The calm of the close
A very warm June, hanging out at Katherine’s studio with my macro lens. There is no focus on the lens, it’s a matter of altering the distance to or from the subject and making a choice about when to shoot - it can be a tad random, but that’s part of the fun - sometimes the lens focuses on unexpected things.
I moved closer and closer to Katherine’s works - gun tufting, latch hooking, weaving, stitching, using old sari materials, pieces of fabric she’s collected over the years, brightly coloured substrates and yarns. My attention drawn deeper and deeper in. The closer I got the more detail appeared in my lens - the structure of the yarns, single threads. The colours popped.
Seeing the world through a macro lens is quite meditative - that whilst there is more detail in the frame, at the same time conversely, as the wider visual noise is being shut out, so it becomes a calming experience.
This might be an allegory for life - the closer and more intimate you become, the calmer it feels. There is more complexity but it is the right kind of complexity… and it’s what you have chosen to focus on rather than something else, external, clamouring for your attention.
It feels like a useful lesson: make your choice, commit to it, give it your best attention - and don’t get distracted by all the other noise.
