For the foreseeable future, not every day or even every other day but intermittently..(oh, don’t ask how long, cousin Mary, OK?)…. I am going to try and capture in straight images what fear feels like–not what it looks like nor the object of fear or the causes of fear–because those tentacles can be as knotty and entwined as this broken tree. But, what fear feels like.
These days only the unconscious are fear free. It makes you wonder. Is there a tipping point? How much of it can we take?
The tipping point for this tree branch came exactly when? One storm too many? One insect too many biting some fibrous vein?
Do humans have tipping points? Maybe implicit in all fears is the specter that it will irreparably break us but we actually just morph into followers.
I don’t think people are going to be ordering mugs or mousepads from this series, do you? Notepads, perhaps?
FROM THE DESK OF FEAR….
Nah. I don’t think so.
I think doing a photographic essay about fear will make me feel less fearful.
I whistle in the dark, too.
“You know how to whistle don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and…blow.”
©Pat Coakley 2009
PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
As someone with a healthy obsession with taking pictures of trees, I love this image. I really like the idea of the Fear Series and look forward to seeing more.
I know I wake up with fear and fight to remember optimism at the moment. However, even in our dark hours I still find a laugh or two. Personally, I’d love to scroll around on a mouse mat with an Amityville Horror-type house with glowing red windows and your proposed slogan “From the Desk of Fear…” Until such time as the world latches on to my sick humour, I’ll watch with interest as this series grows. It’s a fascinating concept -to explain something intangible with tangible images. This image reminds me of tangled thoughts and the impossibility of untying them which is one way fear screws us up. As for human tipping points? You’re looking at one.
This version of fear captures confusion very well too. I love the words that go along with your beautiful images. You always make me think & chuckle a little.
not that fear is funny… whistling in the dark… that was the chuckle.
Nothing to fear but fear itself. That’s like saying it’s only in your head.
Phew!! Cause as long as it’s only in my head and not in my pinky…. I’ll be ok.
Morphing into followers. I think that’s the reduction ( as in culinary terms of something that has cooked for a long time until it’s a fractional volume of the original amount ) that gets me the most angry.
We’ve lost our pis.
We’re worn out and the only voices that seem to yell out are the ones in our heads.
PS- those trees are going to sprout new green buds……..
My biggest fear is that you are now tracking around in the back woods of mother nature to find something that will tell you what fear feels like. You will know what fear feels like when you fall down in the middle of nowhere and no one can find you. I know that if I check your blog for a few days and there are not any new entries I will need to call someone to look for you. Maybe the friendly police officer who knows you are a freak out taking pictures will be of assistance when I report you missing because you went out into the woods somewhere to find a picture of what fear feels like !!! Leave a few bread crumbs for the rescue party to follow when they have to go and find you. Keep whistling.
Anphillips, Makes me smile to think of you with a healthy tree photograph obsession. I know what you mean–as lately, I’ve seem to have developed one as well. Thanks for commenting.
Epic, Tangled, seemingly impossibly so…yes. If we only had a reset button during these times. A neural palette refresher? I’ve got to think on this. Tell Monsieur to take one side, your blogging friends will take the other…we won’t let you tip over!
Conni, I knew you meant the whistling part! Words and images, amidst this angst and fear, they can lead me out of the confusion, sometimes. In fact, like right this minute! Have a great trip. Am looking forward to your return and new postings!
Bon Bon, I’ve just spent a few minutes looking for green buds on these branches….I still don’t see any, but if you say so, I ‘m going with it. The other thing about fear…you are very vulnerable to what people say!
HJ, this wasn’t bad, just along the side of the road. Although, about a week ago I did venture down a snowy path and think better of it when my knees seemed to be saying, “Are you out of your mind to have walked through this?”
The broken limb and twisted knot of barren vines and brambles says very well how fear can trap one’s heart.