Shape, Mood and Imagineering

Lately I have been doing much walking in the high desert of Arizona. It is a special place where the desert climate and topography varies every mile or so from barren lands to Juniper bushes and even pine trees. The granite rock mountains at this high altitude of 2000 meters change color with the ever present sun, occasional clouds, and type of grass.

Given the very low humidity, any dead tree becomes weathered by the sun and preserved carefully. The high winds and the sand give the dead wood a gentle polish and shades of gray. When I walk in these deserts I look at the ground as much as at the mountains. Well, sometimes it is to avoid a rattle snake,  but often because of my curiosity in finding “creative” dead wood shaped by the winds and polished by the flying sand.

I am in the creative studio of a unique artist, Mother Nature, when I walk between cacti and Juniper bushes.

… Here is my latest find. A twisted piece of a Juniper bush branch, about 20 cm long, probably fallen and dried for a few seasons now. I immediately noticed it as I thought, with its head on the left of the picture frame,  it looked like a coyote in motion. I did not think of a wolf because I have not seen wolves here, but plenty of coyotes that run sometimes as close as 30 meters from me and keep on looking at me as the intruder in their land.

So, I picked the piece of wood, put it in my backpack and continued my hike.

Upon return, I placed it on a table and to my surprise it was perfectly balanced on its 4 “legs”! Now I saw a coyote smiling while looking at me without slowing down his slow trot. And his hind right leg was in perfect proportion to its body and trot posture...

My curiosity increased and I slightly moved the “coyote” around. Now it looked like a strange hippopotamus! Its jaws were large open and ready to challenge my presence. Or was it a crocodile?

At this point I realized how delightful it is to be in the mood for seeing “something”. For anyone else, this would be just a piece of wood. For me, it was a fantasy moment when crocodiles, hippos and coyotes were right there, on my table.

…The photographer in me was intrigued by what 3-dimentional objects can give to the ready eye that 4th dimension of “Imagineering”. That is a term I like – it is the power of the image that lets us imagine. Fantasize.

I wondered how a two dimensional picture would “feel” after looking at this exquisite natural carving from various angles. So, I pulled out a couple of pictures I had taken on Coronado Island in San Diego to contrast and test my mood for imagination.

These birds are in motion, the ocean waves are undulating and there is a feel for the soft light of sunset. Yet, the motion is too obvious, predictable, and hardly surprising. In contrast, the coyote has character, body language, even a smile!

The next picture I chose was also from San Diego. Sunset again, 105mm lens for slight telephoto effect, and a lot of texture. There is a towering steel post, palm trees gently moving in the evening sun, and a bicyclist contre-jour. Yet the picture is static, even stagnant. The motion is implied but all seems to be very orderly.

… Texture, curvature and angle of observation may be the requisites for seeing what we are in the mood for seeing. One can freeze motion on film as one does on his retina or his memory.

But to see motion ones’ mood has to be in motion!

April 12, 2015
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015