Faith                           January 31st 2018

There are many types of faith in the world. One can have faith in a person or a god or the extra ordinary abilities of an incredible fellow like Pierre Carrillo, as he walks slowly across the sky, a few feet above my face. I had previously seen Pierre do amazing aerial feats and knew him as both an expert walker and a founding member of the Canadian Slackline Association. Even so laying on my back as he wandered across the blue above was thrilling, almost magical and provided an unusual and majestic point of view.

Like me the viewer lays at an angle which persuades  their eyes to follow his foot as it reaches calmly for the line. Yet it is his arms above spread like a priest about to bless his flock, which gives the photo its religious feel. This is reinforced again by the symmetry of the cross. Not a cross he bears, but one that bears him as he seems to float, a lone figure grounded against the blue heavens. The eye is also commanded to wander the tangent slackline, pointed feet and out stretched arms as they cut diagonal triangles about the photo.

This photo still sends a thrill through me each time I see it. It is far more than just a memory of a moment. Rather it’s a glimpse of something more than the sum of angles and lines, lights and shadows that play in conceptual concepts. It is a moment where everything aligned into magic and the click of a camera. It is this magic and that click that I hunt for and will always have faith that it will be just moments away.