It's Halloween and I am starting to see things a bit differently. Not far from my apartment, on the way to the grocery store, is a tree that has been staring at me for sometime. It's a strange sensation to feel like a tree can speak to something inside me. Somehow, it does this. I turn toward the tree raise my camera and there is what I think looks like an eye. I know it is not an eye, but my brain says otherwise. My brain says, there is shape, there is contrast, there is line and form, there is an eye. I have never been keen on finding abstractions in such a concrete "real" world. However, there really are two world -- one of the conscious mind, and one of the imagination. To succeed in one world, it is necessary to recognize and appreciate the other world -- a world of symbols and figurative meanings. The human brain works at both levels, and not just when we are sleeping. Photography gets its power from bridging these worlds as it appeals both to the intellect as well as emotions. Photography can convey what we think of as real or concrete, as well as help us move beyond reality.
