Self Enquiry by visionary digital artist Tony Pinfold
Self Enquiry
The dream of Dual by Tony Pinfold
For some the dream of dual (duality) lasts a life time, the illusion that we are all separate, unconnected from everyone and everything about us is a nightmare, most can never shake. Sadly Non dualism is much to hard or to beautiful to grasp in the western world, duality seems just more probable. The Universe and beyond for the majority is just far to big to be a connected ‘Oneness’, for those that choose never to challenge their perceptions non-duality will always seem just like another way-out idea.
For me duality is just another ’small mind’ idea that offers nothing but a raging sea of discontent that can never be calmed, it is the very hell that so many fear and talk of.
Available from February 7th 2010
Yes after almost a year i finally have had time to put together a new video. I decided to go for the new wide format size which is much better. If you have broadband you can click on the HD button and view it virtually as i created it, the you tube quality is much improved much sharper.
About the Video
This time my work touches on our natural state of being and how we are all linked within a vast interconnected matrix of energy. Within this ‘Oneness’ I believe everything ‘just is’ for me duality is just an illusion of the human mind. The best advice I have ever heard is to ‘Call off the search’ and just be. In case you were wondering I created the music with some loop software it enabled me to create a piece of music that enhanced the pictures without taking away from them. If you are a musician who owns the rights to your music and would like to have a track featured on my next slide show send me a link so I can hear your stuff, Im happy to consider all styles which will enhance the emotion of my work.
I would be very grateful if you could spread this video to all you know so I can begin to climb the ratings and get my work out into the wonderful wide world – thank you for your help as always.
My First Visionary artwork for 2010
So here it is – my first work of 2010 ‘In Search of Wisdom’
For me this image has many meanings, but like much of my work I belivie it is posing a question to the viewer and for me that question is ’Is Wisdom good for our health?
Science has prodded and poked everything that moves or doesn’t and what has it really gained us? Surely as many negative things as it has positive. For me the image shows what could be a mutant tree under observation in some science lab. Maybe this could be the last tree on earth being kept alive in some idealized environment. Who knows? From a spiritual point of view it’s back to the old ‘being’ concept, just let things be. Every time man tries to ‘fix’ nature in anyway the world always ends up a poorer more sterile place. Call off the search and let us enjoy what we have before it or we are gone.
‘In Search of Wisdom’ will be in my online store from Feb 1st 2010 in the three usual sizes…
You are perfect just the way you are. Sure you can’t see it, you wish you had a better relationship or a more interesting job. Maybe you wish your parents had loved you more or that you hadn’t been so bullied at school but the fact is everything you have or have done is as you wanted it.
I know that’s a very hard pill to swallow because why would you have wanted such a problematic life, full of worry, pain, deprivations and lonesomeness?
In truth it has always been impossible to please you. I mean you awake almost everyday with an eye looking out for faults, disharmony and you almost pat yourself on your back when you find them. Every little ‘good’ thing that happens in your life is met with a heart full of woe as you wait for the next problem that will confirm to you that nothing in life could ever really go your way.
You truly believed that life is a test, a mountain to climb, that you have some great purpose and that unless you put up with all the crap you will never be given the glittering prize. So when exactly is this perfect day to be realized? You are up on the metamorphic cross, day in day out, announcing to the world how bad things are, when are you exactly going to let happiness, joy and abundance in? Tomorrow? No, that would be too soon. Probably sometime in the next few years when you finally get your life straightened out… Get real – your how old? If you haven’t started to kick back and stop fighting everything and everyone by now are you ever going to really?
I can honestly say unless you change your tune now, this very second you will be stuck on repeat until your mind or body finally gives out, and I am not talking about the aches and pains that you are always going on and on about. Yeah I know it sounds like I’m having a go, but really unless you wake up from this self imposed nightmare you are doomed to live it over and over again.
Open your mind and heart up to what may seem impossible to you, that life is good fun, easy and that everything you want is around the next corner. Dive into the river of life and let go, really let go. You may discover that in fact the life you have really is just as you want it or that simply because you are so desperate to live your life you are cutting down the shoots of opportunity before they have even had a chance to sprout.
Challenge your perceptions today on everything and start to see life, your life through new eyes. You will be amazed at what you will observe I know I was. Treat everyday anew and you will never be trapped in a circle of life which holds no wonder. Throw away your grasping for purpose and reason in your life, you will never find them at least not in the places you think. You are a free spirit bound by rules and concept you never made – break free from these mental chains that bind you and live, truly live your short time in this form on this Earth.
OK let’s get one thing straight from the very beginning cameras do not make photographers. I have talked in the past about this and how great photographs come when one is truly ‘in the zone’. They are born more from feeling than thought like most things. That said to be a great photographer one must understand how the tool you use works and it goes without saying that the better the tool the easier you can achieve your visions.
Photography is about being in the right place at the right time and often some basic homework has to be done to make that happen. For example, there is no point waking up at 6am to photograph the sunrise if it came up an hour earlier. Often great photographs are happening all around you, but they may require you to look up, down or back to find them. But this is not a ‘How to’ blog on photography this is about the new Canon D7, the first camera I have got excited about in years. Despite the fact I make a living from photography (all my visionary art is created from photographs I have taken) I do not own a ‘professional’ camera. These days I use a small compact cameras because I like to keep on the move and don’t like to lug tons of equipment around.
While I love my Panasonic Lumix (DMC-FZ28) for many reason it can never reproduce the high picture quality of a good SLR. This could be seen as a snobbish statement but I have to say it is a fact. I do not subscribe to the idea you can’t take great pictures with compacts but when it comes to blowing up conventional images for large prints SLR cameras win out, they have to otherwise why would you cough up all that extra money.
When I first started studio photography some 7 years ago I had a Canon but it was a hobbyist model and never design for daily shoots so it soon had an internal melt down. It was then I became a Nikon man and stayed that way right up until my ’spiritual’ awakening in late 2006 when I sold all my camera equipment and brought a small compact canon G7. This was a great camera and responsible for most of my work over the past 3 years until the lens became scratched. I then brought my Panasonic. Now as I look around for a quality SLR Camera I see there are many options available. Yes I could go for an entry level SLR again but I doubt it would be up to the job long term, for me top level so called ‘professional’ cameras are over priced, no one should ever need to spend £5000 + on a camera. So the upshot of it is I’m looking at what they call a semi professional camera. While my ego may well be dented by the tag ’semi Professional’ I see little wrong with the main players in this model bracket – the Nikon 300S, Canon D7 and Canon D5 yes there are a couple of other brands that operate in this price range but I want a camera brand that is backed by a whole host of accessories. The price and specifications of the Canon D7 seem to make it the camera for me. I will also have to buy some new lens, a tripod, cable release etc . The money for this will not be found mixed in with the fluff of my pocket so I will have to do some major manifesting.
The most practical step would be to obtain a sponsorship from someone who would like to be associated with my work. I would be more than happy to place my sponsors on my website, this blog and on all my show stands and flyers. If my work fails to bring a sponsorship bidding war, my next option would be to find a wealthy benefactor who likes what I do and simply wants to make a no string philanthropic gesture. I guess the most obvious thing would be simply to sell more of my current work. Many markets lie untapped but I, like most artists, am not big on self promotion. I tend not to push my work as a commercial product because I believe only those that truly need or resonate with my work will buy it. I’m not out to market my work like a can of baked beans, it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe I could ask you to help me if you are one of the many thousands that have brought my photo art and enjoy having it in your life I would be very grateful if you would tell others about what I do and what you see in my works.
I truly believe that if I am meant to get this photographic equipment I will. I have to just let go and let god as Wayne Dyer puts it.
About the Canon D7
Below is a video review of the canon D7 by Gordon Laing who always produces great reviews of camera equipment at http://www.cameralabs.com.
Below is one of my guinea pigs ‘Gus’ (full name Clarence Augustus) in seasonal outfit, Russell refused to pose for the picture as there was not enough parsley on offer.
Enough of this just give me some food
I have to say I always thought guinea pigs where rather boring until one came into my life some months ago. Gus proved to me that G-pigs are great pets. We soon went and got Gus a buddy called Rus and they live together very well in a big inside cage. It seems that Guinea pigs are much happier living inside the house than outside as they are not big on temperature changes.
As a person who is big on animal welfare I am always sure to make my pets cages as big as possible and that usually means making it myself as the cages you buy in pet stores are simply way too small.
While I think G-Pigs are very cool I still would not recommend them for small children, as like all small animals they are easily injured and require a lot of care. G-pigs are very very messy animals and they like to pooh and pee everywhere so their cage needs to be cleaned a great deal. That said they are not smelly animals and they keep themselves very clean. (most of the time)
I have included a few videos of Guinea Pigs I found on youtube below if you think you may like to give one a loving home. Gus was a stray and near to death but Rus came from a pet store that seems to look after their animals very well.
I know people who get attached to pets may seem rather sad to those who don’t have them, but I think only the coldest hearts can not fail to full in love with animals once they truly begin to observe and understand them. Yes they become like children to those who can’t or don’t want them. Finally I always recommend getting a pet from a shelter if possible. All my dogs have come from Clacton animal shelter and I really respect the work they do and how well they vet future owners. Many ‘Pets at home’ stores in the UK now have small animals which need a second chance which I think is just great. I wish all pet stores would do this. Unless you are home often I would not recommend getting a pet of any sort as they do take up a lot of time, restrict ones freedom, require attention and love daily.
