Deep Magic

Fine Art Gallery

The images, upon which the “Deep Magic” series is built, were all taken during a long Labor Day weekend at Deep Creek Lake. It was a beautiful few days, the weather was gorgeous and I felt a deep connection with nature. It was a feeling familiar but distant. It seemed a lifetime ago since I had the time to be all alone - had time to contemplate the clouds and their reflection on the water, had time to commune with nature. However much I love cathedrals, they seem but pale copies of the truly holy.

Deep Magic Series

All of the images shown here were taken during one long, sleepless night spent floating in an outdoor Jacuzzi. I was transfixed by the mysterious blue glow that the Jacuzzi bathed the night in. I lost touch with time, as each minute slowly dissolved, and I happily floated in a magical world of chlorine fumes and starlight. I watched with fascination as a moth, desperately drawn to the light under the water, repeatedly tried to drown itself. Would evolution be better served by the death of a creature so desperately trying to kill itself? This was the great philosophical dilemma I faced that night. Its struggle to save itself from the water’s sticky surface was so truly heroic; I had no choice but to rescue the poor creature. I was God and so I marveled as it flew away.

There was a steep and long wooden staircase that snaked its way to the pier on the lake below. Descending it in pitch blackness felt like some sacred journey into the bowels of the earth, like a pilgrimage to some ancient temple. Skinny dipping and watching the stars from the pier, felt like a communion with time and space, both powerful and frightening. A fear primal and irrational filled my heart, a feeling of being both connected to the world and utterly alone. Strange noises made me shutter. Thoughts of wolfs and primal dangers filled the darkness. There was no moon to lighten the dark, only distant twinkling lights, houses on the other shore, stars, stars and stars in the distant sky - deep magic.