Tonpa Shenrab Miwo, Triten Norbutse (Bon) Monastery, Nepal, photograph by Joy Roy Choudhury
Sometimes I do wonder what makes a photograph so fascinating. Is it the observed or the capture, or, the technology used to observe the observed, or, something hidden beneath the observed that it brings out, some recurrent pattern or archetype that gives the photograph something to stand out from the clutter of objects in our every day life. Does the photograph throw any light on the mind of the photographer? Does it tell anything about his level of perception, as he is the one who is choosing the subject of his photography? Adding another perspective to it, does the photograph hold a key or passport to eternity? Lets look into it. If the photograph captures a moment or say a decisive moment, then we are talking about a precise fragment of space-time which is discreet or can be called a quanta. Instead of thinking about the linearity of time because our neural networking is conditioned that way, we can think about discontinuous moments and there are infinitesimal gaps in between these moments. At the subquantum level, these are interference patterns of wave fronts which are captured in the photograph. Through the photograph is a presence because our brains are Fourier analyzing the wave forms, they are in fact frequencies which have their origin not at the manifested level of reality but at the implicate level which is the quantum potential. Out of that quantum potential, the photographer is able to manifest one aspect of it in a kind of coordinated movement (also called Holomovement by David Bohm). What does it then tell about the photograph? Though the photograph is a local thing-event, but, what is fundamental is the deeper reality behind it, not, time but the timeless that it represents. That is possible because the photographer is a witness or observer- he is not adding anything to reality. He just capturing “things as they are”. And these discreet ”thing-events” (ji) are like mirrors reflecting each other ad infinitum creating an orchestrated dance like billions of jewels in a necklace each reflecting each other and thereby creating an entire ensemble through mutual interpenetration. Each jewel or dew drop reflects the whole (though of lower resolution) and is a passport to the timeless and the eternal.
The Face Is The Mirror Of The Soul – Serge Anton
I would like all of you to have a look at Serge’s work, these faces capture the timeless frozen in time. The observer’s consciousness have archived those beautiful moments that capture the essence of existence and bliss. This is what reality is all about – at both levels, the manifested biological level of physical forms, and, at a deeper fundamental level of subquantum reality, the level of the formless or the unmanifest which is more fundamental. It is the TAO or the Brahman Or the Void which manifests our individuality out of love and compassion (karuna), and if you use the great wisdom or ”maha-prajna” then everything goes back into the timeless as possibilities in consciousness, into the formless undifferentiated, unborn Self which you verily are -”Tat Tvam Asi” (That Thou Art). Here, the photographer is the SEER, the witness, all-pervasive, perfect, non-dual, free, intelligent, action-less, desire-less, unattached and serene – that is the true nature of the Self. The moment photographed is the beautiful tapestry of wordless silence, each face having its own narrative which reflects all other narratives – faces reflecting each other and resembling the whole, the ensemble in a synergistic dance that comes from “the empty theater and empty circus and empty universe
ready to accommodate any act and any audience”. (Buckminster Fuller on Vector Equilibrium)
So, you can take a look at Serge Anton’s work from his book Faces by Lannoo Publishers and enjoy every discreet moment.
FACES from Lannoo Publishers is an exquisitely designed book of beautiful portraits taken by internationally renowned photographer, Serge Anton. Each portrait has been photographed on Anton’s countless travels in Africa and Asia over the last 30 years.
Each portrait tells wordless stories, as they reveal a certain resemblance in the exotic faces of faraway cultures- details in their eyes and wrinkles that seem to reflect the wisdom of lifetimes. There is no text to explain each portrait as Anton wants readers to be intrigued by the portrait no matter where, how or when it was taken.
For More Information on Serge Anton’s work, pls get in touch with
Jenna Fazio
Public Relations Assistant
CAROL LEGGETT PUBLIC RELATIONS
(212) 727-2155
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Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, London
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
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Joy Roy Choudhury's Web Log 