Gathering Eggs

From the Dualities Series, 1998 - 2003

What is in a look?

I am naked

Crossed Heart

These images are not the egg. They only point toward the egg and that gathering of light.

These three images are what remains.

~ ~ ~

First Eggs

It's been two weeks since my cardio stress test and I have received a cardio blessing: no reason to cut my heart out for mending purposes.

This news provokes me to look around. I am considering my home as ovum. Thus, my estate is a good place to find evidence of the original egg that I am. (Play along with me and consider the possibilities that You are your own ovum and You are your Things.)

I didn't have to go far to find a 30 year old version of an egg that I can call my own amongst my things. This print was made early in my Searching for Anima series of photographs. The Jungian notion of coming into completion depends upon finding a balance between anima and animus. It is a notion that has sustained me through the years.

We can never be assured that such enlightenment or completion has arrived.  Once found, enlightenment seems to prove itself an illusion of the left brain and the ego. This, of course, is not enough to stop the seeker; in fact, finding and losing enlightenment only fuels the seeking. 

So, I look elsewhere amongst my things. Looking close at hand I recognize clues as to what kind of an egg I am becoming. But what I usually see is the mess that I must eventually clean up.

This picture is not me; it merely points toward me. Of course, this photo cannot present culminating evidence, only small measurements of activities that have supported my search for anima. Oh, yes, she keeps growing, changing, showing new colors and forms.

So here we find ourselves again this morning, starting another day in my home as ovum searching for anima. And all is well!

~ ~ ~

Morning Glories

Morning Glories at the end of 39th Street

I didn't think anyone left alive

loved her more than I

And then you showed up

and you and you 

and you and you

All of us showering in the golden rain

~ ~ ~
© gerryzeck, 2010

Selby Gardens

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida begs to be photographed. Orchids, epiphytes, Koi and a Buddha-favored Bo Tree are the exhibitionists. Tropical and semi-tropical plants fill the gardens on Sarasota Bay.

click to enlarge

Selby Gardens: A perfect place for a perfectly delightful stroll 

on an excellent day at the beginning of October.

~ ~ ~

Home As Egg

Yesterday I resurrected my old interests in the Universal Egg with a posting of photos and considerations of my home as a metaphoric egg.

Today, freshly returned from a cardio stress test, I fell into a fried-egg sandwich for a break-fast lunch, tempting the fates and sating a long neglected appetite  (It's been at least a year between fried-egg sandwiches).

Eggs are moving again here at home.

Next, I popped into Facebook and found that my friend Deborah, a movement teacher who "lives, breathes, eats, and travels to work in the area of somatic education", had posted a most interesting reference book: the wonderfully illustrated Anatomy of the Human Body.

Figure 3. 

The Human Ovum

Henry Gray (1825–1861).  Anatomy of the Human Body.  1918.

My first, random click into the illustrations showed me nothing other than the egg again, the human ovum above. There I am, that's me (or you!) swimming in albumen inside the original little house. Ha! A perfectly rendered, instructively simple lesson for we Home As Egg metaphorists.

I've got to love This Egg. It's a symbol of containment with a promise. Its re-appearance provides another sampling of Jungian Synchronicities. Time to reassess my current metaphoric Eggdom. Time to re-evaluate everything.

~ ~ ~

Crack in the Egg

Several years ago I worked on a series of photo collages as explorations united by a common theme: the Universal Egg. I was searching for the crack in the egg.

Dream Maker One

The ancient Upanishads refer to the Universal Egg as "the Soul of the Universe", or "the Golden Womb" and "Brahman". My interest lies in the essence of the thing.

Today I'm curious about Home as a metaphoric womb, especially as it relates to personal creativity.

The Entry Way

Earthy Mexican tiles, red door, aqua-green walls, brown door mat, doorstep and leaves; all elements at the entry to the egg of my home. Here is where I begin to feel colors pressing into my mood and my step. It is a measure of our attachment, the house and me.

On most days I carry a little Kodak digital camera with me with the intent to document those scenes that bring me various pleasures. I find many of those scenes right around the place I call home.

Saint Asparagus

When I do comply with the urge to compose, I pull out my little Kodak and together we discover and reflect on what we really appreciate around home. 

Unlikely Couple

You are your things, they say. Whatever could they mean? 

I puzzled on that one until I decided to photo record those things of mine that brought delight.  I decided to record them WHEN that delight was burning most strongly within. Praises to the easy Kodak.

Florida Q-Tips

Things from my table-top-studio suggesting I am my Q-Tips, I am my things. 

Table Top Home Studio

~ ~ ~

Kitchen Art

Sometimes I just have to stop what I'm doing, pull my little Kodak out of my pocket, and make a picture of what I see. Many of these photo stoppages occur in view of very ordinary scenes, for which I am most grateful. Beautiful sights abound in the kitchen.

Vegetarians close your eyes.

As a photographer one learns to compose a subject within the photo frame. One learns that a Formal composition reveals "the whole" subject while Informal compositions keep some subject matter outside the frame.

My interests range from Formal to Informal to Beyond Formalities of the lens. For example, a Beyond Formality composition might include reasons the photographer made the picture, or the forces that brought the photo subject within range of the camera. These forces are often emotionally-loaded and usually remain the sole property of the picture-maker. 

Vegetarians may open their eyes now.

I'm not certain about the appeal of this kitchen scene. It may simply relate to an inborn voyeurism. I call this a Formal-Familiar Composition; it's all in the bag. And I find the cohabitation of Jalapeno and Red Onion most attractive and suggestive of taste treats to come. Hence, the image reaches Beyond the photo frame, within the realm of my senses.

For eyes that hear and see and smell and taste.

Informal and Beyond portraiture it is: onions and peppers in olive oil beseeching the camera to arrest this stove-top process. What the scene does not show is the trail that led the camera to it; the intense promise of the delicious. 

Please humor me: I cannot promise to refrain from posting more food photos in the future.

Chow!

 ~ ~ ~