Monday.

Wow

Monday…

Definitely a peak experience. Was in ‘Flow’ the whole day…

The Blue Mountains mist was thick and heavy. It extended well beyond Katoomba across most of the Bluies… (the Bluies is what us rock climbers called the Blue Mountains in my younger years of obsessively climbing every cliff face).

I had been awake well before sunrise and had been admiring the mist though my hotel window. Thinking why we had chosen today for our late start.

We drove to Mount Wilson, stopping for breakfast at Blackheath on the way. Was hard eating that gorgeous omelette, looking out the window, hoping it wasn’t going to lift early with the warmth of the sun. Luckily, my lovely students entertained with thoughtful and stimulating conversations.

It was probably nine thirty when we first leapt out of the cars with camera in hand. Knowing everyone is settled around me and content to work frees my mind for creative play.

I was off, lost in my creative frenzy. Barely a memory of what I did, as I was so focused on my art.

It was a deeply emotional experience that was in a different plain of being. I could describe it as religious, though I prefer to avoid the usual connotations that goes with such references.

It was almost out of body. So focused on channeling creative energy into my art and creations. Listening and seeing so astutely to the plants and birds.

Nothing else in my life existed while I was in that state. It comes and goes…

Abraham Maslow describes peak experiences as "rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter."

(If you don’t know about ‘flow’ or ‘peak experiences’, you may start your learning journey with a quick read of the wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience)

A fair few things have to come together to get in this state for me. One is my own mental state has to be settled and grounded. Mental thoughts have to be clear. Worry had little place at this time, for if it does I won’t get there at all.

I have to feel safe and comfortable. I can put up with a huge level of discomfort in this state, but security emotionally is important.

Then, I have to be at a stimulating location. Visually and intellectually. It has to work for me. Probably need some trees to talk too, and whom I can listen too.

Then, and only then, the light has to have its own magical quality…

Thick mist does it yo me every time…

You will probably see lots of my art from that one day.

It all came together. It worked perfectly….

There was one other ingredient… Stimulating ideas for art were swirling in my head. The weekend prior, a Monochrome Workshop, was inspired… New ideas and directions swirling from discussions that bubbled from my classroom… inspiration from my students and explaining where I am wanting to go…

Simply, I am trying to push my photography closer to my loves of drawing, watercolour painting, etching, lithography, and ink. Using my lens to replace my pen, charcoal stick, brush and pencil. And, importantly for me, not trying to simulate through software. But with skill in the camera…

Monday, I felt one step closer.

A peak photographic experience…

The Space Between - Mount Wilson. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2019