A Light Shadow
Hiding in Plain Sight
Surviving powerful, oppressive forces requires creativity and stamina. Peoples have been doing this for generation upon generation throughout the world. The tendency for these forces to arise and persistently unleash their attachment to power upon the world is dauntingly consistent and painfully destructive.
I saw early on that my personal condition was a reflection to the whole. That while I was terribly alone, I was not unique. The oppression of my childhood was essentially the same condition mirrored throughout the society. This prevalence made it particularly difficult to maintain my own mind, my own consciousness, as I was very much alone and unique in my view and understanding.
I had to hold space for my sense of self, for my awareness, be my own protector, all the while keeping it hidden for many, many years. This is very difficult to do. The influence of powerful forces on the psyche are complex and subtle, as is time. People end up quite easily divorced from themselves, split in two, believing one thing while being another and quite unconscious of the condition. This split is intentional, it is the point. The split is what makes people particularly manipulable.
People also highly underestimate the power of propaganda. Most people are far less individual in their thinking then they would like to believe. So I have made a lifelong study of this phenomena and experimented with the effects of different strategies on the condition.
The experiment continues, it does not have an end. It unfolds more and more as things occur and tests become conclusive.
One very important practice, in my experience, which informs the way I communicate, is to simply observe and become aware of things as they are.
We can be purposeful and we can recognize our own authority, however, these things are revealed in the present moment and do not require power to be true.
On the Horizon…
Due to scheduling limitations, I have decided to hold the Mindful Photography Workshop early next year. Registration will open January 2026.
Surrender to intuition and forsake the known...
Mindful Photography opens the door to new points of view and deepens your existing photographic practice through meditation and observation techniques.
An exhibition I am supporting opens this Saturday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s been a truly inspirational process and I am so thankful to be collaborating with world class artist Cody S. Brothers as well as visionary Santa Fe gallerist and curator Bobby Beals.
This project is an empirical example of the power of conscious creating and embodies everything Matilija Salon is about.
If you are in Santa Fe, do come join us!
Bobby Beals Presents… “SKULL” a striking solo exhibition by analog photographer Cody S. Brothers, opening Saturday, November 1, 2025, at As Above So Below in Santa Fe. The show will run from 6PM until close, marking a powerful exploration of death, transformation, and legacy through the lens of 8 x 10 inch analog film.
SKULL presents a series of hauntingly beautiful photographs of skulls — each image developed by hand, with no digital post-production. Working exclusively with analog film, Brothers captures the raw truth of each negative, exploring what it means to read a negative — to see life and death in its unaltered state. The resulting prints become both relic and revelation, a meditation on the death of a lifestyle, the death of love, and the perpetual cycle of rebirth.