Poetry and Photography are brother and sister

The winter leaf of Montefioralle

Poetry and photography for me are art forms which speak of the same things but only present themselves differently—one gathers light and produces visual image, the other gathers light and forms into words. The same source, the same system applies. Both are attempting to capture pieces of the universe so deeply that they burst forth into form. We try to understand the world by capturing it, even if we know we'll never truly grasp it and that may be precisely why we do it.

This morning, on my walk with my puppy, I picked up a beautiful red leaf. It is one week before Christmas, and this leaf felt like the epitome of that festive red—its colour seemed to embody the season. Which led to me pondering as I walked on how the seasons change so elegantly, each blending slowly yet seamlessly into the next. Nature does change so well. This leaf grew through all the seasons, turning its colour as it did to reflect each moment and just as it laying ready to decompose on the ground it gave this message and depth. I was compelled to hold it, preserve it somehow, as we humans like to do, beholding a small detail of life which is speaking quietly of something delicately larger. There are no small things, I remember the words of a friend.

I didn’t have my camera or phone with me, nor a pen to write, so I simply held the leaf and brought it home. But wasn't it happy to be lying on the ground under its tree ready for the process of decay?. I wonder what it is that we feel as humans to have to keep things when they are surely happy to be just as they are in each process of life.

Calabria, Italy, 2021

Life is built on these small details and when I think about photography I see this truth. When I am asked the question, how can I become a better photographer, I often find myself saying, “Learn poetry.” It may sound strange, but to me it makes perfect sense. For the photographer is also a poet, if we are truly in the business of capturing something—and not just an image, but the spirit of the moment, the essence of it.

Photography and poetry are two sides of the same coin, each capturing fleeting moments of the human experience so they don't just fly away into dust, that they can be remembered, somehow. In that remembrance we may have the chance to deepen our own fleeting existence and that of others who care to read them. Its all just human beings living, and catching light, moments, poetry.

Toulouse, France 2011

I always held on to the words of John Steinbeck, when he said "the camera need not be a cold mechanical device. Like the pen, it is as good as the man who uses it. It can be an extension of the mind and heart.” His words are everything to the creative process. We use tools to express the overflowing of life and if your life is being lived well, as I now quote another great artist, Leanord Cohen, "ash is just the evidence of life."