Of Mistresses, Muses and other Diversions.

The other evening, as I was sitting here contemplating this blog's contents, when it came to me that, in my life, photography has held many roles.It has been mistress, muse and a variety of other diversions.. No matter what condition my personal life was in, photography has always held sway over my inner being,an unrelenting, unrepentant seductress, forever drawing me deeper and deeper into her charms. the mistress of my soul, the one true driving force in my life. To be sure, I have forced her to share me with other ladies of my acquaintance but always she has been there,alluring, demanding of my attention and ever beckoning me beyond the now, into the tomorrows. She taunts,with the anticipation of images yet formed and visions yet set to memory. A siren on a rocky coast,calling to the restless sea to bring her a dreamer,a creator of illusions, one who captures times moments and holds them forever.

Ah, but  then, there is the muse,the inspiration for things to come and stories to be. The source of satisfaction and of discontent. Like any true muse, she drives you to try new things,inspires you to greatness and holds precious moments for you to savour,grasp and reveal for all time. A muse by any other name is still a muse and photography is a muse beyond description. Photographers and artists of all ilks, will claim to have a muse or muses, that inspire their art, but in truth, their art is their muse. Without the art form, the rest is irrelevant.

But photography has been much more than a mistress or a muse. It has been the passion that defines my life. It is the one constant that never betrays my trust. It is work and play and space and time and it is endless days and lengthy nights. Photography can free the inner child and it can soothe the tired mind. It can relive the past and recapture the moment and it can create anew. Pondering it's limits can occupy an eternity and send the mind on endless journeys of possibility. No matter where you turn, there are images to capture and moments to steal. Moments that others have created and you have captured, some with intent and some by chance. Nothing else compares, because nothing else can. Only photography can capture a moment,exactly as it was,without interpretation. Not that that moment, may not be interpreted, it certainly can, but it was frozen,without interpretation, exactly as it occurred. The painter presents an interpretation, the writer, the sculptor,the poet and the composer,all interpret what only the photographer freezes in time. No other method is as exacting,as truthful to the original. Of course, the photograph can be changed, it can reflect a different reality,but first it was exact.

Perhaps it is this exacting nature that has fascinated me all these years, or perhaps it was the siren's call. Whatever it is or was, it holds me still and will no doubt,until all time has run out. Nothing will ever replace it and perhaps nothing will ever compare, but one thing is certain, in my mind, mistress, muse or diversion, photography has shaped my life beyond explanation and continues to, today.