Wake up the artist

I was once transferred from Karachi to a much smaller town. Karachi is located on the lip of the Arabian Sea and it is one of the largest cities of Asia where more than 14 million people live. It is, in fact, a great jungle of concrete buildings and people of all ages, colors and creeds.

I had hardly settled down in my new home when an old friend from Karachi came to visit. While we were talking, my friend looked through an open window and remarked, "Not much to see from here, is there? What will you do here? Better keep your cameras packed and thank your stars that you have been saved much of the trouble of using them for some time at least."

The area was, no doubt, mostly plain, but I was surprised by my friend's remarks: I loved the view from that window Later on after his departure l tried to took at the scene from that window with my friend's eyes -- a nearly straight horizon line -- about a dozen cottonwood trees and an expanse of wheat field covered with stubble. And that was all. Yet this scene had held grandeur and an endless inspiration for me from the moment I first saw it.

With the bright afternoon sun shining, the wheat field was a sea of silver ripples. Cotton candy clouds floated in an immensity of blue, and mosaics of light greens, yellows and nut browns ringed the cottonwoods. By evening the scene would slowly, but surely shift into sundown colors.

I thought of all that I had viewed from that window -- the visual music -- and I decided that I would use my cameras to capture thai music. That also reminded me what John Ruskin had said about three hundred year's ago: "The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion -- all in one."

In this modern age, I don't think seeing clearly is enough. One should also try to show others what he has seen and try to share his sense of beauty and appreciation with his friends and other fellow beings. And that is where photography comes in: showing the world to others as you saw it. Believe me, there is an artist living in your heart and soul -- wake it up see the many things that you would like to show to others. It will allow you to share some unforgettable moments of joy.

I lived in that flat country for about two years and reaped an endless inspiration from one simple landscape. After a few days, the wheat crop was harvested and that field was turned into a new ocean of emerald. A few weeks later it was turned into molten gold, all the time providing nesting places for meadowlarks, brown thrashers and turtledoves.

I enjoyed the lemon yellow moons of early spring when the horizon was splashed with bright red flowers of the cottonwoods. Spring was followed by hot summer days and then came the monsoon rains. I had never seen such huge clouds having different shapes and sizes. It rained two or three times every week and everything turned green. Then the fall slipped into action slowly and silently. The whole atmosphere changed again as the leaves on the trees changed color and they looked splendid. Within a few weeks, winter took over and the atmosphere changed once again.

Many winter sunrises were worth seeing and worth recording -- how the rays of the sun burst from behind the clouds -- how the fishermen worked in the nearby river and how the farmers worked when the river flowed out of its banks and flooded their fields. How the butterflies loved the wild flowers that grew profusely after the rains in so many open places and along the borders of various fields. They looked great in the early morning light. These were all new experiences for me. I was not disheartened by the flat country; rather I wondered about the people who thought that there was nothing to inspire.

I know I am far from being alone in my appreciation of the natural elegance and charm of this earth, but I wonder how many people find beauty in the usual, normal scenes--the so-called drab and monotonous ones.

It is easy to appreciate the scenes that are too wonderful to ignore, but how many people feel that their daily surroundings are dull and that they can enjoy true beauty only on vacations or on other rare occasions? Beauty is everywhere and one should try to find it. A French writer, Joseph Jonbert, once said "You won't find poetry (or any other form of art) unless you bring it with you."

M. Hanif Raza
Islamabad, Pakistan

COPYRIGHT 2002 Photographic Society of America, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group