September 03, 2006
Clouds
This morning, on my way to finding morning glories for a diffferent post, I flipped through the eyeful moments that I recorded last weekend. I realized that among all those cosmic signs, Phillipino totems and pink carnations, I had some lovely cliche shots to share.
Last week, while binging on cliches, I searched google images for a visual to hypertext the word. Those damn sunrises were all over the place (as well as a substantial number of flowers). They are so breathtakingly beautiful, so inspiring, so healing, especially when experienced live and "in person". As the the words set in stone on the new granite memorial bench at the beach say. "Sunsets are like looking thru the gates of heaven" . Why then, are sunrise/sunset photographs thought to be cliches? Because the beauty of a sunset evokes a consistent positive response in everyone. It is the spectacle of the universe. The impulse to store a sacred moment is universal, therefore there are lots of photographs, rendering them common enought to be considered cliche. The photograph, alas, weak medicine compared to being there, fully in one's person.
I was just about to say that anyone can participate in a sunrise if they get up early enough. Then I thought about the necessity of being near a vista in order see one. Then I thought about all those people who live in cities who never have the opportunity to experience this kind of beauty "in person". And then I thought about poverty. And then I thought about places that are impoverished, but have natural vistas, like the Carribbean, or the Andes, the Himalayas or Indonesia. Does access to the beauty of nature change the way other deprivations are experienced?.
Which brings me to my final cloud photograph. Here you have the beauty of nature, reflected in a matrix of sorts, cut through with wires, touching the sewer. A visual answer to my question. It takes more effort to find beauty when conditions are imperfect. Nature trains the eye. Beauty is harder to see when the eye has not been conditioned by beautiful natural phenomenon. Or you could start with training the ear
So let's all get out there on this last long weekend of summer, and find something beautiful or amusing to appreciate, as Ernesto and John provide us with challenges.
Photo notes: