Instructed to respect library silence, in seventh grade I learned to giggle in this building. At age 18 I left Lincoln, and after college I picked up a camera, then I spent 40 eventful years in Manhattan as a professional photographer. With this playful exhibition I return to the place where I first learned to play.
It began as a whim. Struck by the memories and the beauty I rediscovered in this library, I wondered what would happen if I presented a series of images that were all found within the building that housed the gallery where the prints were to beshown. I’d call the show HERE to illustrate the basic principle that beauty is always ready to be discovered for those who can see under their feet and beyond their nose. The secret, an open secret, one that we all know, is to consistently step into the ever-changing present with open eyes and a ready heart.
Over the years I’ve learned that seemingly simple ideas can invoke an arduous path to completion, so it was a surprise to me that this project seemed effortless: all the hours of creation, photographing, pairing, printing, framing, hanging, even writing this paragraph, went by naturally, like breathing in and breathing out. That’s unusual, but is probably so because I had spent all those many years developing the skills of my profession; now I could return home and what might have been perceived as hard work became, for me, carefree play.
Please enjoy the pictures. Those of you who are physically inside the library, see if you can find the spots where theseimages were found, then see if you can find a few more that I’ve missed, I do that myself every time I return, it’s a quest without end.
