My youngest son Parker, a graduating high school senior, visited the University of South Carolina in Columbia this past spring. I heard “Dad, are you coming” as I paused to capture this architectural abstract with my Tamron 15-30mm lens. I love the extreme perspectives offered by this super-wide angle lens.
Carolina Parking Deck Abstract
Parker will be attending USC this fall. I wish I could go with him an experience college life all over again! He said I could be his roommate, but I’m not really sure he meant it.
The Arthur Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina is the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere. Completed in 2005, it’s main span of 1,545 ft (471 meters) crosses the Cooper River entrance into Charleston Harbor. While considered a marvel of modern engineering, the beautiful and scale of its sculpturesque architectural symmetry is often viewed as a work of art.
My morning walk into work offers some interesting architectural vignettes ready to snap – if I bring my camera to work. Early last month, I finally did!
Now that I’m working in downtown Greensboro, I’ve started taking the opportunity to walk around the Elm Street area before work, during lunch or after work. I expect this to be similar to my explorations of Winston-Salem the past several years. When you make your living outside of photography, you have to “shoot where you are”. Fortunately, the area is rich with photographic opportunities! So here’s the first in a series featuring mostly the downtown Elm Street area.
Elm Street Abstract
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Greetings, I’ve been away from my blog the last six weeks or so, working on a few portraits projects. I hope to get back in my regular photo post routine.
Blue Building in Greensboro
Since I started working in Greensboro a few months ago, I’ve wanted to photograph this cool nearby building. I finally brought my camera to work and shot these images last week.
Blue Building AbstractBlue Building Abstract Monochrome
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Earlier this summer, I attended the wedding of a friend and fellow Scout leader in Danville, Virginia. After the reception, I had the opportunity to visit the local tobacco warehouse district, near the Dan River, which is into it’s initial phases of urban renewal – the Danville River District. The late afternoon afforded some nice lighting. I plan to return soon to shoot in the early morning light.
Danville Riverfront Tobacco District 4Danville Tobacco District Composition 3Danville Tobacco District Composition 2Danville Tobacco District Composition 1Danville Tobacco District Composition 5
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I need your help in picking the best composition below, horizontal or vertical. These were captured early morning at a local park. The horizontal image is were I’m leaning; it feels more balanced. I also like the contrasting tonality between the two structures.
Park Maintenance Building Horizontal CompositionThe vertical image better isolates the interesting side lighting on the stairs and railing. Which do you like the best?
Park Maintenance Building Vertical CompositionThanks for stopping by and leaving your feedback! Click on an image to view a higher resolution version from my portfolio site.
The notion of “portals”, suggested by this composition, opens up a vast body of thought and science, particularly around the intersections of religion, philosophy and physics. How do we perceive what exists beyond our conventional notion of 3 dimensions? The ideas around this question are substantial. But here’s a quick summary of what I found along with some thoughts from my study on the subject.
Stone Park Portal – A Study of Extra-Dimensional Space
In Hinduism, all matter is an illusion know as Maya, where our narrow perception of physical and mental reality blinds us from knowing the “one truth”. Conversely, Brahman as a metaphysical concept, is the single binding unity behind the diversity in all that exists in the universe. Maya is destroyed when we perceive Brahman with transcendental knowledge.
In philosophy, there is the dualist view of “mind separate from matter” (i.e. Descartes), and the monism view of a singleness to everything. While proponents of materialism and physicalism debate the metaphysic questions of “ultimately, what is there?” and “what is it like”, the science of theoretical physics seeks to describe a scientific understanding of our universe.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the 20 century evolution of quantum mechanics has led to a compelling, but sometimes contradictory view of the universe. At a string theory conference in 1995 M-theory immerged as the unifying “Theory of Everything” (ToE); its simplicity and mathematically elegant formula could fit on a t-shirt. An intriguing component of string theory is the existence of a multi-dimensional universe.
To me, experiencing art is a more monist perception of the type of artistic medium and its inherent physical attributes, along with the conscious attributes of feeling and interpretive understanding. For example, my composition above as seen in an art gallery, the viewer could perceive the physical aspects of the framed work along with physical aspects of the photographic subject – the stone textures, shapes, lighting and depth. Hopefully, they would also perceive possibilities of what the implied space means, and the associated feelings. Does the shadow imply the existence of a person within the space at a particular point in time?
I like the view of Max Planck, the father of quantum theory. He said, “There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.”
