The mythology of flying
As I keep working at my craft of photography I find myself increasingly curious of finding WHY I’m drawn to the elements and stories I want to photograph.
Where does this pull to certain subjects, places and moods come from?
My upbringing? My life at the moment or some innate longing that is part of my, or maybe even the collective, subconscious?
Why this gravity towards some of the consistantly recurring themes in my images?
And why can’t I just break away from them and start a fresh new look to my work?
There’s the obvious answers of how one is shaped through experiences and how, through our art, we relive these and our longings over and over…
So instead of trying to completely renew I seek to understand my visual foundation and shift on steady ground rather than reinventing.
I just finished another series of images with hang gliders poetically floating through landscapes.
I have photographed this floating/flying theme several times through my career. It’s fun for me to see as they are all similar yet different. To me they all stand on the pillars of my visual identity but very much reflect where I was as a photographer at the time of capture.
The new set of images I find to be more organic and less heavy-handed both in the concept and execution. I like to think it is a reflection of me personally as well. That I now have come to an age where I don’t need things to be so much more than they are…
So why this fascination with flying?
Turns out the idea of flight is ingrained in our human psyche and, throughout our history, one of the more common mythological themes.
Free as the bird is a saying we all know and a sensation we visit in our dreams.
My older images had a dream quality to them for sure. In 2016 I’m still fascinated by the sensation of flight but the approach more grounded. (Pun intended)
Till next time I feel the itch to go flying again and capture the sensation of flying…
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