Digital Art

Zen and the Art Of Photography

All images are taken on a digital camera and then manipulated into a montage of images using Photoshop. The finished effect is that of an artistic illustration, as I felt that the images should try to get away from a physical reality of life and portray them as narratives, telling a story within the image. This leads to an overall translation of the image rather than just leaving it up to the viewer to say "O that ’s a nice image, I haven't got the foggiest what it means but it is a nice image".

Nothingness

Being 'in the gap' can be disorienting and even scary. Nothing to hold on to, no sense of direction, not even a hint of what choices and possibilities might be ahead. But it was just this state of pure potential that existed before the universe was created. All you can do now is to relax into this nothingness...fall into this silence between the words... watch this gap between the outgoing and incoming breath. Then treasure each empty moment of the experience. Something sacred is about to be born.

Courage

The seed cannot know what is going to happen, the seed has never known the flower, and the seed cannot even believe that he has the potential to become a beautiful flower. Long is the journey, and it is always safer not to go on that journey because the path is unknown, nothing is guaranteed. The seed is secure, hidden inside a hard core, but the seed tries, it makes an effort, it drops the hard shell that is its security and it starts moving. Immediately the fight starts: the struggle with the soil, with the stones, with the rocks. There was no danger for the seed, the seed could have survived for a millennia, but for the sprout there are many dangers. But the sprout starts towards the unknown, towards the sun, towards the source of light, not knowing where, not knowing why. But a dream possesses the seed and the seed moves. The same is the path for man. It is arduous. Much courage will be needed.

The Outsider

The small child stands on one side of a gate, looking through it. She is so small, and so convinced that she cannot get through, she cannot see that the padlock holding the gate is not locked; all she has to do is open it. Whenever we feel 'left out', or excluded, it brings up this feeling of being a small, helpless child. It is not surprising, as the feeling is deeply rooted in our earliest childhood experiences. The problem is that, because it is so deeply rooted, it plays over and over again, like a tape, in our lives. You have an opportunity now to stop the tape, to quit tormenting yourself with ideas that you are somehow not 'enough' to be accepted and included. Recognize the roots of these feelings in the past, let go of the old pain. It will bring you the clarity to open the gate and enter to be the person you long to become.

Schizophrenia

Bringing a new twist to the old idea of getting stuck between a rock and a hard place! But we are in precisely this sort of situation when we get stuck in the indecisive and dualistic aspect of the mind. Should I let my arms go and fall head first, or let my legs go and fall feet first? Should I go here or there? Should I say yes or no? And whatever decision we make, we will always wonder if we should have decided the other way. The only way out of this dilemma is, unfortunately, to let go of both at once. Better to follow our heart, if you can find it. If you can't find it, just jump - your heart will start beating so fast there will be no mistake about where it is!

Trust

Now is the moment to be a bungee jumper without the cord! And it is this Quality of absolute trust, with no reservations or secret safety nets that life demands from us. There is a tremendous sense of exhilaration if we can take the jump and move into the unknown, even if the idea scares us to death. And when we take trust to the level of the Quantum leap, we don't make any elaborate plans or preparations. We don't say, "Okay, I trust that I know what to do now, and I'll settle my things and pack my suitcase and take it with me." No, we just jump, with hardly a thought for what happens next. The leap is the thing, and the thrill of it as we free-fall through the empty sky.

Exhaustion

This is the portrait of one whose whole life energy has been depleted in his efforts to keep fueling the enormous and ridiculous machine of self-importance and productivity. He has been so busy 'keeping it all together' and 'making sure everything runs smoothly' that he has forgotten to rest. The message of this image is not just about being a workaholic. Life isn't a business to be managed; it's a mystery to be lived. It's time to tear up the time-card, break out of the factory and take a little trip into the uncharted. Your work will flow more smoothly from a relaxed state of mind.

Postponement

The man is living in a gray world, full of unreal, black and white surroundings. Through the Shattered window frame we can see colour, light and aliveness, and although he would like to move through the frame as we can see by the rainbow colour's he wears, he can't quite manage to do it. There is still too much 'what-if?' activity in his mind. Tomorrow never comes, they say, but no matter how often it is said, it seems that most of us tend to forget the truth of it.

Completion

Here the last piece of a Jigsaw puzzle is being put into its place. Even in the ever-changing flow of life there are moments in which we come to a point of completion. In these moments we are able to perceive the whole picture, the composite of all the small pieces that have occupied our attention for so long. In the finishing, we can either be in despair because we don't want the situation to come to an end, or we can be grateful and accepting of the fact that life is full of endings and new beginnings.