Travel photos

Travel is So Disorienting /  by Ron Cowie

My wife, Eden, and I took a vacation to London, England. This was a combination of birthday, anniversaries, and whatever else we felt like celebrating in our shared life. I spent too much energy wondering what kind of camera to take, but finally settled on the Sony ZV E10. It is small, easy to use, and doesn’t draw attention to itself. Keep it simple.

I set the camera at 50 ISO and didn’t change it. What I thought was a mistake started to show me a view aligned with how I was feeling. Longer exposures include my heartbeat and breathing in the creation. These photos aren’t standard “vacation photos”.

Visiting crowded museums is a hectic experience. So much to see and such little time. Photographing works of art without a need to clearly document brings that feeling to the image. The images are a little off, a little mistaken and rushed. I don’t need to see the museum pieces perfectly, my memory is somehow fading, I need the quick sketch and thumbnails. Perfection doesn’t preserve the experience of how it felt.

It’s overwhelming to be in the presence of so much history and accomplishment. In Cathedrals, I walked over  graves of historical giants. While looking for the bathroom, I walked by “the very spot” where people were executed.  The contrast of having a normal human experience in the same space where Anne Boylen died is strange. While these two moments are centuries apart, the power and value of history elevate them. Why should I feel bad about that? I’m sure eye witnesses to her execution didn’t take long to ask “So, where should we eat?”

Looking for a bathroom in a thousand year old church makes me feel stupid. “How can you think about peeing in the presence of such granduer?”

I blame the tea.

It is a privilege to stand in front of things I’ve seen in books and be in spaces where important history unfolded. The real and lasting feeling travel gives is I’m not that important. Look at all the people who were here before me? Look at the amazing buildings, the art and culture which has been simmering for centuries, just waiting for me to walk into the gift shop, and buy a post card. It seems like there should be more gravity to the occasion than what I tend to bring.

Life gets better when you allow for the unexpected to show up. Incorporating chance and allowing space for sensation and feelings is important. Being a tourist is an elevated experience. I am a stranger in a strange land;  surrounded by people going about their day, unfazed by the  history around them.

Travel is a blur of loud, compressed time punctuated with rushed meals and odd digestion. My body and mind are rarely in the same place and time when I travel. Resisting that fact only makes it worse. Embracing the distortion and disruption brings about an awareness of my own humanity. Wherever I go, there I be.

July is for Processing! /  by Ron Cowie

It’s July, and I finally remembered I’m not worthless, and my creative puttering has been productive. Work was getting done, but not with any sense of “what it all means”. I didn’t have the time for reflection. I was helping my parents move out of their house and downsize, involving several cross country drives and flights. It didn’t allow for large chunks of time to just create. Upon reflection, large chunks of unstructured time is overrated. I work better in between moments.

I’m processing the work made over the past three years, and it’s pretty good. I’m grateful I can make art in the first place. Not all of it is photo related, and the inner-critic tells me “if it isn’t photo related, it doesn’t count.” (See above)

I don’t know where that condition for existing comes from, but it sucks the fun out of everything, including photography. My pictures are no good because I’m doing this other stuff, which I actually enjoy, but feel guilty for enjoying it, because I’m not taking pictures. Inner-critics like to set up systems where you can’t win for trying.

Instead of not taking pictures, I stopped taking pictures the way I used to. It wasn’t until about LAST WEEK I noticed a large volume of work to edit and process. I’d been busy making, not sorting or editing.

The reality of any art practice is a lot of time is spent gathering materials, sketching, and doing what seems like goofing off. It’s not.

Sidebar to all the people without a project in mind, keep plugging away. Something will come out of all that stuff you’re doing.

My camera has another way of seeing things, which makes it fun. Relying on chance and uncertainty means that by the time it comes to develop, I have no idea where anything was taken. I am photographing unknown spaces.

It sure feels like that’s been my life for the past few years, making images on the fly. Honestly, time and movement have been a major part of my creative curiosity all along.

The idea that a portfolio must have a clear, consistent look or theme for it to convey a message is not always accurate. I use the boundaries of time to organize my images. Most of my creative intention is “That looks pretty cool.”

My creative practice is like walking along the beach, filling my pockets with beautiful stones, and showing you what I’ve found.


Passing Through: Photos of the Journey /  by Ron Cowie

First big thing I did in the new year was drive from Carefree, Arizona to my home in Rhode Island. These are some of the images from that journey. I used a Sony a6000 set on automatic. Most of these photos were made while driving, with minimal composition. While I love photography, I’m a bigger fan of not dying in a car accident.

I like the shortcomings cameras have. It supports the idea I have of just passing through, disconnected. While driving, I am someplace and nowhere at the same time. I feel that way more often than I care to admit.