A Play of Consciousness

Photographs © Ellen Giamportone All rights reserved.

 It was a lighter version of the winter storms that hit here in Chapel Hill, bringing a day of slick roads and overcast sky. Staying in the house, eating and reading and messing with photos on my hard drive was glorious; but when the sun came out the following day,  I decided to take a walk up the hill through a nearby neighborhood, a wooded upscale development....without my camera.  The idea was to just get out with no agenda other than getting some exercise.

It was about 4pm and the light was beginning to become more yellow, the sky lush blue. Suddenly, a large buzzard passed by low in the sky catching an air current. As he floated by above the trees, sunlight struck the underside of his tilting wing, creating a breathtaking sight.  A few moments later another of his kind joined his sky dance,  circling above now glistening tree tops, leaving me to marvel at my good fortune of timing.  As this performance of converging elements in that particular time and place commenced,  my state of awareness heightened. Looking around my surroundings once more, seeing the angle of the light becoming more intense, the remaining ice patches throwing off sparkles like a disco ball,  a fullness of quiet  joy overtook me.

I made the decision to return home for my camera, well knowing the "moments" I'd experienced were already gone. The question in my mind arose:  Would there be anything better or even equal in its place to happen or "be" for bothering to capture into my camera?  It was already complete. Done. Finished.  Curious to see what would happen, I returned home for the camera and headed back out, feeling much less energized,  no apparent flow going on, with the intention of seeing if I could create, or  embraceing the present,  see how it might hold something worth exploring or noting in the lens.

The landscape had changed as if I had come back for act two with the lighting script now calling for different angles and filters for this stage play.  I retraced my path, walking slowly, then picked up speed,  figuring at least I'd get some aerobic exercise, if nothing else. The sun was lowering in the sky moving quickly toward the horizon intermittingly obscured by the surrounding forest.  My attention was drawn to a group of trees, the distant trunks, glowing. Shot a few frames....Nice....then picked up my pace, figuring that was it for the day.

Heading back down the hill toward home in the middle of the empty street,  a sliver of golden light began to appear crossing at the edge of sidewalk into the strip of grass, strewn with dead winter leaves between it and the curb.

It was here that the curtain rose on the third act of this wonderful play.



 Photographs © Ellen Giamportone All rights reserved.







 black and white photography, photo sketching,