Your Moment of Zen
Welcome to the Land of Clear Light. The southwest United States is such a place. The high deserts of the Colorado Plateau, the Rocky Mountains, and the Chihuahuan Desert contain a lot of sky which makes for artistic opportunities unequaled elsewhere. I often wonder what the French Impressionists would have created had they lived here.
In Buddhist lore, a land of clear light is an analogy for Nirvana. That leads me to another thought about Buddhism. I once read that “nirvana” in Sanskrit can be translated as a place free of wind.
The photographs you will find here are, mostly, free of wind. Enjoy.
In Buddhist lore, a land of clear light is an analogy for Nirvana. That leads me to another thought about Buddhism. I once read that “nirvana” in Sanskrit can be translated as a place free of wind.
The photographs you will find here are, mostly, free of wind. Enjoy.
I am represented by the Albuquerque Photographers' Gallery in Old Town, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The gallery address is:
328 San Felipe St NW
Suite B
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505-244-9195
abqphotogallery@gmail.com
Gallery Hours
Monday - Saturday 11:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday Noon - 5:00pm
You can also reach me via the contact form below. Feel free to contact me directly. My shopping cart on this site is in disarray. I have given it strict instructions to fix itself but, until it does, should you be interested in purchasing something please contact me directly either from the contact block below or via my email, landofclearlight@protonmail.com.
The gallery address is:
328 San Felipe St NW
Suite B
Albuquerque, NM 87104
505-244-9195
abqphotogallery@gmail.com
Gallery Hours
Monday - Saturday 11:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday Noon - 5:00pm
You can also reach me via the contact form below. Feel free to contact me directly. My shopping cart on this site is in disarray. I have given it strict instructions to fix itself but, until it does, should you be interested in purchasing something please contact me directly either from the contact block below or via my email, landofclearlight@protonmail.com.
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HOW TO USE APPS TO GET OUTDOORS AND IDENTIFY THINGS!
Humans love naming things. Three of the major religions on earth believe either that God assigned Adam the job of naming every creature or instead revealed their names to him. The creatures were not consulted and we doubt that Adam named house flies which probably did not exist in the Garden although there are a great many around here at the moment.
Naming things, all things, is a form of shorthand that enables us to talk and think about them, and to study them. Science requires naming. Now we even have an International Commission on naming animals. Others name objects in space. Others specialized ones name birds, reptiles, rocks, two-legged beings, etc.
Animals don't need names for each other. Humans do, so we use labels. And it is important to keep that in mind: We are labeling, not describing, other beings and organisms.
Which brings us to our second point. It is by now well documented that our species is losing contact with nature. Often this separation from the wild world is attributed to the massive increase in urbanization and the concomitant loss of wild lands. In the last one hundred years the planet on which we live and depend has lost more forest than in the previous nine thousand. Almost eight billion people are alive as you read this; three hundred thirty-five million in the United States alone. In 1950 seventy-one percent of all humans lived in rural areas. By 2050 seventy percent of us will live in cities. Eighty-four percent of Americans already do.
But another cause plays a role too. Beginning in about 1950 in the industrialized world our entertainment moved inside. Television became the primary entertainer. Video games arrived in the 1970s and the internet began consuming much of our leisure time by the late 1990s, a trend that has accelerated in the twenty-first century. Some children today can name more Pokemon characters than wildlife species.
We spend around ninety per cent of our time indoors, a massive change for our species. For our first 2.5 million years we spent practically all of our time outdoors.
Our loss of connection with the wild world accounts for the attraction of landscape photography and painting, not only for the artists who go outside to work but mainly for people who enjoy and collect such art. Simply looking at a landscape photo improves our frame of mind and lowers our blood pressure.
Humans love naming things. Three of the major religions on earth believe either that God assigned Adam the job of naming every creature or instead revealed their names to him. The creatures were not consulted and we doubt that Adam named house flies which probably did not exist in the Garden although there are a great many around here at the moment.
Naming things, all things, is a form of shorthand that enables us to talk and think about them, and to study them. Science requires naming. Now we even have an International Commission on naming animals. Others name objects in space. Others specialized ones name birds, reptiles, rocks, two-legged beings, etc.
Animals don't need names for each other. Humans do, so we use labels. And it is important to keep that in mind: We are labeling, not describing, other beings and organisms.
Which brings us to our second point. It is by now well documented that our species is losing contact with nature. Often this separation from the wild world is attributed to the massive increase in urbanization and the concomitant loss of wild lands. In the last one hundred years the planet on which we live and depend has lost more forest than in the previous nine thousand. Almost eight billion people are alive as you read this; three hundred thirty-five million in the United States alone. In 1950 seventy-one percent of all humans lived in rural areas. By 2050 seventy percent of us will live in cities. Eighty-four percent of Americans already do.
But another cause plays a role too. Beginning in about 1950 in the industrialized world our entertainment moved inside. Television became the primary entertainer. Video games arrived in the 1970s and the internet began consuming much of our leisure time by the late 1990s, a trend that has accelerated in the twenty-first century. Some children today can name more Pokemon characters than wildlife species.
We spend around ninety per cent of our time indoors, a massive change for our species. For our first 2.5 million years we spent practically all of our time outdoors.
Our loss of connection with the wild world accounts for the attraction of landscape photography and painting, not only for the artists who go outside to work but mainly for people who enjoy and collect such art. Simply looking at a landscape photo improves our frame of mind and lowers our blood pressure.