Georgia o'Keefe was born on 15 November 1887. In later life she moved to the crisp fresh air and the artist community living in New Mexico. I think that it was that crisp fresh air that influenced her talent for seeing beauty in the small things that surrounded her. Extreme close up flower studies, with saturated colour, became the way that she saw the world.
Ansel Adams was born on February 20 1902. Inventor of the Zone System and master of the large format monochrome landscape image. He believed that only by individually processing each sheet of film could he obtain the print tonalities that he had foreseen when he exposed the image. His was the large vista that he discovered in Yellowstone National Park, and by exposing onto monochrome emulsion he abstracted those geological forms ( by removing all sense of colour ) and concentrated on the light, form and textures that remained. On those rare occasions when he did point his camera "downwards" still managed to infuse that grandeur of the large scene onto a delicate bloom.
While both could be considered west coast artists, they were in fact quite opposite in their artistic intentions.
The two images, pictured above, were captured, by me, using my iPhone5/procamera app "combo", with a little help from CS4. Inspired by these two great artists and masters of their chosen fields, i attempted to capture the essence of their talent and world view.
All of us have hidden talents, which for one reason or another, remain hidden. These talents were gifted to us to be used, and used to God's glory.
In Matthew 25: verse 14 to 30 Jesus relates the story of the rich man, about to leave on a trip, and calling his three servants gives them a number of talents ( three to the first, two to the second and a single one to the third) with instructions to use them well. On his return he again calls them in to account for what they have done with their talents. The first two servants are commended for their efforts whilst the third, who received the single solitary talent, did nothing with his. The story ends by the master saying:" So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents ( the first servant). For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Not using a gift of God is a serious offence.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians (1Corin 12: v4 to 11) writes:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
The message is clear, we cannot afford not to use what is God given
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