Master Key WEEK 21 – Photographs & My Inner World

 

I started taking pictures early in my life.

At about age 9, I received a Brownie Starflash camera as a Christmas gift, although not one of my asking; apparently my parents thought I would like it. It used roll film that had to be threaded into the camera and manually advanced. The instructions warned its user to not FORGET to advance the film after each picture…otherwise a “double exposure” would result. Flashbulbs were the source of light for indoor pictures; the process was somewhat cumbersome – insert a bulb, take the shot, eject the bulb – ouch that’s hot! – advance the film, insert another bulb.

I don’t know if I actually took any worthwhile pictures because I soon learned that picture-taking and picture-developing and printed were two completely different activities. I accumulated several roles of film that never made it to the processing lab.

But I’ve been taking pictures much of my life.

I developed a genuine interest in photography in my mid-teen years. In fact, it came about as part of my interest in Astronomy (last week’s blog). I wanted to take pictures of astronomical objects through my telescope. The best way to do that was to use a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera. So I saved my lunch money – literally – and enough of my earnings to buy my first serious camera: the Mamiya-Sekor 1000DTL. The cost? About $165 as I recall, which was a substantial amount of money to a 1968 high school student.

With this piece of optical/mechanical hardware in hand, I began to explore the world of photographic art. My subscription to “Popular Photography” received as much of my attention every month as “Sky and Telescope.” I began to understand that photography was about capturing the image of a moment and conveying the feeling that comes with it. I began to discover that seeing and perceiving were altogether different. My mind awakened to the importance of observation and perspective. Maybe for the first time in my life I was recognizing that the world around me was vibrant and alive.

For more than four decades of my life, I’ve been striving to take pleasing pictures, to capture meaningful memories. You know the type…those pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits…or their soccer uniforms; the ones that commemorate an achievement such as a graduation ceremony or an awards banquet; and the ones from family vacations.

Only this week, however, have I become aware of another kind of photography. All of the pictures I’ve just mentioned represent my life in the “outer” world. Yet long before my ninth year, I had already taken thousands…perhaps tens of thousands of pictures with a top-of-the-line camera of another sort: my brain.

Haanel brings this to light in Part Twenty-One of The Master Key System, saying “the mental attitude is patterned after the mental pictures which have been photographed on the brain.” I’ve been snapping shots in my inner world…probably since birth. Unlike my unprocessed rolls of photographic emulsion, these pictures have been processed, sorted, evaluated and archived. In Haanel’s words, “…our lives are simply the reflection of our predominant thoughts, our mental attitude…every thought creates an impression on the brain…these impressions create mental tendencies, and these tendencies create character, ability and purpose…and the combined action of character, ability and purpose determines the experiences with which we shall meet in life.”

The truth is, I’ve been taking pictures all of my life!

I never considered a photography as a profession; my interest has always be casual, not even a hobby really. This new discovery is worthy of serious study and practice. Now that I know about the capability of the the equipment at my disposal (my brain) and the significance of what I photograph, I will use my picture-making ability more wisely and more skillfully.

Until next week. Keep the faith.

~~Larry Carr