Month: February 2005

Rising out of the jungle like an ageless beacon of civilization and culture, is The Temple of the Inscriptions. This is the “conventional” view of my favorite ancient structure of our Hemishere (That I’ve seen). Encapsulating the tomb of an ancient Mayan ruler of the 7th century AD, Pacal (he’s the king whose still present and intact sarcophagus is carved with a scene of an apparent astronaut atop a rocket, blasting off), this wonderful Temple almost seems ancient Greek in its proportions and elegance. It speaks clearly to me, through the centuries, that some of what we do as humans is truly immortal, even eternal…

Paired with a more conventional shot of the same wonderful building (#55), this is the wide angle, lower view. The lower angle brings the Temple closer emotionally–in this shot you can feel the ancient majestic power of the Spirit that built and still dwells there…like an ageless Time Capsule

The reason this shot is here is because it led me to my General Theory of Photography. Like Plato, I think Essence (or Idea) comes first, before Existence can come into Being. (There has to be the Idea of “Chicken” before a literal Egg that will manifest into one can exist.) Good photography will reveal underlying Essence, showing Soul, or Spirit, when all we’re really doing is recording light reflecting off atoms and molecules. In this way, much as a magnet under a piece of notebook paper covered with iron filings will reveal an invisible magnetic field, existence will sometimes line up just right and reveal the invisible underlying Spirit….That’s when the photographer wants to push the shutter button. Does anyone doubt that the woman holding up her hands is feeling, literally, the Muse? So, good Photography reveals underlying Essence, rendering the intangible tangible. That’s the Theory……