How many ways do you see red?
I see rust, maroon, salmon and crimson.
I see tawny, copper, auburn and bronze.
My eyes are aflame.
Behold! This rubescent world.
In this series, I’ll share collections of colors gathered from my archives of original digital photography and artwork. The inspiration for this series of posts emerged from my piece published on February 3rd where I wrote about attention in the context of my media literacies courses. Although media literacies is my primary area of expertise, periodically I’m assigned a Photography and Digital Imaging course. This class offers a joyful reciprocal to the heavy analytical and evaluative work of media literacy. While students in my media literacies classes identify the ways that our attention may be co-opted by media messages and “big tech,” ultimately building the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to deconstruct media messages– including their languages, representations, industries, audiences, and effects– students in my photography course learn to pay attention in other ways. They become, as Mary Oliver writes in her poem Entering the Kingdom, “the rich lens of attention.” To pay attention to the world under our feet or in front of our nose is an increasingly precious thing. I look forward to unpacking the beauty of attention in this series. But for now, consider Oliver’s words:
The dream of my life
– Mary Oliver
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees-
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
Lens of attention.
Citation: Redmond, T. (2022, March, 11). Paying Attention to Red. Retrieved from https://theresaredmond.com/photography/paying-attention-red/
