Sometimes, I take a photograph that I absolutely fall in love with and no one understands what I see in it. It must be the artist in me seeing something beyond just faces. I love taking photos of people on the move best of all. And what draws me is not just their faces and shapes, but the empty space around them.
Sometimes, I take a photograph that I quite like but is nothing extraordinary and people tell me it is stunning and they point out beautiful pieces. They find meaning where I found none.
NPR interviewed Joss Whedon this week. As an artist, I admire the risks he takes and the stories he creates which possess infinite detail and unexpected variations. He told the story of how he came to befriend Steven Sondheim: How he made a comment at an interview about a truth he saw in Sunday in the Park with George, and Mr. Sondheim sent him a note because he had never seen it himself. I have never heard another artist express what I love the most about creating my own art: Others find things you never knew were there. I don’t create a photograph, play or character and expect to know everything about it. I create works of art in the hopes that others will find even more. It was exciting to hear this view expressed by another.
And, it was a timely expression of thought because I took a photograph last week that I thought “oh, that’s pretty neat,” but the responses from friends and family have been unprecedented. It may be extra-meaningful since they know the subject matter (my daughter) but apparently, it says more than I thought it did. So I thought I would share it with you.