I thought it would be nice to share some photos of the sky on the one day of the year when we have the most time to look at it.
I took a series of photos of the sky over a period of about three months quite some time ago and I hope to return to the subject again one day. I would love to see these printed large and on a wall for people to get lost in.
How many of us look to the sky for a message of some sort? Happy Solstice.
The first two images are absolutely beautiful. Those two would look sensational side by side on a wall. I agree with your sentiment about the meditative nature of watching clouds; I too like to have my head in the clouds and I do learn something from them.
Thank you, Cedric. I like your blog piece and plan on re-reading it when I have a bit more time.
A word I recently learned: luftmensch. A man who has his head in the clouds!
By the way, I was a bit torn on how to post these photos. I first tried them as the largest size possible but was concerned they were too big, so I went with this smaller size. If anyone would like to post their thoughts on posting images, I’d appreciate it.
Tree,
Happy belated Solstice! I too like the two first images the best and I too have been snapping clouds and mist.
Luftmensch made me think of Luftgeist, very different, a mythological spirit of the air. Erdgeist and Feuergeist and Wassergeists are spirits of the earth, fire and water, respectively.
Tree, about pictures, you can submit them as wide as 500 pixels.
Thanks, Birgit. Today I am wearing my four elements ring–very appropriate!
About the photos, I had originally set them at the largest size possible but I was concerned they were too big for the screen so I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what works best in this medium and how they think it affects the work.
Tree,
The only limitation that I encounter was making the pictures too long in the vertical directions. In an Internet cafe in Europe, I could not see this entire picture but had to scroll down to see the bottom: http://artandperception.com/2009/04/yellow-chakra.html
I like the subtle tones of #3, though I would have found it hard to resist increasing the contrast quite a lot. You chose a great size to show them. I think clouds work best as small treasures like yours, or very large. I just made #3 into a computer desktop background (scaled up, not tiled) and it looks great! I can now see all my icons again that I lost in
from Complications.
Thanks, Steve. And I’m happy you found your icons again ;-)
Tree:
I see them as doth Cedric.
Clouds are a kind of universal currency good anywhere, Your little photos are so positive in their impact and reminders that grandeur can come in small packages.
Steve:
Greetings. Birgit can maybe tell us what a German spirit of rust might be called.
Clouds can change from one glance to another, but your worn and rusted surface tells another tale – or perhaps many tales. So much wear and repainting and presented in such a flaked and pitted way puts me in mind of all the humanity that touched that surface over the years. No graffiti that I can see, nor specific patterns of wear, but the imprint of time as administered by human hands is so evident – culminating in a final surrender to the elements. For me it’s a sort of abstract history.
Jay,
You just wrote the statement for the Patina Project. Or half of it–the other half is the same idea of history and wear, but with no humans involved.
Steve:
I almost refrained from posting my comment/statement for fear that somebody would appropriate it. (Note to other readers: a visit to Patina Project reveals a discussion about stealing other peoples’ ideas.).
I have been told that a concern for keeping control of their inventions caused an early death for one of the Wright brothers. For them the secrecy had at least two negative consequences: it caused a kind of paranoid anxiety and the subsequent lock down of their designs appears to have prevented them from continuing their research. Consequently others went on to develop the technology that characterized modern aviation.
These days a Google search, lasting but seconds, will go far to reveal one’s relative position with an idea. In terms of a given subject, like surface effects, if approached with the right terminology, might reveal an entire tradition. Personally, I’ve pretty much given up worrying about whether someone else might be doing chain sculptures since my real issue isn’t about originality so much as it is finding validity.