The Poet Passes Unnoticed

Thanks

I heard a lecture today about cognitive biases, pairing it with aspects of Gestalt psychology. One of our natural tendencies is to anthropomorphize objects, animals--anything in our line of sight. And here is a perfect example.

 

 

This reminds me of a prototypical high school scene. Two dumb hulking jocks, self-satisfied by their physical presence. And then out of nowhere, our protagonist comes, his scrawny self barely holding up the weight of his mind. And at some point, the story turns, the physical world suddenly overcome by a psychological presence.

 

 

Pardon me, my bias is showing.

Just about exactly as I saw it, except I thought of the couple on the right as Industrial Master of the Universe and wife.

Maybe the funniest thing I've ever seen on PN. Thank you Jack.

The Bard of Osaka is conspicuous by his presence,Jack.Imagination without frontiers.

Genial title. The first thought that came to my mind upon seeing this is "indifference",

The alchemist came to see what you're doing! The same old thing - beautiful pictures to perfection "made out of nothing"! I like the perfection of the shapes, lines and the colors passing from moderately warm to moderately cold tones and the single detail which brings some contrast to the harmony of the previously described! That's good old Jack!

 

PDE

Great capture

It has been quite some time since I had first seen this.

I do not remember my first reaction; it was not a lasting one, that is!

Now, without a clue regarding what happened inside my head. I find this one just "delicious"!

I can "see" the poet now; although I had met him/her before.

I like the games my mind plays and I like the quality food you provide :)

I don't know the significance of the sign to the left, but the two fellows on the right look a little uppity to me. they're wearing monocles.

One has to give it to you for this amazing capacity of finding the most interesting metaphors in the mundane. There's not too many people out there capable of seeing the beauty of their surroundings, other than the obvious.

That's one of the big lessons one gets while looking through your portfolio, the complexity of which, needs thorough and careful analysis to assimilate.

Perhaps the best recognition of the quality inherent in each one of them is the great amount of comments that you get deep thoughts and ideas shared and discuss with your work as pretext.

The symbolism, behind this one for example, is outstanding, so much in fact that I can assure you that I'll be thinking about it for some time.

 

By the way, I took the liberty of making a small experiment with it; I took the photo, printed it, and showed it to some people from work. I gave the name of the picture to half of them, and to the other half I didn't.

Most of who knew the title, got the idea right away, and where able to interpret the scene; they also liked it, and even though some admitted on knowing nothing about photographic art, they recognized this as something worth seeing.

The other half, got a more difficult time connecting to the image; but even so, the metaphor wasn't lost, and a few came with stories very similar to what you saw.

...well, I think the lesson is really simple, the name one gives to a photo is very important, though not essential for it to be appreciated.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to consider this picture. To give consideration to something means to open oneself to the arguements/ideas that the thing presents. To do so we need to stop, at east briefly, and focus on what is before us. This all takes time. The speed of life is such that we are often caught up in the current and swept along; the struggle is not to see or understand but to keep up with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam rushing by. The frenetic pace is so pervasive that we don't even know where we're going half the time. The dominant leitmotif of modern times is action without refelection. We have become so outer-directed that we no longer are in touch with our inner rhythms. Without the time to reflect, we can't formulate our questions clearly and so it's no surprise that we look for ready-made answeers, $29.95 guidance, in that Hall of Mirrors that is contemporary society. I don't think I'm over-stating things when I say this has led to a profound sense of disappointment and alienation even as we continue rushing around from place to place hoping to encounter some idea that resonates within us and will lead us to the promised land. We hope that Jesus or Obama or Glen Beck or benevolent aliens will rescue us and make everything all right. The zen master says "If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him." What the hell does that mean? I thought you said these guys were beyond violence. Well, now I've gone and done it; I've opened up that can of worms and now they're crawling all over my desk and leaving their slimy trails across my photographs.

 

All of the above, all those worms now inching across my brain and maybe yours are somehow cathartic. Worms, those humble servants of nature, loosen up the soil that has become compacted and thus allow new shoots to push up into view. It's important to remember the source of this wormy but beneficial neural activity and that is your comment on my picture above and the interesting little experiment you carried out. And so the cloud you have seeded has produced rain half a world away. And lots and lots of worms. Thanks. Best regards, Jack

This is one of my favorites of yours and it offers proof of your genius which I have suspected for quite some time now. Wonderful eye Jack! Thank you for sharing. :)