DL Davidson

writer, photographer

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Memory

Memory is a fragile butterfly with gossamer wings. It is birthed from the cocoon of our minds, created anew every time it becomes a conscious thought. Perceptions, emotion, rumination, chemistry and new synapses are the intertwined threads of its DNA. Ephemeral, beautiful—and transient. Once it flits away from our consciousness, it crumbles into gauzy filaments, only to be resurrected as a new entity when, once again, it is pulled into consciousness by the human brain. 

How remarkable is that? Memory is incredibly important to human beings. Memory is how we make sense of our sentient life, our movement through time, our relationship to the reality in which we live. It becomes an integral component of our perception of who we are and who we believe ourselves to be. We rely on our memory to prepare us for the future by teaching us about our past. 

And yet—what is equally remarkable is the ability of the human brain to study itself. And it is from those studies that we have come to realize just how unreliable memory can be as a reflection of past reality. In fact, the abundance of neuroscience studies on the fallibility of memory is creating a tidal shift on the reliance of eyewitness testimony in the justice system. According to the American Bar Association, of the 21 wrongful convictions overturned by the Innocence Project in 2011, 19 involved eyewitness testimony. More than three-quarters of wrongful convictions that are later overturned by DNA evidence were based on eyewitness reports. Psychological scientist Elizabeth Loftus has spent her career studying false memories. I highly recommend her Ted Talk, “How reliable is your memory?” Loftus has also written a book, Eyewitness Testimony. Based upon her and other scientists research on the malleability of eyewitness testimony, particularly as it is influenced by external realities, the justice system has started to rebalance the weight given to such testimony.

It reminds me of a childhood game that my friends and I played called ‘Gossip’. I think the adults who taught us the game were hoping the lesson learned would be on the unreliability and dangers in gossip. We would sit on the floor in a large circle. The person chosen to start would whisper (quietly and quickly) something in the ear of the person next to her. That person would then whisper what she heard into the ear of the person next to her, who would then do the same. By the time the whispers finally reached all around the circle, the last person would say out loud what they had heard. The fun of the game was the fact that what was actually heard usually differed significantly from what had initially been whispered. Our memory seems to work the same way, every whisper is a new retrieval of a memory.

There are many biological scientific studies that document cellular and chemical attributes that contribute to the unreliability of memory. The explanations that resonate with me, however, are the ones based on social/behavioral studies. 

One of the main reasons for an unreliable memory is that when we want to recall our memories, we reconstruct the events based on our current knowledge and thoughts. Thus, while we are remembering past events, we are in fact mixing the present and the past. This is known as ‘retrieval-enhanced suggestibility’— the fact that memories change spontaneously over time, as a product of how, when, and why we access them.

Another effect documented by social scientists is referred to as the ‘audience-tuning effect’. When we describe our memories to other people, we frequently modify the story depending on our audience or the point we are making in the conversation. Research shows that when we describe our memories differently to different audiences, it isn’t only the message that changes but the memory itself.

The point is that memory recall is not like pulling data from a file cabinet in our brain. Rather, memory is a reconstructive process that is susceptible to distortion. All memory is colored with bits of life experiences.

I really do not like the term that some have used to describe the infallibility of memory, ‘false memory’  because our memory is not false—it is an integrative creation based on past and present truths, it is a true reflection of who we are at this moment in time. 

The Second Coming

Dead Vlei, Namibia

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats

Time Stacking

Kolmanskop, Namibia

A few months ago, I saw an image by Canadian photographer Matt Malloy that just blew me out of the water. I have spent more hours than I care to admit trying to figure out exactly how he achieved an image that looked for all the world like a stunningly beautiful, impressionistic landscape. The sky resembled an art technique called ‘low poly’ that I have also admired in the past. Basically, a low poly art technique uses blocks of color delineated by simple geometric shapes placed side by side. It’s a very futuristic, computer generated look. 

This is an example of a low-poly image:

Low poly tiger

This is one of Matt Malloy’s images:

Matt Malloy

Recently, I was reviewing some old star trail photos I had made at Yosemite National Park. I was not happy with them so I went to StarTrail Academy to review over ways I could improve the images. 

Yosemite NP
Yosemite NP

And lo and behold! They were highlighting some of Matt Malloy’s work. Apparently, the technique that Matt uses is the same technique used to stack night star trails. The difference is that he applies it to sunset photos. He calls the technique when it’s applied to daylight scenes, as ‘time stacking’ and the idea is to show the passing of time in a single photograph rather than through a moving video.

Time stacked back yard

So, how does one time-stack? You approach it exactly as you would shooting star trails. You need your camera, a tripod, and a intervalometer. For star-trails, of course, you need a good view of the night sky, free as possible of clouds and ambient light. For time-stacking, you want LOTS of clouds, preferably moving somewhat quickly across your scene. 

The idea is to take a time lapse sequence of photos. The actual number of photos is your preference. Set the exposure based on the brightest objects in your composition (the clouds), low ISO, and other camera settings to allow appropriate exposure. Then set the interval and number of images you want the camera to take. Best interval to use? Experiment…..if you want smooth looking, painterly strokes made by the clouds, you’ll want quicker intervals. If you want more of a stacked appearance, longer intervals are necessary.

time stacked back yard

It’s best to not process any of the images in advance. What I do is open all the images in Lightroom, select all the ones that I want to stack, then select ‘open as layers in photoshop’. Then, grab a cup of coffee because, depending on the number of images you are exporting, it might take awhile. Once all the images are opened in photoshop, I usually have to click all the layers and choose ‘rearrange layers’ so that my initial image is the base of the stack. Now, all you have to do (and it takes awhile) is to change every layer’s blending mode to ‘lighten’ and merge down to your base layer. Once all the layers have been merged down in a lighten blending mode, you generally have to apply contrast and tonal adjustment. Surprisingly, you generally do not have to bump up vibrance or saturation. The time stacking of clouds, particularly at sunset, bring out astonishingly vibrant colors in the sky.

It’s actually a lot of fun—kinda of like opening a gift. You don’t know what your final image might look like but it’s always a pleasant surprise.

Good light!

 

Practicing Mindfulness

In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts medical school introduced a practice he called mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) to newly diagnosed cancer patients. The intervention was a positive one—patients reported decreased fatigue, improved sleep, and improved quality of life. More importantly, researchers found that cancer patients who practiced mindfulness had small, but significant, influences on the immune system and stress related hormones—changes that correlated with positive therapeutic outcomes (remission, prolongation of life).

Icelandic Horses

Mindfulness techniques may protect cells from premature aging, are useful in managing opiod addiction, may assist in controlling hypertension, ease stress and fear during pregnancy and childbirth, and may play an important role in pain management (particularly chronic pain) and relieving chronic stress.

Recently (and of particular relevance to health care workers), mindfulness techniques have been found to be a powerful antidote to burnout, which has become a serious crisis in the healthcare profession, particularly during a global, life-threatening pandemic. Burnout is manifested as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and feelings of inadequacy and results in shortened careers and even suicide (doctors have twice the rate of suicide than the general population!).

Yellowstone in Winter

So, I decided to try and optimize my ability to pay attention to the moment—because that is basically what mindfulness strives to achieve—paying attention to what is around us at this moment in time. Getting out of our own head and attending to the world around us. Quieting the constant mental conversations going on in our heads. And most proponents of mindfulness techniques emphasize the importance of meditation as a way of training oneself in mindfulness. So, I decided to sit for 10 minutes and try meditation. I even set a timer so that I wouldn’t gaze at my watch during the exercise. I wanted to concentrate on my breath and my space and this moment in time.

Mick Jagger, my faithful companion

While I was sitting in lotus position on my living room rug, one of my dogs came and sat beside me. This made me smile and a voice in my head commented on the fact that dogs are always extremely loyal and loving. That reminded me of my dear departed Mick—the first dog I had as an adult. He was my most trusted companion for many years. So, my next thoughts were sad ones and I drifted into thoughts about loss and death. This was followed by thoughts about making the most of one’s time on earth.

Outer Banks Wild Horse

Experiential travel has always been important to me because it enlarges my life. So, I spent several moments reminiscing about some of the places I had been and the impact this had on my life. I reminded myself that of all the places I had been, being on the shores of the ocean impacted my life the most.

Outer Banks Fishing

This led me to thoughts about the fact that, long after I had passed from this earth, the landscapes I had visited would remain. And this is true for all of us—we are like moments of brief time passing through these landscapes. We are just a nanosecond, a flicker of light, in the all encompassing universe and cosmos around us. We depart this earth and the only thing we leave behind is a memory.

The Dairy Queen is Closed

That brought me back again to thinking about the losses in my life. One of my most memorable trips was to Yellowstone National Park in the winter. I had several experiences there that were firsts for me so they are chained in my memory. However, the night before the trip, I was in West Yellowstone awaiting the arrival of my travel companions. A huge snowstorm came in that night and I walked out into the tiny town’s main street to photograph the town. One of my photos I titled ‘The Dairy Queen is Closed.’ It resonated for me because I associate the Dairy Queen with pleasurable summer excursions with my mother. Although she has now passed, whenever I see a Dairy Queen sign I think about her. And this photograph seemed to sum up the idea for me that life is hard, life is a struggle, and along the way, we suffer such tremendous losses. 

While I was deeply immersed in these thoughts, the timer I had set for my meditation exercise started shrilling. I realized that I had spent my time, not in mindfulness or quietness, but deeply submerged in my own head. I think I failed my first mindfulness attempt 🙁

Changing Light

Lightograph

I subscribe to the Rangefinder blog site (a partner of WPPI) and this week they focused on a new technique called a Lightograph, a patent pending technique developed by Jeremy Cowart. Similar to a Cinemograph, a Lightograph is a moving photograph. But….and this is an important distinction, instead of the subject moving, the light moves!

Jeremy Cowart is a photographer that I admire immensely. For one thing, he’s a neighbor. He, his wife and their 4 kids live in Franklin, TN (just across the state line from my home state of Alabama). But aside from the fact that he’s a fellow Southerner, Jeremy is also the founder of Help-Portrait–a program that enables photographers, make-up artists, and hairstylists the opportunity to collaborate on a mission of giving people who otherwise couldn’t afford photography, a chance to capture a moment, a memory and a whole lot more. For one day a year, photographic teams participating in Help Portrait find people in need, take their portraits, print their portraits and deliver them–free of charge. Every time I read the stories of people who have been the benefactors of Help Portrait, I get a bit teary eyed. We all know the power of a photograph in changing the world. In Help Portrait, it also changes personal lives.

But, as usual, I digress. The purpose of this posting was to talk about lightographs. I have been intrigued, in the past, about cinemographs and have played around with the technique. But I had never even considered the possibility of a moving photo where the subject remains stable and only the light changes. Cowart says the format allows a single graphic to tell more than one story. “It forever changes what’s possible in portraiture,” Cowart wrote in a Facebook post. “After all, humans are multidimensional. We are heroes, but we are also villains. We love, and we lose. We grieve, and we hope. We may stall, but we are never idle. Our breath and blood wave through our bodies like the ocean. For the first time, this incredibly complex symphony of the human experience can be reflected back to us in photographic form, composed with light and captured in a Lightograph.”

I got excited when I saw my first lightograph and decided I would give it a shot. This video is my first (feeble and amateurish, I know, I know ?? ) attempt at a lightograph.

If you would like to see some REALLY GOOD lightographs, then check out lightograph.com . You can also rent a tutorial by Jeremy Cowart on The Art of Lightoraphy that is available on the website. While, granted, my attempt at a lightograph would benefit greatly from his tutelage, I thought the rental price for the tutorial was a bit steep. But I do think the concept is a novel one and provides a new source of inspiration for photographers like me.