What is the right way to select a photograph for fine art? Among other qualities, I prefer a sharp focus on the subject. I’ve seen intriguing photos with a purposeful blur but I like to guide the viewer’s attention through the focus of an image. Think of it like your own vision. There are a thousand things in your view right now, but you’re only focusing on the words on this page. If you look off to the right, the words are still in your peripheral vision, but you can’t read them. As humans we have a limit to our vision, a boundary, a natural set of guidelines for our attention. We can only focus on one thing, we can only look one way.
There are, however, many ways to look. Taoism is translated as the “Religion of the Way”. Some translations of Acts 24:14 in the Bible reference Paul the Apostle as a follower of “The Way” and in John 14:6 Jesus proclaims “I am The Way.” Two thousand years after Christ, or maybe it was a long time ago, a Mandalorian from a galaxy far far away is quoted as saying, “This is The Way.” So, what is the way and why do we seek it? What does it have to do with photography? Like a good photograph, the way has depth, it requires the attention of our heart in the way our eyes focus on the subject of an image. The way requires that we attend to something without requirement, to see with something other than our eyes. There are a plethora of books about many ways written in countless languages, but some things remain the same. Despite the translations, there is no way to read our way to the way.
When I first saw the words “No Way” over an odd chasm in Nairobi I photographed it in a few different angles, focused my lens on the text, on the bridge, adjusted the scope to include more or less of the space. When a person entered the frame it changed the dynamic. Instead of looking at the written word I focused my view on the human being, on a different subject. Then I saw the light. Something clicked, and it wasn’t just my camera shutter. People, a person, me, whatever I see as me, is always present. I can’t edit myself out of my life any more than I can remove my imprint on an image. The way is not something that exists without us, it is something for us. The way is not the external writing on the wall. The way is about walking bridges over dark chasms, about finding that narrow path through the eye of a needle, about moving toward the light, even if the words say otherwise. The subject of the photograph in Nairobi is not just the words or an individual person. The subject is the relationship between the person and the words, between the viewer and the photograph; between us all. What do you see? Which way will you go?
No the Way.