Minor White's Images of a Spiritual Journey By: Dylan Hensley

“Reaching a 'creative' state of mind thru positive action is considered preferable to waiting for 'inspiration'” (White 82). this statement was Minor White's dogma

White's concept of "equivalence" was developed from Alfred Stieglitz's original idea Stieglitz coined the term, but White developed it more fully, photography as an equivalent for human emotion White's approach to photography was spiritual, combining Eastern philosophy and meditation as ways of accessing creative expression

Double Navel 1947 example of theory of equivalence the framing of the rock formation creates an image of a woman's torso

Sandstone Eye Number 1 1950 eroded rock surface with depression in raised ring in bottom foreground

Crockett, California 1952 with painted white arrow, circle forms Weathered Door Crockett, California 1952 with painted white arrow, circle forms

Outstretched Form Moving Up 1950-1953 dark connected globular forms on rock

when he was teaching at The California School of Fine Arts, some say that White's real strength lie in his teaching skills. A guru-like, meta-physical presence, many students lived with and studied under White's mystical tutelage (Waltze 1). the students were more like his assistants, in that his classroom was like a laboratory where they experimented with new ideas (Comer, Klochko and Gunderson 82) The more conventional students were surprised to find that what photographs obviously convey is often meager compared to what they convey by suggestion

1955 Naples & Danseville, New York leading lines Road With Poplar Trees 1955 Naples & Danseville, New York leading lines

1959 San Francisco, California The Golden Gate Bridge 1959 San Francisco, California

Snow on Garage Door 1960 Rochester, New York

Capitol Reef 1962

Moon and Wall Encrustations 1964

Work Cited Comer, Stephanie, Deborah Klochko, and Jeff Gunderson. The Moment of Seeing: Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2006. Print. "Minor White". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2013 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/642060/Minor-White >. Waltzer, Garie. “Minor White” Focal Encyclopedia of Photography 4th edition. Ed. Peres, Michael. Focal Press. Luminous Lint for Connoisseurs of Fine Photography. 2013