TRANSIENT LIGHT, FLEETING TIME

By Robert J Golden

This book is composed of: 

•50 essays of about 350 words each laid out across from 

•a full page photograph 

•and note about the picture itself.

THE IDEA

The full-page images thoughtfully relate to the texts. The

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Golden Pictures.com
• Release date: Jan 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9780956302144

Robert J Golden

BA, Modern European History, BS in Design from the University of Michigan and studied at the London School of Film Technique. Robert Golden has produced many photo-stories for magazines and newspapers, (Nova, the Weekend Telegraph, New York Times Book Reviews, the Radio Times and many others) and many coves and interiors for Penguin, Heinemann, Fontana, the Smithsonian in Washington, etc; written/directed over 40 documentaries, 2 award winning feature films and 900 TV commercials. He has written 3 plays, 40 film scripts, 1 novel, poems, and essays about photography, politics and culture. Recently he has been teaching young people about Democracy and about photo/film-storytelling for various EU projects, to instigate humane social change.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

This book of love and passion is a joy to open and read; an account crammed with philosophy, politics, history of art, science and creativity. It makes links for the reader; the case for a fair world as illustrated by Deep Song, Essay 21. The layout emphasises the way the text dances with the imagery.

Curiosity often doesn’t survive childhood in our culture; Robert Golden revives it, links it with imagination, makes it central to our existence. He demonstrates photography as a facet of art in both his words and his images; explains their importance and function. He explores asking questions as a way to reach deeper into our lives. A thread runs through highlighting the way to tell our personal stories, our personal truth. For readers who are also photographers he is generous with details of how to achieve a print that matches our pre- visualised image; how to remain true to ourselves despite the prevalence of selfies and social media.

Robert’s courage to use self-disclosure, admit self-doubt - from his background and early upbringing - as well as his deeply held beliefs touches the reader. He writes and photographs with meaning, at the same time, leaving space for readers to bring their own experiences, to interpret text and pictures in their own way.

His selected images are wonderful and strong, graphic and sometimes dramatic, always touching and moving. Their persuasiveness explains the story; maybe they are the story. He shows as well as tells how to construct a narrative; explains why we need to tell them; who will benefit from hearing them. He helps us understand the function of a camera to record history, tradition and beauty; to document life as we live it.

The contrasts in content on different pages gives a liveliness. There are some gently tender interludes, Essay 10 and 22 particularly resonate, among the information and observed inhumanity. The book has an intellectual force. In reaching our emotions, it becomes poetic, lyrical. It expresses forcibly the oppressed world we inhabit. And yet is a creative work of hope. His observations and pictures spotlight people under his overarching rainbow, a love of humanity.

Ivor Uglow, artist & professional educator

Joy Uglow, textile artist & professional educator

1. Seeing & Looking

I came from a home that placed little value on culture and learning. I became entranced with photography when I was ten years old and immediately began to absorb everything about photography I could get my hands on.

Amongst the photographers I encountered in books and magazines were W. Eugene Smith, Paul Strand and especially Edward Weston and his diaries called DAYBOOKS.

I came to understand that photography could reveal truths about life I was hungry to grasp, and truths I hardly knew existed, and to do so with great beauty. I found I could be suspended for many minutes by an image and begin to see into it. I would describe to myself in words what I was looking at, thinking what it was about and even why it had been made. I realized, unlike with music and film, I had to make the journey to the pictures to really understand them.

Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher and contributor to media theory, referred to photography as a cool medium, which viewers must motivate themselves towards, whereas film, opera and music are hot media, which reach out to engage the audience.

I imagined that the medium would carry me beyond my restricted childhood surroundings to a broader world filled with exciting people and events. Pulling myself up by my short bootstraps forced me to confront many picture-making problems.

I came to understand ‘seeing’ was not just a matter of looking, but also what I understood via my culture and my developing visual literacy which aided what I could transform into meaningful ideas and vital emotions.

Ricky Romain, Painter - Axminster, Devon, UK - 2014

Ricky Romain is a fine painter of knowable characters eked out of paint, invigorated by his humanity. He is reading from the Pentateuch, revitalizing his energy, his beliefs and his imagination. This image was made during my filming a story about Ricky and his work. Often whilst filming, when I had the shot I was after, I would grab my stills camera and photograph.

The film can be seen here: https://robertgoldenpictures.com/photography/the-theatre-the-arts/ricky-romain/

2. Curiosity First

As I grew emotionally and intellectually, I came to understand that life’s problems almost never offer ‘either/or’. Nothing is truly clear, little is completely understood and even less is fully right or wrong.

Making photographs begins with curiosity. Without curiosity there is little desire to enter what is a time-consuming exercise. Without curiosity - an inexplicable desire to regard the light reflecting from the ever moving, ever changing and unpredictable three-dimensional world, and to coax it through a lens - I may as well have given up the thought of becoming a serious photographer. I recognised the great abstraction early on: capturing light and transforming time in front of the lens into a frozen two-dimensional artefact becomes a representation rather than actual life.

It’s as a child’s curiosity asking, what is this? and what is that? It’s not ‘childish’ but filled with the innocence of ‘child-like’ curiosity making sense of the world.

I continue asking ‘why’ until there is no ‘why’ left. At that moment – given the limitations of my knowledge and personality – I’ve reached as far down into the essence of the thing as I can. It’s like cooking ingredients of a sauce until only the essential syrup is left. Once you go beyond that, the sauce becomes