The Hidden World of the Nearby
THE COLLECTION
I took my first photographs with a view camera in 1974. I found my way seven years later at what I call the Weston Overlook, a maple swamp direct on the eastbound side of the Massachusetts Turnpike about 12 miles west of Boston.
There were more places (and subjects) than the nine shown here, but these were the most important. I returned to each again and again, probably averaging a decade of photographing at each. Clicking on any of the pictures will explain why these were my haunts and why they are central to my collection. And each fits the theme of being unexpected, hidden and nearby.
The first six were all within a 45 minute drive of my home and so I visited often at sunrise.
The bottom three are all in Maine, most an eight hour drive. Nevertheless, once I discovered Maine, they become regular stops, usually in the fall.
CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR THE FULL STORY
See the MUSIC and FLOWERS galleries for their story. It is new work still in development.
THE EYE OPENER: PART I
THE EYE OPENER: PART II
THE MIND OPENER
Realizations often come slowly, at least to me. At this point I had been photographing professionally for thirteen years and this small passage had a profound effect on me. “That undiscovered country of the nearby, the secret world...” brought to mind “the hidden world of the nearby,” and then a short verse:
out of the corner of my eye
in the hidden world of the nearby,
untended gardens thrive
or pass from time unnoticed