Salak's Four Corners - A Recommended Read

I've just completed reading what is, perhaps, my favorite travel narrative of all time - and that's saying a lot with well over 200 such titles in my personal collection.  Kira Salak's "Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea," is filled with personal tales of triumph and near tragedy, of pushing one's limits but being aware of one's vulnerability, of traveling solo (and as a woman) to prove something to one's self and of being open to the road less traveled, and of an understanding of cultures and different ways of being.  Full of serendipity and with the machete ever-ready, her travels are expertly relayed in wonderful, detailed, yet straightforward prose. 
Talking about a intricately carved canoe and paddle that she and a male companion purchase for an on-going journey down the Sepik River, she writes:

In the West, this might be called extravagance, a waste of time. If the purpose is to create a canoe, why bother with superfluous decoration? But in PNG, time is wasted when one makes something purely pragmatic reasons because then nothing is honored in the process; one creates an object without meaning. As the crocodile figures in all of the local creation myths, its carved presence on paddles and prows revels a reverence for the divine, which coexists closely with daily life. 

 And at the end of her journey, she realizes the world of travel is multi-faceted:

In the end, I see that there are many kinds of journeys, and one isn't necessarily any better than another - just different.   

*****

http://www.kirasalak.com/FourCorners.html

Artist Statement

If you are fortunate enough to have your photographs displayed at a gallery on in a magazine (print or on-line), you will likely be asked to include an "Artist's Statement." This involves writing down your photographic goals, either specific to the show or a more general overview of your photographic intent. My "official" version is four paragraphs in length (www.chuckkirchner.zenfolio.com - About) but boils down to two sentences at it's essence:

Chuck’s photographs have the ability to capture the season, the sensations, the memories and, most importantly, the spirit of place and of life. The tools of the trade involve technical acumen, artistic vision, patience, good timing, and, of course, a bit (or lot) of serendipity.

In the July 2012 edition of Photo District News (PDN), several "outstanding and undiscovered fine-art photographers" are featured, each with a brief statement that are generally to the point. While I won't go into the photographer's names, quotes range from

When these items are rendered in a traditional black-and-white format, the information that remains is merely an abstraction of its previous form.

to 

These are not real photographs of real things.

to

When capturing the still recordable milieu I am examining the parallel of a general tendency and personal stories: as resilient humanity condensing into symbolic destinies takes shape in the face of mortality. 

I personally find the last one to be something I might expect from an academic or a critic from a major newspaper, rather than from a photographer.  I believe that we, as artists, need to be accessible to our viewers, and that includes our written word.