LAWRENCE RUSS: Soul, Art, and Society
Angels of Love and Sorrow
I didn’t know, when I started my three-post “Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy,” how many new reasons we would have now, in this pandemic, to pray for mercy. Our perilous state, and our pressing need for charity of all kinds, have made me think of a photograph from my “Marion under the Moon” […]
Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy – Part 3 of 3
It’ll be tempting for me at times to get lost in exposition or explanation, but I want to stick as much as possible to what’s central to this series of posts: an experience that I had some years ago on August 28 in Israel that suddenly came to mind as I was looking at Keith Carter’s Fifty Years and thinking about his use of shallow focus.
Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy, Part 2 of 3
Anyone familiar with Keith Carter’s photography will have seen how often and how extremely Carter uses a common technique that’s referred to in various ways: limited or shallow depth field, bokeh, background blur, wide apertures, and so on. What it means is that most (or sometimes, in his case, almost all) of what appears in […]
Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy, Part 1 of 3
First: I love Keith Carter’s photographs. Let me say that again: I love Keith Carter’s photographs. That has nothing to do with opinion or analysis, but rather with the grateful, felt experience of receiving gift after gift. I love the man, too, who speaks to us in his recorded interviews and lectures: gentle, uncommonly humble, […]
A Different Kind of Clue
This time, I haven’t drawn from religious or mystical texts, or parables or poetry or painting, for my clues to reality. This time, I’m taking you to court, so to speak. And I’ll cite it as honorable “precedent” the fact that Kafka (who was a workers’ comp lawyer for the city of Prague) often drew […]
How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways. (Christmas 2019)
All ye works of the Lord, Bless the Lord, Praise and exalt Him Above all, for ever. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. […]
Happy Thanksgiving 2019, Over and Under the Moon!
This photograph, called “Lunar Eclipse,” is another from my “Marion under the Moon” series. I made it in 2017, and since then it has been selected by the Visual Arts Committee of Artspace New Haven for my on-site Flatfile folder and for the 2018 Silent Auction that is part of Artspace’s annual fund-raising Gala. The […]
We Don’t Know How
I’ve written posts before about the inspirations or events that come to us, without our having planned or willed them, to spur or add force to artistic works (you don’t need to read or re-read these for the purposes of this post): for instance, “Who Really Made That Photograph?” Parts 1 and 2 (December 2016) […]
Three Clues, One Three-Part Exercise, to Open What’s Closed
I have for you three clues, or, if you will, a three-part exercise. Any of the parts could move you closer to certain comprehensions, but it’s my hope and belief that your taking all three, in order, together, will create an even better chance of that happening for you: 1. In the context of Zen […]
A Surprise Bright Spot in My Confinement
I’m thrilled to be able to tell you that Keith Carter evidently read my three-post “Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy” on this site, and he posted this comment (which follows the end of Part 2): Thank you, got your thoughtful and kind review of my work. As you know, you write beautifully, and […]