“Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing,” wrote the culture critic and free-range intellectual Susan Sontag in 1973. Were Sontag alive today (she died in 2004), she would surely be slapping her forehead and bemoaning her abysmally inaccurate “almost” qualifier, given today’s specter of nearly everyone in the industrialized world carrying high powered cameras that sit snugly in their pants pockets or purses, mere add-ons to the smartphones that power their 24/7 connectedness to the world.
Surely, no one anywhere can possibly be having sex or dancing at even a minute fraction of the rate we pull out our cameras to amuse ourselves.
For better and for worse, we are awash in photography, perhaps the greatest democratizer of all art forms, a chance for most anyone to scratch a creative itch and record for at least his or her own posterity a moment in time that strikes them as meaningful or haunting, joyful or challenging, comic or mournful, enticing or just plain fun.
And just as surely, there is more great photography available today—by a nearly infinite factor—than ever before. Mountains of it are just a click or two away, under no one’s lock or key, out in the previously unimaginable public square of the Internet, where I’ve spent a little leisure time over the past year collecting a few treasures on your (and yeah, mine too…) behalf.
Though most of the shots below were not captured via phone camera, they’ll look just dandy on yours, and even better on the relative behemoth of your computer screen.
So with just a touch of further wordy ado, here is Traversing’s Sixth Annual Holiday Photo Gallery.
My fondest hope is that it covers such a range of earthly phenomena and human expression as to have you smiling in delight or shaking your head with incredulity, then perhaps tapping or texting a friend and asking, “Hey, wanna go dancing? Or maybe just take some pictures?”
***
Cayucos Beach Babe…by Linda Tanner
***
The pretty much unfathomable complexity of a lowly bug…by Bob Skinner
***
Angling toward the equilateral…by Stephen Hill
***
An even more complicated geometry…by Michael Dunn
***
The quiet glamour of a glove…by Frances McLaughlin-Gill
***
Off to the hunt…by Owain McGuire
***
The wonder of wet…by Aftab Uzzaman
***
Stairway from purgatory…by Andrew Hidas
***
The solace of languorous places…by Rajesh
***
Etched in time…by Emilia Tjernström
***
Ascending to her wedding…by Dylan Siebelink
***
The deep charm of winter afternoons…by Jessica McConnell
***
Seeing double…by John Fowler
***
And finally, just in case you forgot how to dance because you’ve been so transfixed by your phone camera, a few helpful pointers courtesy of Mother Nature, who will always show the Way…
***
Check out this blog’s public page on Facebook for 1-minute snippets of wisdom and other musings from the world’s great thinkers and artists, accompanied by lovely photography.
http://www.facebook.com/TraversingBlog
Deep appreciation to the photographers! Unless otherwise stated, some rights reserved under Creative Commons licensing.
Elizabeth Haslam, whose photos (except for the books) grace the rotating banner at top of page.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizhaslam/
Library books photo by Larry Rose, all rights reserved, contact: larry@rosefoto.com
Polaroid camera by Judy Baxter, Hahira, Georgia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/
Cayucos Beach Babe by Linda Tanner, Los Osos, California
https://www.flickr.com/photos/goingslo/
Red-eyed bug by Bob Skinner, Crescent, PA
https://www.flickr.com/photos/checker66/
Water triangle by Stephen Hill, San Rafael, California
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhill/
Nudes by Michael Dunn, Jacksonville, North Carolina
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikedefiant/
Glove & red rose by (renowned fashion photographer) Frances McLaughlin-Gill, shot in 1948
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53035820@N02/sets/72157625021097383/
Leopard down tree by Owain McGuire
https://unsplash.com/@owain68
Rain by Aftab Uzzaman, Thames, New Zealand
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aftab/
Water tower by Andrew Hidas, Santa Rosa, California
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewhidas
Afternoon beach by Rajesh, Chandigarh, India
https://www.flickr.com/photos/himalayan-trails/
Elderly Mali woman by Emilia Tjernström, Oakland, California
https://www.flickr.com/photos/modern_nomad/
Wedding day rock climber by Dylan Siebelink, Netherlands
https://unsplash.com/@siebelmotion
Winter woods by Jessica McConnell, Vancouver, Washington
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jess23mc/
Double rainbow by John Fowler, Placitas, New Mexico
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snowpeak/
Good stuff, Andrew! I really like Fowler’s photos since all the rainbows happen in the eye,
not in the atmosphere. He’s imaging the inside of the eyeball. OK by me!
BTW, most happy Xmas to you and your sweetie pie!
Walt
Very happy to hear from you, Walter, glad you’re still looking in here! Hope you checked out Fowler’s Flickr stream; he’s got that southwest red rock country nailed with stunning imagery from top to bottom. And you’ll have to explain the science of rainbows to me someday, though I doubt that will ever derail my preference for their metaphor & poetry! Cheers for your new year, my man…
Thanks Andrew – great pics – fun to pop around the cosmos implied in these fine pics… although, while I liked the Fowler double rainbow, thought yours a few posts back was just as good! Also appreciated how much can be communicated in a poignant phrase of a title for each pic… pretty cool!
Just wanted to mention that it appeared that the photos and captions were cut off on the right hand side. I don’t know if everyone had this problem or just me, but I’d love to see and read it all!
I really enjoyed what I could see!
Thanks,
Karen
Karen, I’m getting the same thing on my iPhone, so I suspect you’re viewing it there? If so, you should have way up top to the left of the address bar a bunch of horizontal lines of slightly different widths. When I click on that, the screen resizes itself to show all of each picture plus the caption, though the Comments section disappears! (It comes back later when you click on the icon again.) Try it and let me know if it works, and meanwhile, I’ll talk to my tech guy about this issue, which i don’t believe I’ve seen before.
Also: if you can snag a bigger-sized computer screen, these fotos are worth it! Thanks for giving them a look in any case, much appreciated.
Thank you Andrew! I was missing the meat of some of the pictures. The ascending bride was not visible at all…much better and amazing.
Love the pix AND the dancing flowers, which I stole and posted. And as far as this: “Surely, no one anywhere can possibly be having sex or dancing at even a minute fraction of the rate we pull out our cameras to amuse ourselves.” Don’t underestimate me, Mister Hidas!!!! hehe
Ah yes, Jeanette, I stand corrected and chastened, no, wait, that’s probably the wrong word to use here, but whatever….Happy New Year! (And you are always welcome to all the dancing flowers & such you care to steal…)
Yes, Andrew, you can stand dancing and whatever else you want – but standing corrected and chastened by me – never. xoxox