Who Really Made That Photograph? – Part 2 of 2

I drove by the site late one day and took a few photos for my final-stretch planning.  After dinner, when I looked at the photos on my computer, I did a troubled double-take.  In the few days since I got the property owner’s consent, the very tree whose “pose” I intended my wife to imitate had disappeared.

Perhaps the owner had thought that the trunk was so close to breaking that it would be a hazard for us.  In fact, on the day of the shoot, as I was setting up, he came out to talk for a couple of minutes and warned me that the trees were not in sound shape and might have to be taken down, so we should be careful.

I have to say that my experience, and my trust in God’s will and the gifts of the Tao, give me decent equanimity about such turns, knowing that however they first appear, they can lead to something better than what I’d planned.  As I believe this one did.

I got the idea that I might also try having my wife kneel in an attitude of prayer or supplication for the photos.  After all, those were not exactly friendly-looking trees in that yard.  Part of my sense of the desired image had to do with the brutish look of those trees, and the brutish nature of our world, which in turn made me think of Moses’ statement that during his exile in the land of Midian he had been “a stranger in a strange land.”  It struck me, looking at the remaining trees, that a kneeling posture would more closely mirror their verticality.

The Unforeseen apparently took this as an invitation to make still further improvements on my scheme.  Not only had I not planned on the alternate pose for my model, but I didn’t anticipate that when we tried the kneeling poses, a wind would rise to blow her hair sideways and to make her move her head and hands a bit during a few exposures, so that.  Seeing them later, I would feel that those effects had given my wife’s appearance an added sense of urgency or distress, which I believed was affecting.

I also didn’t plan or foresee that during the kneeling shots that I liked best (with my wife’s palms turned pleadingly upward and the wind blowing her hair), an intensely-red sky would appear behind her.  Without the emotional and visual force of that sky, my “final” image would not be nearly as compelling as I hope that it is.  Here’s the photograph, “In the Land of Strangers” (please view it at larger size and better visual quality on my website, by using the following link  –  it’s Image # 6 of the “Marion under the Moon” portfolio within the “Fires in the Night” collection):  

http://www.lawrenceruss.com/index/C0000nyIYjBmXbWE/G0000YbrlfdMLgx0/I0000j8_XLqCjgho ) :

But there was a still-deeper element to the work of Mystery in making this picture.

While we were engaged in the shoot, I wasn’t consciously thinking about the fact, and my wife did not know, that about three weeks before that I was given news that caused a crisis in my life.  I didn’t want her to have to suffer while awaiting its outcome, so I kept it from her in the meantime.  In such a time, under other circumstances, I would have wanted her to pray for me.

Two days after our photo session, I was able to tell her what had been happening, and that there was no longer anything to worry about.

The next night, as I was intensely engaged in editing the new “Marion” photograph, I realized that by having her adopt the pose that I had, and having shaped the image as I had, I had essentially drawn her into praying for me without her having to know about it or the reasons for it – except insofar as she might have prayed for the success of the photographer’s present, complicated efforts.

And when I consider who and what gave birth to this photograph, I have to remember that part of my idea for “Marion under the Moon” is that each photograph in it should in some way reflect another aspect of my wonderful model-wife.  If she were not as loving and caring, as spiritually profound as she is, would I have made this photograph as it now stands?  Would I have thought to put her in the pose that I did?  Was I unconsciously or half-consciously calling on her prayerful strength without having to disclose my troubles to her?  If none of that had been the case, if she were other than she is, if she were a lesser or different kind of inspiration to me than she is, could I have made this photograph?  I don’t believe so.

And did her posed prayerfulness contribute to the happy conclusion to my trial?  How can I know?  We live among mysteries.  And sometimes we receive help, with our photography and more, without asking for it or even being aware of it.  There are more things and allies in heaven and earth and art, in anything that “we” achieve, than are dreamt of in our philosophy or vanity, Horatio.