There was a PBS television series I watched many years ago that even now continues to weave in and out of my psyche. Not many TV programs have had a lingering effect like “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” has had on me over the years, except perhaps Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The 6 episodes of this series permeate and unendingly propel me.
I often get asked why I keep photographing starry nightscapes. “The sky doesn’t change. Why do you keep shooting it? Isn’t it boring?”
Um… No.
Actually, it’s the opposite.
The more I photograph the stars, the more I want to photograph them.
“Awe is what moves us forward.” ~ Joseph Campbell
Photographing the starry sky is an exercise in repeatable awe.
Even though it appears the same superficially, it is eternally changing. The stars we see may no longer exist. Others are hidden, their radiance still traveling at the speed of light, nonetheless out of our scope of existence. The stars we do see look different every night. Their positions shifting as time goes by. Atmospheric conditions add to the changing view. It’s never the same.
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My camera is my portal to witnessing the night sky without the physical limitations I inherently have. It captures the night sky with greater depth and detail than my eyes can comprehend. Opulent colors emerge. Meandering dustlanes are revealed. My monochromatic perception of the starry sky is astonishingly shattered.
It’s mind-trippy. And humbling.
“Anyone who has had an experience of mystery knows that there is a dimension of the universe that is not that which is available to his senses. There is a pertinent saying in one of the Upanishads: When before the beauty of a sunset or of a mountain you pause and exclaim, ‘Ah,’ you are participating in divinity. Such a moment of participation involves a realization of the wonder and sheer beauty of existence. People living in the world of nature experience such moments every day. They live in the recognition of something there that is much greater than the human dimension.” ~ Joseph Campbell
The starry sky connects us, across time and space, to countless others over the millennia who also gazed spellbound at the same pinholes. There is profound enchantment to be had that graces the sky above us every night. These are just some of the reasons I never tire of it.
So, follow your bliss. Photograph what lifts your soul. Stars, birds, flowers, insects, vistas, or whatever makes your heart skip a beat.
Love this post and the quotes from Joseph Campbell. Beautiful work as always.