goody’s literary talent clearly showed in her lovely replies to these emails. Her generosity extended to introducing me to her friends, screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb, and neighbors, Jessie Pedigo and Mike Shivers.
Mike was kind enough to show me some of his own photography. I loved his work and gave him every tip I could think of to get him on the clear path of his bliss. The most important piece of advice was, “Don’t wait. Act as if. The process of proceeding will tell you what to do next.” I was happy to receive the following pictures and this reply after I returned home: “The affirmation you gave me on my work was invaluable and it really got me motivated. I was approved for iStock last week and submitted my first batch of pictures over the weekend. A new web site is coming along and biz cards are on the way. Why is it that it’s so hard to admit that your own work is good? Really Jerry, when you looked at my work and said that it was good, that conversation changed everything for me. My head is swimming with new ideas for shots!” This interaction inspired me and confirmed my belief that we discover what we have when we share it.
Down the road I shared a of loaf bread with a flock of seagulls. By the time I was back on the road I was using the wipers to rearrange the bountiful gifts that the hundreds of birds left on my car. I was so thankful. A torrential rain began ten minutes later to completely clean the car.
Driving in the pouring rain, I dismissed stopping to take a picture. That didn’t last long. The beauty of the rugged Oregon coast and pounding surf had me, my camera and my tripod under a rain poncho taking long exposures. The picture on the right was taken out the windshield on my way back over the Coastal Range, through a tunnel of trees for 30 seconds.
The next day I went to the Portland Art Museum and added a few new images to my “People as Art” series.
I always love the experience of how the world looks different to me after I walk out of a museum.
Every object has a history and each sign of life ask to be witnessed.
I stopped into the Lloyd Center to see Vicky Morton, who I met when I was selling my flower images in the shopping center during the annual Portland Rose Festival. I also got to meet Mark Hanson and the people of the Lloyd Center business office whome Vicky has been kind enough to add to my list. When I was there before, the giant ice rink was turned off and the space was filled with thousands of perfect exhibit class roses. That evening I had dinner with my friend Kate’s daughter, Rebecca and her boyfriend and his father,Dave and David. They both have been receiving my emails and wanted to meet me.
Towards the end of our great meal and conversations, David paid me the most gratifying compliment. He said, “You’re just like I thought you would be. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” I was struck by the words, “finally meet you in person.” I realized that this wonderful man, who I was meeting for the first time, already had a picture of who I was because he had been receiving these personal notes from my life for over a year.
Thank you for joining me on this trip and for being such an intimate part of my world. What started out as a way to stay in touch with friends and have my work be seen has, as of this email, grown to 1,000 people across America and 22 different countries. The internet was made for the way I talk and take pictures. My photographs have always been more about the state of being I am in rather than which state or country. I’m not the kind of artist that works well in galleries. As I have often been told, ”You have no identifiable style. You take pictures of everything in dozens of different ways. You need to specialize so you can be unique.” I understand their point from a commercial point of view. I love seeing work in galleries and even understand why they have to sell one of my prints for $800 and give me $400 if and when it sells. I wish them well. I, also, see that if I want my prints to be in the hands of more people, I’ll have to do it myself.
So, as a way to find what I have by sharing it, I am making all my prints available for $100. I’ve decided to follow my own advice to not wait and let the process of proceeding tell me what to do next. The current full details are at the bottom of the page. This is my personal way to celebrate reaching 1,000 people and to acknowledge the value I receive from each one of you.
Again, thank you for your wonderful and supportive replies and for sending these notes out into the world. I am grateful and complimented. If, for any reason you want to be removed from my mailings just send a reply with “No Thanks” in the subject line. If you received this from a friend and want to be added to the list send me an email. I will be delighted to include you. In the next email we go back on the road, celebrate Chinese New Year and go to an all-city middle school orchestra performance! I leave you with another seagull that I broke bread with on a previous trip to the Oregon coast. Continue to enjoy your personal vision and…
Keep Spreading Your Wings!
Love, Jerry
Jerry Downs Photography
P.O. Box 1082
Larkspur, CA 94977
415-686-2369
http://www.jerrydownsphoto.com/
P.O. Box 1082
Larkspur, CA 94977
415-686-2369
http://www.jerrydownsphoto.com/
“The center is the axis mundi, the central point, the pole around which all revolves. The central point of the world is where stillness and movement are together. Movement is time, but stillness is eternity. Realizing how this moment of your life is actually a moment of eternity, and experiencing the eternal aspect of what you’re doing in the temporal experience—this is the mythological experience.
“There is a definition of God which has been repeated by many philosophers. God is an intelligible sphere—a sphere known to the mind, but not the senses—whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. And the center, Bill, is right where you are sitting. And the center is right where I’m sitting. And each of us is a manifestation of that mystery.”
Joseph Campbell speaking to Bill Moyers in the book and TV series, THE POWER OF MYTH, about Black Elk’s hoop vision.
http://www.sylviabeachhotel.com/ More Mike Shivers pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avi8r
My thanks to my good friend and writer, Merijane Block, for her support and eye for editing.
PRINTS
All of my images from my website (which has been updated with a new look and pictures) and emails
are now available for $100, plus $30(US) per order (no matter how many prints) for shipping and handling anywhere in the world.
California residents please add $8.25 per print.
Each print is the same hand-signed gallery-quality print that previously sold for $400.
Every high-resolution image is printed with 8 archival inks on archival paper.
Rectangular images are printed on a 16″ x 20″ sheet with a 1-1/2″ border on all sides.
Square images are printed on a 16″ x 16″ sheet with a 1-1/2″ border on all sides.
Purchases on the website can be paid with credit card or through Pay-Pal account . (The shipping fee is in the drop down menu on each picture—enter once.)
You can, of course, contact me directly. It’s always a joy to talk with you.
I look forward to hearing from you and to meeting some of you “in person” for a great conversation and a cup of coffee.
OXO
