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The
transformation of nature in art is rendering the nature phenomenon
transparent to transcendence.
Joseph Campbell
The Kinsoll trestle
Having hosted the
photographers from Duncan two weeks previously, it is now the turn of
Saltspring photographers to foot-passenger across from Vesuvius to
Crofton and be carried off to visit a couple of photograph-able
sights: the Kinsoll Trestle and Bright Angle Park. It is an
opportunity to get to know fellow members in our own club and those
folks from across the sea on the 'big island'. First stop, the
Kinsoll trestle.
The original trestle was
built many years ago when steam trains were used to log the first
growth forests of Vancouver Island. A big ravine blocking the rail
line’s path? The answer in those days was to build an enormous
timber bridge called a trestle. Imagine this profligate use of trees
simply to get at the rest of them! A few years back it was decided to
make this old railway grade a part of the Trans-Canada Trail and to
tear down the decrepit old bridge and replace it with a new, and
somewhat modernized, walking one. Our first sight tells us that a
massive amount of timber has gone into this one too. It is a solid
reminder of what was built in the not so distant past, of the history
of the logging industry, and we remember even as we decry the
destruction of the forest, the rape of the land, that the modern
province we benefit from, its infrastructure, buildings, and educated
citizens, were built by the capital produced by that very
destruction. We wring our hands over the desecration, but in good,
solid, comfort.
It is close to noon, the
sun is glaring from a clear blue sky; bright highlights, strong shade
and cast shadows. As a camera cannot adjust to this range of light
and dark anywhere near as well as the human eye can, there are
choices to be made. With the camera adjusted for the brights the
shadows are black. This high contrast can make some dramatic images,
but if I expose for the shade and shoot the bright and dark combined,
the highlights will blow out to white. It would seem that one has to
be very careful where one points the camera today.
I scramble down a zig-zag
path to the canyon’s bottom and peer up at the wooden matrix
above. It is almost overpowering in its mass and repeating forms of
verticals and diagonals. I slither down to the river bank, walk up
beside the almost dry bed and turn back to view the trestle from
here. On this shady side, the lattice of timber is almost an even
blue grey, but bright light glares over the top of the trestle. I
find a maple tree resplendent in its golden autumn colours and place
an arching branch over the bright sky, take my exposure reading from
the trestle and click. It is a great addition to the composition that
the bright colours contrast so well with the cool tones of the
trestle. Problem solved.
Problem solving like this
is my chief delight. The Kinsol did not disappoint!
Bright Angel Park.
It is a short drive on to
Bright Angel Park and down beside the river is that same glaring
afternoon light. Here are broad gravel bars and shallow, wide pools
which have been augmented with temporary dams to create enough depth
for the returning salmon run. The locals have never seen the river so
low.
Once across the suspension
foot bridge I walk along the river bank and photograph against the
light which is so strong that its reflection highlights the foliage
and faces of passers by. It is almost too easy to shoot back-lit
autumn leaves once again, but I shoot them anyway while waiting for
something more challenging to turn up. Slowly I come to see that
there is subtlety here beside this calm shallow river after all. It
is myself that has to adjust and see deeper into nature and then find
ways with camera settings and compositional techniques to portray it.
How often it is knowledge itself that stands in the way of any true
communication. We all experience this in our lives: we 'know' about
this or that person and by 'knowing' we cannot see beyond our
knowledge, we 'know' how to use our camera and how to shoot specific
generic scenes and thereby are blocked from any real intuitive
perception and way of expression.
I photograph the shallow
river , the reflected and slanting shapes of two tree trunks and feel
the communication. Perhaps the resulting image will seem flat and
uninteresting to someone else compared to the potential drama in the
bright light, dark shadows and strong colours that exist here but I
recognize at this moment that the transcendent lies plainly all
around us, all of the time,and yet usually we do not see the gold. My
camera centres my mind and opens my eyes.
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