Dear Friends,

When I started V&V back in 2012, I promised you this would be a sharing of my creative process;  well, here's a wonky page from my creative journal --

I created this issue's photograph with the help of A.I.  Why?

Years ago, I had a significant dream in which I saw my foot, balanced on point in a toe shoe - in a spotlight.  When I thought about an image of balance for this Spring Equinox V&V, that dream image, specifically, haunted me.

I typed a brief description into an A.I. image generator – some very wonky results came back (including limbs that looked like they belonged to E.T.).  Not right – not even close. And yet – with my post-production work in Photoshop, I was able to create this image that's eerily close to what I remember.

Why did I think of trying A.I.?  I'm afraid of it. I needed to try it to understand what I'm afraid of.

Here's what I remember from that dream that's not in this image: the sweat.  The full, heavy weight of a physical body - my own body – being hoisted up, balancing on that little block of wood.  You'll notice the point of the shoe in this photo is soft, somewhat blurred. Not what I remember from that dream.

Here's what I learned from this experiment:  I'm not selling my cameras.  For me, photographing lets me enter the world around me in exacting – almost excruciating – detail. 

I'm labeling this photo "The Still Point"  --  A.I. generated photograph created by Margaret McCarthy. The copyright issues around A.I. are raging amongst artists and through the courts.  Perhaps I should call this issue of V&V: "Opening a Can of Worms on The Spring Equinox".

The poem is a haiku written by me in the classic 5-7-5 syllable form.  No, I don't know how well A.I. counts syllables.  I didn't ask.

This week, I hope to catch my breath and re-connect to the balance that nature's still point blesses us with.