Additional Resources – Danny Bittencourt domestika.

org

SECTION FROM THE BOOK

"THE LIGHT FROM THE WINDOW"
By Danny Bittencourt
Additional Resources – Danny Bittencourt domestika.org

SECTION FROM THE BOOK

"THE LIGHT FROM THE WINDOW"
BY DANNY BITTENCOURT

START WITH A CHILL

Inspiration is not something acquired, it is not in that overhanging

eave where you pass by distracted daily and you don't even notice
its existence. It can be found in the church bell, which rings in the
distance, in the howling of lonely dogs, or even in the scent of
jasmine * (which can be in that same overhang, if they stop you in
the middle of the street to try to smell the textured petals). You
see? It will not be in any instruction manual. Inspiration has to do
with the journey, and this is yours alone. If you have not yet
discovered which color inspires you, self-reflection is urgently
needed. We need to know what hurts us and what turns our pores
into chills. This perception is fundamental to articulate, in my
opinion, any knowledge about photography. Copyright ©Danny Bittencourt 2020. All rights reserved.

Our interest in what we photograph is directly related to our life

interests. How we see the world, what bothers us, what fascinates us,
what moves us - all this becomes a tangle in what we want to
photograph, all our pains live in all our images.
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The more we get to know ourselves, the more we develop the

perception of understanding that the music that we accidentally
heard on the street and that moved us also made a difference in our
trajectory and, therefore, is important.

I see these moments as opportunities that may (or may not) turn
into an image. If we divert their attention, if we do not look or
perceive, they do not flourish. Every seed needs to be watered to
become a garden.

THIS IS NOT A MUG

The journey is long and there are no more beginnings, any new
beginning brings together all that is gone. Good or bad, everything
that marks our skin, flesh or core starts again with us. Our entire
history is carefully woven into and carried in our entrails and, when
we intend to start something new, it is still there, present. It made a
difference, of course. So it seems to me that a new beginning is
already starting from the middle, from our middle, and it is
Copyright ©Danny Bittencourt 2020. All rights reserved.

important to have this awareness so that we can use this as creative

power. It is relevant to take the time to look carefully at this baggage
and to identify what is important and significant in our life - this
changes our way of photographing. Then we apply our insights and
discoveries to how we build an image.
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There are several movements for the construction of a photograph,

of course, but the one we choose also interferes in our process of
significance. For example, for me the most common movement
seems to be one in which visual stimuli capture the photographer,
who responds to this call, clicks and, later, transfers, or not, meaning
to their image. This is the conventional form, because we are visually
run over by everything around us, and, therefore, the construction is
more intuitive when it starts from that thought. When we start with
meaning, this whole dynamic changes, because we start in that
place that is important to us. Then we look visually for something
that suits our concerns and finally we click.

The awareness of knowing what we seek is reinforced daily and

allows us greater control and clarity of the objectives related to our
photography. Establishing a personal intention makes our image
pulse deeper and free itself from a descriptive character that can
take it to common sense and distance it from ourselves.
Determining a theme for the photo does not give it strength and
depth, but when we articulate the theme with our experience, it
Copyright ©Danny Bittencourt 2020. All rights reserved.

becomes much more meaningful. For example, photographing

“loneliness” can be a big trap if we take this notion of the term to
common sense. Each of us lives in very particular and plural
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loneliness - it is because of that that we must look to escape from a

shallow and descriptive image. If we photograph a mug and look
only at the object, the photograph becomes an end in itself, it runs
out and ends. Now, if we attribute to the same image a memory that
takes us to some personal experience, photography then becomes
a tool used as a means of expression, being able to exercise its
powerful function. The meaning is not in the mug a priori; it always
depends on us, image builders, and on our relationship with the
mug and the world.

IMMEDIATELY FREE FROM CLOTH

As we live, and our pains also shape us, it is understandable that

specific screens are built for our own protection. We establish walls,
metaphorical cloths that distance us from everything that hurt us
and we end up with that, also removing what we feel. The society in
which we grow (considering all possible nuances) also ends up the
same way, pruning us and teaching us that feeling is bad, requiring
us not to cry, that we are cold and strong (even though the feeling
Copyright ©Danny Bittencourt 2020. All rights reserved.

is one of our most significant forces). Gradually, we become less, we

do not explore, and we do not allow ourselves freedom, and thus,
we end up like most, floating on the surface.
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Of course, experiences are complex, diverse, and unique - this is a

simplistic view, but enough to understand the line of thought that I
bring here. The whole point is that the more protected we are, the
more we project this onto our images, which end up being built,
safe, full of common sense and far from any depth. That is, if you
intend to create deep and meaningful images, you need to start that
dive right away. Is this the way? It is really deepening yourself. The
metaphorical cloths we produced to protect us, in fact, fulfil this
function, but they also suffocate us and prevent us from seeing the
world and ourselves clearly.

We need to get rid of these layers, if only for a brief moment. I know
well that the world we live in does not allow us to go naked on the
street, but that, at least, we know well what we have under our
clothes.

Copyright ©Danny Bittencourt 2020. All rights reserved.