Stone
“…the photographer can make the view feel the real values of human emotions: Love, spirituality, garner, intimacy, mystery, curiosity, humanism, and the desire to discover and enjoy life.
It is rewarding to encounter David Scheinbaum, who represents all these characteristics and continuously works to achieve excellence.
The way David presents the world to us, life and especially stone bring home and happiness and a very special joy.
I am sure many of you will join me in thanking David for sharing his talents and in paying homage to a man who is an example of what an artist should be.”
Ricardo Legorretta, excerpt from the forward to Stone: A Substantial Witness
Pablo Neruda “Poema XIX’ from the work Las Piedras del Cielo
Stones of the Sky
Silence is intensified
into a stone:
the trembling world,
wars, birds, houses,
cities, trains, woods,
the wave that repeats the sea’s questions,
the unending passage of dawn,
all arrive at stone, sky nut:
a substantial witness.
The dusty stone on the road
knows Pedro, and his father before,
knows the water from which he was born:
it is the mute word of earth:
it says nothing because it’s the heir
of the silence before, the motionless ocean,
of the empty land.
The stone was there before the wind,
before the man, before the dawn:
its first movement
was the first music of the river.
©Fundación Pablo Neruda, 1970, English translation by James Nolan,
from Stones of the Sky ©1970, 1987, 2002 by James Nolan
Enjoying David Scheinbaum’s photographs, deep emotions and great joy invade my soul.
Art is one of the most beautiful activities of the human being. Thanks to the technology of more than a century ago, photography joined the fine arts and in the last years has achieved levels of excellence unthinkable thirty years ago. Today through photography we can learn, travel, and enjoy beauty in an art form.
The artist is born. He or she can learn the technology and techniques to create art, but the talent is inside the artist. To share this talent is the essence of the artist’s life, his passion, his reason to love, and his duty.
The photographer must not only be an artist but needs an additional sensibility. He must understand nature, space, social aspects, and human feelings to transmit them to the viewer. Above all, the photographer must be a humanist, to love nature and people as well as human achievements.
There is an old Mexican saying, “nothing is true or false; it all depends in the glass through it is seen”. Each of us sees life in a different way. This is what makes the difference between a picture and a work of art. It is the artist who, through the lens, discovers the essence of the subject and who makes the viewer not only understand the object photographed but also his existence and purpose in life.
Experts pretend to educate us on what is esthetically beautiful and what is not. In certain endeavors such as photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture, aesthetics are crucial. The most important element of aesthetics is a sense of proportions. There are people who have it and people who don’t. There are no formulas for this; many people have tried to establish rules but have failed. The sense of proportion is a gift from God that only a few receive.
The world is made of objects but we can’t see or know them without light. Light created form, color, shadow, and texture. Only masters are able to handle light to levels of excellence.
By having and learning these qualities and tools, but above all with love, passion, and hard work the photographer can make the view feel the real values of human emotions: Love, spirituality, garner, intimacy, mystery, curiosity, humanism, and the desire to discover and enjoy life.
It is rewarding to encounter David Scheinbaum, who represents all these characteristics and continuously works to achieve excellence.
The way David presents the world to us, life and especially stone bring home and happiness and a very special joy.
I am sure many of you will join me in thanking David for sharing his talents and in paying homage to a man who is an example of what an artist should be.
Thank you David.
Ricardo Legorreta, Forward to Stone: A Substantial Witness