The Inner Path of Photography

We yearn for the taste of the sacred…and through our cameras discover it, the world, and ourselves.

Tag: Istanbul travel photos and poetry

“Prayer” (after Matisse)

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“The essential is to live in a state of mind
that is close to prayer.”

(Heidi)

 

Image: “Love as Prayer”
©2016 Heidi Straube, Istanbul, Turkey
First postings of the Istanbul Collection

Photographer’s Note:
I recently watched the film “A Model for Matisse,” an inspiring and loving documentary about the relationship between Henri Matisse and the woman who inspired him to create what Matisse proclaimed the masterpiece of his life’s work — The Chapel of the Rosary in the French Mediterranean village of Vence.

There were some who thought Matisse should stay away from creating his art in the religious world — Pablo Picasso was one. Picasso thought Matisse to be incorrect to build a chapel when he wasn’t a “believer.”

In a passionate letter to Picasso, Matisse wrote that he saw the chapel as a work of art. Sharing his deep feelings about religion, the sacred experience, and the source of his own art, he wrote:

“The essential is to work in a state of mind that is close to prayer.”

How beautiful, this expression of creating from the soul and heart.
And how precious to live our lives from this place.

May your day be filled with the sacred space, inspired from your own way of prayer.

“Run”

 

Bosphorus, Birds, Fog

Run my dear
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.

Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision

Of your beautiful heart.

        –  Hafiz

Image: “Bosphorus Birds” © Heidi Straube 2013
Larger image – Inner Path Photography website

“One of Those Poems”

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Write some more of those poems
he said dreamily
I love your poems, they are very beautiful…

So here is one
For You.

*****

I love how you always find the
Laughter
In the midst of life’s hardest situations

Always a playful story to be spun
That brings the
Light
back in.

What god have you descended from
to make You be
so Wise?

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