As I frequently mention, when I am photographing I am almost always working on a theme, a reason that links photographs taken over a period of years. I am not saying that I do not do individual photographs or that I do not sometimes just click the shutter to hear the sound—I do. But that is not the photography that I enjoy. I have little regard for my individual photographs or at least less regard than I have for the photographs that make a connection with a theme. I want a connection, something that I understand as being a continuation in my photography over a period of time; something that makes taking photographs important. As such, I carry dozens of themes with me and can’t really do otherwise. I have also mentioned that I don’t predetermine themes, I stumble onto them. Once I have made that stumble, the theme becomes a part of what I photograph, seemingly into perpetuity. Thereafter it seems to always be there ready to be called upon when needed—meaning when I see an image on that theme.

Yesterday I stumbled upon a new theme. Now I have sporadically shot photographs on this theme or at least of the same subject matter in the past but it only becomes a theme when I become mentally aware of the theme and prior to yesterday I really was not mindful of this particular connection. Those previous photographs were individual photographs. They may or may not become a part of this theme--will have to go back and examine them to see whether or not they have what is needed to be included. Thinking back over the ones I remember they probably will not. They may fit a similar theme but not the one from yesterday. Okay, so that’s a little cryptic, so are themes and the birth of themes. Somehow there is generated a mental connection that seems to go beyond just photographing similar subject matter. It is very much a mental stumble, maybe a minor epiphany, an awakening to something that I was not consciously unaware.

Well yesterday, I made a stumble.

I sometimes question where the themes come from—actually what gave them birth; because often I don’t really know. I try to discover the source inside that makes a theme important to me. This theme I understood before it became a theme which is somewhat unusual. I’m not going into a great deal of detail—that would take a long explanation. Suffice to say it comes from Eli Siegel’s Is Beauty the Making One of Opposites. As with Stieglitz’s Equivalents, I have been trying to understand Siegel’s, Opposites are One, for most of my involvement in photography. Not sure I will ever totally understand either although I seem to be getting closer. This theme is about Siegel’s Opposites. As I learn more about this theme I will probably mention it again.