Aldous Huxley went at great lengths to try and explain the importance in recognizing the is-ness of things. That a rose was not beautiful just because of it's colour, rather, it had beauty because of it's own life. Life that shown through just mere colours. To him, an enlightened mind could see the is-ness of an object or surroundings. A photographers role is to filter through the mass of information, and arrive a some sort of aesthetic, that an untrained eye would have never thought to have recognize.

In the world of urban exploration, if a group of photographers were all to enter the same building, they will all point out different things. That is because everything in the entire world has beauty. It's just we all filter different things. The very process of gaining an "eye", is learning how to filter. Through this process, we learn to find is-ness everywhere. It changes our perception of reality, opens new doors that other wise would have been just another wall.

Then we share this perception with others. With any luck, they will see that is-ness for themselves. The spread of enlightenment through aesthetics, through perception.

Well put. I've always tried to say the same thing but just didn't know how to put it. Thanks.

Posted by TCdrainer Well put. I've always tried to say the same thing but just didn't know how to put it. Thanks.

Well, I have a suggestion. And I hope that I don't come off as an ass. But I would recommend reading tons of books before you try to put your thoughts to paper for others to read. I say this not out of snobbishness. I always frustrate myself, because I wouldn't know how to commit my thoughts to paper. But by reading what others have wrote, you can use their thoughts as a frame of reference, and add your own thoughts. Take it or leave it.

i'd suggest reading this essay from On Photography by Susan Sontag. I read it in tenth grade and got somewhat excited, because it so perfectly articulated my thoughts about the medium.

"A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it- by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir. Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. ...This gives shape to experience: stop, take a photograph, move on."

I strongly urge you to read the whole thing. The ideas are ones that all photographers can relate to, and there are sections that are especially relevant to UE.

http://www.asomati...atosCave_lores.pdf

As a side note, i have recently stopped carrying my camera with my 24/7 so that i might start seeing things for what they are, instead of seeing them through the lens.

Posted by aurelie "...This gives shape to experience: stop, take a photograph, move on."

I try to do both - some of my most interesting trips have fairly few photos per hour because I was too busy seeing to shoot. But I find great satisfaction in capturing part of What Was There with a glass lens instead of a mind, because that makes it much easier to share. I have to write about what crystal and silicon can't convey. I should practice the writing more, because for me it nails down the being of the place. I find that my photos tend to be about what places look like, while my descriptions focus on sounds, ambiance, and the feel of a place. In the end, that's what really mattered...