Pictorial Metaphor
It's not that common, for me at least, to recognize a scene in nature which is a metaphor for my life. But this one was one such scene. This is a wall, over 200 years old, in historic Lincoln, Massachusetts, the town in which Paul Revere was captured by British soldiers in 1775.
I made this image in early May 2008, during a time in which I was making immense progress in understanding myself. The moss on the wall burns off when the warmer weather comes and the entire wall gets covered by overgrown weeds. But in early Spring, especially during wet weather, the wall comes alive.
This wall has been remarkably healing for me and it's an image I come back to time and time again. The wall has so many parts, some small, some large, but they each contribute to keeping the wall together and strong. This is how I've approached my own internal structure. This is when I realized that the goal is not to become one. The goal is not to be many either. The goal is to be both. This is when I realized what the saying "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" really means.
I'll be posting more photographs here and probably will be adding a gallery page. If you want access to my other images, drop me an email.
Hello-
I just found your site (through Blooming Lotus) and knew what this picture was about as soon as I saw it! I like it a lot and wish I could use it my blog.
Great picture!
This is absolutely stunning visually as well as metaphorically!
Looking forward to seeing much more of your work. I hope you put up a gallery here, that would be fantastic!
I love this.
Kate
This is a great metaphor and a stunning photo...
Take care :)
We like seeing the different size parts all making one thing.
I look forward to seeing more photographs, Paul. I love this post. Good job! I'm a photographer, too. I haven't picked up my camera in a while, but I also discovered a photographic metaphor for my own process. For a long time I was obsessed with photographing the sky (space, leaving the ground and body, etc.). I guess I stopped taking pictures because I'm afraid.