SAM VANGHELUWE PINXIT: Seehund revisited

Thursday 7 July 2016

Seehund revisited

At five o'clock, nearly high tide. Virtually no wind. A glorious mother-of-pearl dawn. As I reached the top of the dike, my eyes were met with the spectacle of a white four-master sailing ship, followed by a black one.

Agree whole-heartedly with David Hockney's point, that a photograph never conveys that which charmed the photographer into taking the bloody photo in the first place. It's an illusion, a cultural delusion. The camera has only one eye, we usually have two - when we care to use them.

Disagree with Hockney's use of the word 'depiction', 'to depict', which suggests, or better, implies, that there is a pre-existing, extant, exterior reality, awaiting to be 'captured', 'depicted'.

"Der Welt ist nie sondern geweltet," says Heidegger.

Saw a seal swimming along the surf, eastwards.