symbiotic nature
View allAll Photos Tagged INTERDEPENDENT
(english follow)
LES CHANTS DE LA TERRE
Tout était silence.
On aurait pu entendre le glissement du brouillard s’élever dans l’atmosphère
Tellement le silence de la forêt boréale était profond, mystérieux,
Et sans doute aussi, angoissant pour ceux qui, parmi nous, sont plus à l’aise dans les environnements créés par l’humain.
Au détour d’un sentier emprunté par de grands cervidés,
Un lieu inattendu baigné d’une lumière elfique, Déchira la monotonie de cette forêt peuplée d’épinettes noires et de sapins.
Ici, le vivant est humble, mais pourtant…
Devant moi, s’étendait un jardin boréal, d’une rare harmonie. De jeunes mélèzes en robe automnale, disposés en demi-cercle sur le pourtour du jardin, me semblaient former un choeur entonnant un chant silencieux, inexprimable, essentiel.
Cette vision m’enchanta, bien au-delà des sensations esthétiques flatteuses que l’on ressent au contact de la beauté de la nature.
Car, admirer un paysage, ressentir l’émerveillement qu’il procure… c’est aller au-delà de l’émotion.
C’est pénétrer dans l’intimité de ce paysage, tous les sens en éveil, entrer en relation avec les sources, celles du vivant et du non-vivant, devant nous et au-delà.
C’est aussi et surtout, en tant qu’humain, se trouver à sa place dans ces paysages, une voix parmi des millions d’autres formes de vies, mais toutes interdépendantes dans le choeur des Chants de la Terre. *
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques du Monde de Poësia
* Inspiré de Alexandre Lacroix, Devant la beauté de la nature, Flammarion, 2021
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SONGS OF THE EARTH
Everything was quiet.
We could have heard the gliding of the fog rising in the atmosphere
So deep was the silence of the boreal forest, mysterious,
And no doubt scary too for those of us who are more comfortable in human-made environments.
At the bend of a path taken by large deer,
An unexpected place bathed in elven light,
Ripping through the monotony of this forest populated by black spruce and fir trees.
Here, the living is humble, but yet…
In front of me rolled a boreal garden of rare harmony. Young larches in their autumn robe, arranged in a semicircle around the perimeter of the garden, seemed to me to form a choir intoning/chanting a silent, inexpressible, essential song.
This vision enchanted me, well beyond the flattering aesthetic sensations that one feels in contact with the beauty of nature.
Because, admiring a landscape, feeling the wonder it brings... is going beyond emotion.
It is to penetrate into the intimacy of the landscape, all the senses awake, to enter into a relationship with the sources, those of the living and the non-living, in front of us and beyond.
It is also and above all, as a human being, to find one's place in these landscapes, one voice among millions of other forms of life, but all interdependent in the choir of Songs of the Earth. *
Patrice photographer, Chronicles of the Lands of Poësia
* Inspired by Alexandre Lacroix, Devant la beauté de la nature, Flammarion, 2021
This will be my last post for a while, as I am leaving for some holidays....:)
Visiting CRETA, the land of Heroes and Gods.
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HUGS and stay well.
FOOD FOR THOUGHTS:
global citizenship or world citizenship typically defines a person who places their identity with a "global community" above their identity as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders and that the planetary human community is interdependent and whole; humankind is essentially one. The term has been used in education and political philosophy and has enjoyed popular use in social movements such as the "World Citizen" movement and the Mondialisation movement.
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Le viaduc de Millau est un pont à haubans franchissant la vallée du Tarn, dans le département de l'Aveyron, en France. Portant l’autoroute A75, il est la jonction entre le Causse Rouge et le Causse du Larzac en franchissant une brèche de 2 460 mètres de longueur et de 343 mètres de profondeur au point le plus haut, dans un panorama de grande qualité et avec des vents susceptibles de souffler à plus de 200 km/h.
(English follow)
Par-delà l’horizon
Devant ma fenêtre,
Des nuages bas sont venus embrasser la Terre,
Comme des amants éternels
Sous une pluie chaude et vitale.
D’ici, le monde visible ne fait qu’un,
Toutes formes de vie interconnectées, interdépendantes,
Calmement, en paix, sans égard au grondement de l’orage qui s’annonce.
Là-bas, l’horizon a disparu,
Dissimulé par les aimants qui tournoient entre ciel et Terre,
Dans ce monde qu’on pourrait tenir dans une seule main.
Mais, par-delà l’horizon,
Il y a d’autres fenêtres.
Des fenêtres qui s’ouvrent de l’infiniment petit à l’infiniment grand
Sur soi, sur l’espèce humaine et toutes les autres,
Sur la rumeur du Temps qui passe.
Toi, ma Paix, viendras-tu avec moi,
« découvrir les mots qui se cachent dans la rumeur des forêts et des vagues? » *
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques de Poësia
emprunté à Gustave Flaubert, Novembre
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Beyond the horizon
In front of my window,
Low clouds have come to embrace the Earth,
Like eternal lovers
Under a warm and vital rain.
From here, the visible world is one,
All forms of life interconnected, interdependent,
Calmly, in peace, regardless of the roar of the coming storm.
Over there, the horizon has disappeared,
Hidden by the lovers that swirl between sky and earth,
In this world that could be held in one hand.
But beyond the horizon
There are other windows.
Windows that open from the infinitely small to the infinitely large
On oneself, on the human species and all the others,
On the rumor of passing time.
You, my Peace, will you come with me,
“Discover the words hidden in the murmur of forests and waves? » *
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Patrice photographer, Chronicles of Poësia
* borrowed from Gustave Flaubert, November
(english follow)
LA VIEILLE BRANCHE
Une lumière elfique
Perçait le sous-bois
À l’orée de la vieille forêt
Comme pour m’inviter à y pénétrer plus avant.
Je suivis sa délicate lueur
Jusqu’à une très vieille branche
Fissurée et ravinée par le temps.
Elle portait fièrement de jeunes fleurs,
Et son vieil écorce hébergeait
Une vaste communauté de petits végétaux et de micro-organismes,
Défiant les conceptions humaines du temps et de l’évolution.
Peu d’organismes terrestres
Outre les arbres, les arbustes et leurs ramifications souterraines,
Peuvent abriter une telle richesse de vies interdépendantes,
Une « sagesse génétique » riche de centaines de millions d’années d’évolution.
En cette fin d’après-midi,
La lueur elfique s’atténua.
Mais en moi, le chemin resta éclairé.
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques du Monde de Poësia
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THE OLD BRANCH
An elven light
Pierced the undergrowth
At the edge of the old forest
As if to invite me to go deeper into it.
I followed its delicate glow
To a very old branch
Cracked and furrowed by time.
She proudly wore young flowers,
And its old bark harbored
A vast community of small plants and microorganisms,
Challenging human conceptions of time and evolution.
Few terrestrial organisms
In addition to trees, shrubs and their underground ramifications,
Can harbor such a wealth of interdependent lives,
A "genetic wisdom" rich in hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
At the end of the afternoon,
The elven glow faded.
But within me the path remained lit.
Patrice photographist, Chronicles of the Lands of Poësia
(english follow)
SYMBIOSE
Au gré d’un sentier serpentant dans la forêt boréale,
J’ai rencontré deux vies, deux vies très modestes
Au pied d’un peuplement d’épinettes rabougries, tout aussi modestes.
Rarement s’arrête t-on pour les observer
Plus rarement encore pour les photographier.
Ou même en parler.
Elles font partie d’une biodiversité négligée.
Ces deux vies modestes ont fait symbiose
Dans une forme de vie composite
Appelée lichen *
Improbable association entre une algue et un champignon
L’une apportant à l’autre les ressources primordiales
Pour survivre à des conditions extrêmes
Et offrir à d’autres formes de vies, (ici des caribous et autres cervidés)
Une nourriture vitale.
C’est une nature tissée de réseaux biologiques:
Lichens, arbres et autres végétaux, micro-organismes, oiseaux, insectes, mammifères Vous et moi inclus…
Tous interdépendants.
Liés, connectés
À toutes les échelles des réseaux de vie.
Devant moi, une simple talle de petits lichens blancs…
Dans ma tête… l’étincelle d’une éthique différente
Une éthique de l’appartenance
Une éthique du respect et de l’interdépendance.
Ici, devant moi
Au gré d’un sentier.
Patrice photographiste, Chroniques de Poësia
* Il existe plus de 20 000 espèces de lichens. Ici, on voit le Cladonia rangeferina ou lichen de caribou ou de rennes (reindeer lichen), très présent dans les régions boréales de l’hémisphère nord. ___________________
SYMBIOSIS
Along a trail winding through the boreal forest,
I met two lives, two very modest lives
At the foot of a stand of scrubby spruce trees, just as modest.
We rarely stop to observe them
More rarely still to photograph them.
Or even talk about it.
They are part of a neglected biodiversity.
These two modest lives made a symbiosis
In a composite life form
Called lichen *
Improbable association between an algae and a fungus
One bringing to the other essential resources
To survive extreme conditions
And offer other forms of life, (here caribou and other deer)
Vital food.
It is a nature woven from biological networks:
Lichens, trees and other plants, microorganisms, birds, insects, mammals
You and me included ...
All interdependent.
Linked, connected
At all scales of life networks.
In front of me, a simple thallus of small white lichens ...
In my head ... the spark of a different ethic
An ethic of belonging
An ethic of respect and interdependence.
Here in front of me
Along a trail.
Patrice Photographist, Chronicles of the Lands of Poësia
* There are over 20,000 species of lichens. Here, we see the Cladonia rangeferina or caribou or reindeer lichen, very present in the boreal regions of the northern hemisphere.
Es un día para rendir homenaje a nuestro planeta y reconocer a la Tierra como nuestro hogar y nuestra madre, así como lo han expresado distintas culturas a lo largo de la historia, demostrando la interdependencia entre sus muchos ecosistemas y los seres vivos que la habitamos.
El otro día leí que se produjo más basura en los últimos 40 años que
en toda la historia de la humanidad. Se tira absolutamente todo. nada es duradero, todo es descartable, hay que cambiar el celular, el auto, la computadora, la TV, porque hay un nuevo modelo, porque tiene nueva función.
Me educaron para guardar todo, pues pude servir mañana, y no estoy de acuerdo con esta manera de actuar, si no se cambia de actitud, las nuevas generaciones encontraran un mundo de basura acumulada.
San Francisco, California
For me, this photo is musical. It reminded me the use of counterpoint.
"In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. ... The term originates from the Latin punctus contra punctum meaning "point against point", i.e. "note against note". WP
Contrepoint
Pour moi, cette photo est musicale. Cela m'a rappelé l'utilisation du contrepoint.
"En musique, le contrepoint est la relation entre deux ou plusieurs lignes musicales (ou voix) qui sont harmoniquement interdépendantes mais indépendantes dans le rythme et le contour mélodique. ... Le terme provient du latin punctus contra punctum signifiant "point contre point", c'est-à-dire "note contre note". WP
This symbol is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.
Yin and Yang made of salt. Done for Looking close...on Friday!
Sunflowers & Lavenders…Opposite beauties but perfect harmony….complementary, interconnected and interdependent existence… One of the best colour combinations in Provence…. BeNowMeHere, Valensole, Provence, France, 2015 via 500px bit.ly/1nuY2aI
Also another large 11 metre sculpture I saw at Menlyn Maine in April 2017.
“We live together therefore we are interdependent” Artist: Anton Smit.
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Runa Photography, Daniel © 2020
© Some rights reserved, don´t use this image without my permission
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En el 50ª aniversario del Día Internacional de la Madre Tierra quiero efectuar mi homenaje a esta fecha y en tiempo de Coronavirus.
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El Día de la Tierra (oficialmente Día Internacional de la Madre Tierra ) es un día celebrado en muchos países el 11 de abril y en algunos otros el 22 de abril. Su promotor, el senador estadounidense Gaylord Nelson, instauró este día para crear una conciencia común a los problemas de la sobrepoblación, la producción de contaminación, la conservación de la biodiversidad y otras preocupaciones ambientales para proteger la Tierra.
Es un día para rendir homenaje a nuestro planeta y reconocer a la Tierra como nuestro hogar y nuestra madre, así como lo han expresado distintas culturas a lo largo de la historia, demostrando la interdependencia entre sus muchos ecosistemas y los seres vivos que la habitamos.
Fuente: wikipedia
One definition of community is; a group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat. If you read about how trees communicate with each other and with other organisms around them, you will be amazed at how well they work together. Humans sometimes think that planting trees in rows to give each tree space and light to grow is best for them when some trees actually do better when clumped together for support. Happy Tree-mendous Tuesday!
Ion Prophecies - The Guardian Of The Portal by Daniel Arrhakis (2016)
With the music : Audiomachine - Final Hope
The Eternity Portal Guardian, he watches over the passage of the physical world to the spiritual world where there is no time or space ... an eternal being between two worlds so different ... and so interdependent ...
English follow
(extraits de Poësia - Une Odyssée vitale, à paraître)
HABITAT
Le vouloir-vivre, autrement dit, la volonté de vivre, est commune à toutes les espèces vivantes sur Terre. C’est le fondement de la vie elle-même de tendre à se reproduire, à se développer et évoluer. Si l’être humain partage cet instinct avec toutes les autres formes de vie, son vouloir-vivre doit aller au-delà de ses algorithmes biologiques, ceux d’une espèce dominante.
Le vouloir-vivre humain doit faire appel à sa conscience élargie, à son intelligence, ses connaissances, ses capacités d’imagination et, en définitive, à son sens des responsabilités pour bien vivre dans un monde interdépendant partagé avec d’autres espèces. En somme, l’humanité doit faire preuve d’un art évolué d’habiter sa planète. L’habiter avec sagesse pour mieux protéger les habitats naturels essentiels au vouloir-vivre de sa propre espèce et des autres espèces, pour le bien commun.
Du sommet de l’immense falaise rocheuse qui surplombait la mer, je pouvais observer, émerveillé, des milliers d’oiseaux marins virevolter, plonger, nicher, faire société entre espèces différentes dans un tonnerre de cris. Ce jour-là, une idée s’est imposée en moi de façon pressante : les habitats sont bel et bien le noyau central, familier et sécuritaire, de l’existence des espèces, le trait d’union entre la vie et les êtres. Et nous devons les traiter comme tel. Avec respect.
www.gov.nl.ca/ecc/natural-areas/wer/r-csme/#activities
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(excerpts from Poësia - A Vital Odyssey, forthcoming)
HABITAT
The will to live, in other words, self-preservation, is common to all living species on Earth. It is the foundation of life itself to reproduce, develop, and evolve. If human beings share this instinct with all other forms of life, their will to live must go beyond their biological algorithms, those of a dominant species.
The human will to live must call upon its expanded consciousness, intelligence, knowledge, capacity for imagination, and, ultimately, its sense of responsibility to live well in an interdependent world shared with other species. In short, humanity must demonstrate an evolved art of inhabiting its planet. Inhabit it wisely to better protect the natural habitats essential to our own will to live and other species as well, for the common good.
From the top of the immense rocky cliff that overlooked the sea, I could observe, in amazement, thousands of seabirds circling, diving, nesting, socialize with different species in a thunder of cries. That day, an idea imposed itself on me in a pressing way: habitats are indeed the central, familiar, and secure core of the existence of species, the link between life and beings. And we must treat them as such: with respect.
A pocket prairie is a small, pollinator-friendly planting or “pocket” of native plants. This small, 14-foot diameter, starter pocket prairie is recently located in a churchyard in Richmond, Texas, to teach youngsters about the interdependent web of all existence. All invasive species were removed from the plot, the soil was prepared with compost and mulch, and bona fide native plants of several varieties were purchased from the Houston Audubon native gardens. Looking forward to butterflies, bees and other insects this summer.
We get trapped in our own habits and become comfortable therein.
Thus I needed to break away from my recent monochrome vision. So what better way than a nice blue barrel.
Studying the 'Kindergarten' approach to color of Johannes Itten and the philosophy of Josef Albers who asserted that color "is almost never seen as it really is" and that "color deceives continually", he suggested that color is best studied via experience.
I set out into my new color filled world. One thing I learned was that colors should not be arbitrary, are specifically interdependent in our photos and if you take a color away or substitute it the image can change dramatically.
Camera; Ricoh AUTO 35
Fujifilm 200
Reference: Joel Sternfeld
I imagine, without knowledge, that they have an interdependence and both benefit from the other. Or maybe not. But that seems to be the story about interdependent relationships of living things, often. Taken at Stoneleigh, A Natural Garden, Villanova, PA.
"Many small towns I know in Maine are as tight-knit and interdependent as those I associate with rural communities in India or China; with deep roots and old loyalties, skeptical of authority, they are proud and inflexibly territorial." ~ Paul Theroux
Many thanks for your visits, likes and comments ~ and stay safe!
Yucca moth
Rocky Oaks Park
I was quite excited to find one of these moths as I've been looking for one for some time. They are pretty unique in their behavior.
The following info is taken from the USDA website narrative on these moths:
One of the most extraordinary partnerships between an insect and the plant that it pollinates is that of the yucca and the yucca moth. They are so interdependent that one cannot live without the other. Actually, there are a number of species of yucca, each with its corresponding partner, a species of Tegeticula or Parategeticula moth.
The yucca moth is a non-descript, small, whitish moth that blends well with the color of the yucca blossoms where it spends most of its brief adult life. A very distinctive feature of Tegeticula is the absence of the long tongue, characteristic of most moths and butterflies. Instead, it has tentacles around its mouth that serve a very important function and make possible its job as a pollinator.
The adult yucca moth does not need to feed because it is so short lived. However, the female gathers pollen, which it holds under its chin with the help of the tentacles. Males and females emerge from their cocoons in the spring in synchrony with the blossoming of the species of yucca with which they are partners. They meet and mate on the yucca blossoms and then the job of the females starts.
She visits the anthers of the flower and scrapes the pollen from several of them shaping it into a large lump. Then she leaves in search of another inflorescence, not just another flower in the same bunch but in a different plant altogether, assuring in this manner the cross pollination of the yucca.
When she arrives at a new plant, she inspects the flowers and chooses the ones that are at the right stage. She also checks if there are already eggs laid in the flower’s ovary. She can detect the smell of other female moths with her antennae and, if another one has been there already, she searches for another flower. This is good for the plant and for the future babies because, if too many eggs were laid in one flower ovary, the flower would abort and the larvae would starve. She lays her eggs in the ovary, no more than a handful; once again, if she laid too many eggs, the flower would abort.
Afterwards she goes to the stigma of the flower and carefully removes some pollen from under her chin and deposits it on the stigma. Now the flower will produce a fruit and enough seeds to feed the larvae as well as ensure the reproduction of the plant.
In a few weeks, the larva is fully-grown. It drops to the ground; it buries itself and makes a cocoon. It will stay underground until the next spring. However, some pupae remain dormant for more than a year. If the yucca fails to bloom one year because of weather conditions, there will still be yucca moths around.
There is nothing more opposite in the colour spectrum than black and white. The same rule applies for circles and lines in the world of shapes. this crazy abstract seeks to reconcile opposites in Art Theory. 'The theory of opposites emphasizes the importance of contrast in understanding existence, suggesting that things like light and dark or hot and cold are interdependent. Heraclitus famously stated that 'strife is justice,' indicating that conflict between opposites can lead to order and balance.'.https://library.fiveable.me/key-terms/history-science/theory-of-opposites Sounds crazy I know but hey it's crazy Tuesday.
The Atala butterfly is strange to photograph. The colored areas are vague at the margins so the color looks like it has been dusted on a bit carelessly. But look at its marvelous tones ... deep velvety blue, bright sky blue and a brilliant red orange! It is very fast moving so getting a shot at all is always a thrill! Usually looks like a vibrant patch of astounding flying color and it's gone.
Interdependencies in nature once again. This marvelous creature owes its life to the Florida Coontie which was almost wiped out after being the money crop of the first Florida pioneers. Without the Coontie, this beauty will be gone.
The short, woody stem and rootstock of the Coontie grows almost completely underground and produces a terminal crown of stiff, evergreen, pinnate leaves up to 3 feet long. The brown, fleshy, erect, female or seed-bearing cones are pendent when mature. Coontie plants contain a natural toxin, which Atala larvae accumulate in their bodies and use to repel birds. Without Coontie, adult Atalas have no place to lay eggs. No eggs means no new generations.
Long before Europeans arrived in Florida, Native Americans used Coontie as a source of starch. In fact, Coontie is a Seminole word for “bread” or “white root” because the roots can be made into flour. Wild Coontie's demise began with starch production. From the late 1880’s through World War I, a large starch industry existed in Florida and almost led to Coontie's extinction.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, FL
Fern Macro. Fern Kiss. Yin and Yang.
The Field Notebook say: Few living things unfold into existence with the elegance and grace of the fern. It may just be that practice makes perfect, since ferns have been unfurling themselves in spring for hundreds of millions of years.
The fern is known as the koru to the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, the Maori. The koru is often represented as a spiral in Maori artwork, symbolizing opening to new life and bringing purity to the world. It represents peace, tranquility and spirituality along with new growth or new beginnings. The Koru is also associated with nurturing and when it contains more than one frond, it represents the strength and healing of a loving relationship within family or community. The design in the shape of two unfolding fern fronds symbolizes the bonding of disparate kinds of people, with two opposite but complementary life forces, echoing the familiar Tao symbol, the Yin and Yang. As each frond unfolds to leave the circle, it reaches out for a new life, new growth and so represents the cycle of life and the interdependency of the web of life.
500px.com/photo/109656397/fern-frond-unfolding-~-ferns-ki...
75 Percent of Animal Species to be Wiped Out in ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’
Under the most conservative estimate possible, development, disappearing habitats and climate change will exterminate animal species within just three human lifetimes, a new study finds.
THE SIXTH EXTINCTION
Commentary by Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson
So now it’s official.
This is the age of the Anthropocene.
The Sixth Extinction.
Finally the Scientific Community has recognized officially what they have known for decades.
We’re all responsible. If you have a birth Certificate you’re guilty. We’re all hypocrites by varying degrees of complicity.
The question is; what the hell are we going to do about it?
The choices are to continue to ignore reality as we continue to amuse ourselves or actually get down and dirty to do something about it.
There are only two kinds of humans on this planet. The Anthropocentrics that believe this world was created solely for humanity to be used in any way we desire, that we are the only species that counts, and whose guiding instincts are selfishness, arrogance and an amazing ignorance of the laws of ecology.
And there are the biocentrics that understand that we are a part of nature, that we need and that we are interdependent with all other species, that we are not superior to them and that we are subject to the laws of ecology.
We biocentrics are the minority but we are the only hope for the future because if we are going to survive as a species, we will only be able to do so if biodiversity itself survives.
The diminishment of biodiversity diminishes humanity.
If the Forests die, we die!
If the bees die, we die!
If the Ocean dies, we die.
If we compare ecology to a baseball game, the situation is this.
It’s the 9th inning and humanity has just played their last play. The score is tied. Nature is up to bat now and their bases are loaded and Nature’s equivalent of Babe Ruth has just stepped up to the plate.
It does not look good.
But then again miracles can happen.
More info :
www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/06/19/75-percent...
God’s words | "God Himself, the Unique VII" (Part 3) - "God Is the Source of Life for All Things (I) "
Introduction
Almighty God says, "God made all things interconnected, mutually intertwined, and interdependent. He used this method and these rules to maintain the survival and existence of all things and in this way mankind has lived quietly and peacefully and has grown and multiplied from one generation to the next in this living environment up to the present day. God balances the natural environment to ensure mankind's survival. If God's regulation and control were not in place, no man could maintain and balance the environment, even if it was created by God in the first place—this still can't ensure mankind's survival. So you can see that God handles it all perfectly!" (The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Recommend to you: God's work
Image Source: The Church of Almighty God
Terms of Use: en.godfootsteps.org/disclaimer.html
An emotional connection with the mother is very important in the first days of a child’s life, when they begin to see the world around them. This photo shows me and my mom.
Today, I would also like to talk about an important issue — namely, birth rates and demographics.
In Soviet Ukraine, the population continuously grew after the end of World War II, and by 1991, about 52 million people lived here. Such growth occurred because, in those distant times, it was considered normal to have many children. A hundred years ago, in rural areas, families with 10 or even 17 children were not unusual.
According to official statistics, by 1970 the birth rate in Ukraine had dropped to 2.1 children per family, and by 1980 the rate was already 1.95. This was linked both to the rise in the general level of education, urbanization and to the beginning of the stagnation of the Soviet economy.
In 1986, the Chernobyl disaster occurred, which sharply reduced birth rates in the following years (young women were simply afraid to give birth). By the late 1980s, economic stagnation had turned into an advancing economic crisis (sugar, butter, toilet paper, school notebooks, and many other essential goods began to disappear from store shelves one by one).
In 1991, the USSR collapsed, and Ukraine declared independence. Since the economies of the Soviet republics were economically interdependent (a system was deliberately designed by the Communist Party leadership), the economy began to collapse.
People experienced delays of several months in wage payments, money rapidly lost its value due to galloping inflation, and unemployment began to rise fast (as factories and enterprises went bankrupt en masse), daily rolling blackouts were taking place in populated areas etc.
Accordingly, by 1995, the birth rate had dropped to 1.4 children per family, and the number of divorces was also rapidly rising (which, in previos Soviet times, was considered socially unacceptable).
At the same time, the socio-political and ideological landscape changed dramatically. Ukraine opened up to the Western world. A flood of Western goods, culture, and values poured into the country. During the Soviet era, everyone was expected to study, work, start a family, give birth and raise children, collectively 'build a bright communist future under the wise leadership of the Communist Party.' But in the early 1990s, people switched to survival mode — they lost confidence in the future.
There was no longer a state ideology, no one believed in anything anymore. Everyone was left on their own. Making money at any cost became the top priority. Television was filled with commercial advertising that encouraged people to 'take everything from life and demand even more,' while Western movies and TV shows portrayed a glamorous lifestyle. Ukrainians became focused on earning money and building careers, and childbirth was postponed 'until later.'
By the year 2000, the birth rate had fallen to 1.15 children per family. At the same time, millions of working-age Ukrainians were forced to leave the country in search of seasonal jobs (often illegally) abroad — some went to EU countries, others to Russia — leaving small children behind with grandparents. Many left Ukraine for good, emigrating to the USA, Canada, Germany, and other countries.
In the early 2000s, the economic situation in Ukraine began to improve. In 2005, the government even started to give payments for the birth of children — and this had a small positive effect. By 2010, the birth rate had reached 1.44 children per family. But then, it began to decline again.
Since 2014, Crimea was annexed, the war in Donbas began, and the Ukrainian currency sharply devalued (by more than half). In 2019, the pandemic (i call it "the COVID scam") began, and by 2020 the birth rate had fallen to 1.2 children per family.
With the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, millions of Ukrainians fled the country, escaping the horrors of war in search of refuge. No one can name the exact number of refugees now — estimates go as high as 12 million people. These are primarily women and children, since men are not allowed to leave Ukraine.
Over the course of three years, Ukrainian children abroad have already adapted to life in their new countries, and most of them will likely never return to Ukraine. This is a devastating blow to the future of Ukrainian nation.
How many of us are left in Ukraine now — no one can say for certain. According to the most optimistic estimates (which I personally do not believe), it's 30 million people, of whom 14 million are of retirement age.
As of today, Ukraine's demographics have become the worst in the world. And that is deeply saddening. We will no longer be able to recover, as we did in the past after severe demographic shocks in our history.
Young women and men today no longer want to have children. At best, they might consider having a child closer to the age of 30. The "childfree" ideology has become very popular.
Twenty-five percent of children are born to single mothers (I personally know several such women who consciously chose not to have a father for their child).
My nation is, in effect, dying now before the eyes of the world...
Spiraling downwards perspective into a subway station in Montreal. I created an eye shaped interdependent scenario representing the observer and the observed. Are we always aware of what we observe and what observes us on a larger scale ?. Visit me at www.fabphotolight.com Thanks.
Pacific Fiction ...
Faithful to the heritage of conceptual art, fascinated by land art and especially by Robert Smithson, influenced by Olafur Eliasson’s teaching at the Institut für Raumexperimente in Berlin, Julian Charrière sets in motion research processes that give rise to performances, photographic records, films and installations.
His materials, including decaying organic matter, cryogenically frozen plants, sediment and salt bricks reflect particular times and spaces, both as tangible traces of what he calls a ‘geology of history’ and as explorations of humanity’s interdependent relationship with our environment.
Pacific Fiction – Study for Monument is one of a set of works created by Charrière following his exploration of the Marshall Islands and the Bikini atoll, part of his research into former nuclear testing sites as dystopian places par excellence.
The United States test-fired nearly seventy nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958, including Castle Bravo, the single most powerful H-bomb, which wiped two islands from the map.
Pacific Fiction, a pyramid of coconuts encased in lead, can be read as the model for a future memorial. The coconuts refer to the etymology of the Bikini atoll, which takes its name from the local Melanesian name ‘Pikinni’, ‘pik’ meaning ‘surface’ and ‘ni’ meaning ‘coconut palm’. The lead is used for its physical property of withstanding radiation. While the pile of coconuts echoes a stock of cannon balls, the work’s pyramid shape and its subtitle, Study for Monument, also conjure up images of a tomb, Egyptian pyramids, the architecture of the bunkers on the Bikini atoll shoreline, and the angular iron monoliths that slumber in the depths of the Pacific.
Deutsch
Pazifische Fiktion ...
Getreu dem Erbe der Konzeptkunst, fasziniert von der Land Art und insbesondere von Robert Smithson, beeinflusst von der Lehre Olafur Eliassons am Institut für Raumexperimente in Berlin, setzt Julian Charrière Forschungsprozesse in Gang, aus denen Performances, fotografische Aufzeichnungen, Filme und Installationen hervorgehen.
Seine Materialien, darunter verrottende organische Materie, kryogenisch gefrorene Pflanzen, Sedimente und Salzziegel, spiegeln bestimmte Zeiten und Räume wider, sowohl als greifbare Spuren dessen, was er eine "Geologie der Geschichte" nennt, als auch als Erkundungen der wechselseitigen Beziehung zwischen dem Menschen und seiner Umwelt.
Pacific Fiction - Study for Monument gehört zu einer Reihe von Werken, die Charrière im Anschluss an seine Erkundung der Marshallinseln und des Bikini-Atolls geschaffen hat, die Teil seiner Recherchen über ehemalige Atomtestgelände als dystopische Orte par excellence sind.
Die Vereinigten Staaten haben von 1946 bis 1958 auf den Marshallinseln fast siebzig Atombomben getestet, darunter Castle Bravo, die stärkste H-Bombe, die zwei Inseln von der Landkarte tilgte.
Pacific Fiction, eine mit Blei ummantelte Pyramide aus Kokosnüssen, kann als Modell für ein künftiges Mahnmal gelesen werden. Die Kokosnüsse beziehen sich auf die Etymologie des Bikini-Atolls, das seinen Namen von der lokalen melanesischen Bezeichnung "Pikinni" ableitet, wobei "pik" für "Oberfläche" und "ni" für "Kokospalme" steht. Das Blei wird wegen seiner physikalischen Eigenschaft, Strahlung zu widerstehen, verwendet. Während der Haufen Kokosnüsse an einen Vorrat an Kanonenkugeln erinnert, rufen die ursprüngliche Pyramidenform des Werks und sein Untertitel Study for Monument auch Bilder eines Grabes, ägyptischer Pyramiden, der Architektur der Bunker auf dem Bikini-Atoll und der kantigen Eisenmonolithen hervor, die in den Tiefen des Pazifiks schlummern.
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Runa Photography, Daniel © 2016
© All rights reserved, don´t use this image without my permission.
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El Día de la Tierra es un día celebrado en muchos países el 22 de abril. Su promotor, el senador estadounidense Gaylord Nelson, instauró este día para crear una conciencia común a los problemas de la superpoblación, la producción de contaminación, la conservación de la biodiversidad y otras preocupaciones ambientales para proteger la Tierra. Es un día para rendir homenaje a nuestro planeta y reconocer a la Tierra como nuestro hogar y nuestra madre, así como lo han expresado distintas culturas a lo largo de la historia, demostrando la interdependencia entre sus ecosistemas y los seres vivos que la habitamos.
Fuente: wikipedia
Shingle Street, Suffolk, England, UK
On a remote stretch of the Suffolk coastline, by the River Ore, lies the tiny settlement of Shingle Street. It is an eerie, barren place which is almost entirely covered by small, round stones. At low tide, the percolation lagoons create endless photographic opportunities - and curves and contrasts abound as the light fades. Shingle Street often lends itself to moody, minimalist photographs but a colourful sunset and a mirror pool are ample compensation for fair weather. In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yīnyáng (lit. dark light) is used to describe how obviously opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world. Shingle Street is yinyang; dark shingle and light water, complimentary and interdependent.
Fascinated and Frustrated
I have this thing for stuff that grows wild, stuff that is complexly tangled and intricately interdependent. I am frustrated in my attempts to photograph such things. Digital ain’t makin’ it for me. Would a medium format film camera, with a couple of good landscape lenses improve the look of this type of image?. I’d appreciate any ideas and/or suggestions from all my friends out there!!
The road is an effective medicine against vacancy of the mind.
Likely, I am not the first or the last person to posit such… they will say it better, but John Steinbeck ("Travels with Charley"), William Least Heat-Moon ("Blue Highways"), and more recently, Conor Knighton ("Leave only footprints") will agree. Those are three ‘road’ books I have read, but it will not surprise me if many more authors harbor similar sentiments.
Ah, sentiments! The road is really not a sentimental place. It is a strip of harsh reality that forces one to project outward, beyond the narrow canyon of ‘boundless self-delusion’ in the ‘greatest cage of all–the interior of the human skull’. Those who travel 'not so much to see but to tell afterward', remain constrained in the larks with their chains and demons. Instead, when one is driven by ‘a sense of being elsewhere’, then connecting with Least Heat-Moon’s 'otherness' becomes inevitable. That is when, somewhat like Steinbeck’s trips, ––"we do not take a trip; a trip takes us"–– our roads take us. In taking us, our roads test us, torment us, deride or humiliate us, but ultimately it is their nature to reward us with a lot more than we initially asked for. We leave our roads when journeys end, but truly traveled roads remain in us long after as our ‘skein of stories'. These yarns of our connecting with someone besides ourselves – rocks, rivers, flora, fauna, or other people – make us a bit more interdependent, bigger, and stronger. Medicine.
The other day, Rishabh and I were taken by a narrow, winding road that goes by the formal name of California Scenic Byway 180. The ‘scenic’ portion runs through one of America’s deepest gorges, up to the beautiful Cedar Grove section of the Kings Canyon National Park. Not many people take this road; in turn, this road takes even fewer. Counter-intuitive to their societal purpose, roads prefer travelers who pace them slow. So we did. Stopping often, we meandered the road like a lazy river. Talking about rivers, for a significant portion, this scenic road is laced by the south fork of the Kings river. El Río de los Santos Reyes – the river of the holy kings. It is a prime white-water rafting destination in the spring. In summer and fall, the river wanders – just like me – to cure the vacancy of its mind. Perhaps, the river’s peregrination is also a road where the road takes the river, letting it connect with someone besides itself – rocks, clouds, flora, fauna, or other lunatics – and thereby find irrefutable reasons to tirelessly flow on. Medicine.
The land is humanity’s womb, cradle and breadbasket. Our lives are weaved intricately with our lands. It is where our ancestors ploughed their lives and foraged their stories, which were then passed on to us through the land's sacred mountains and streams. As aboriginal scriptures of life, our lands offer us unparalleled wisdom and knowledge. Unconditionally, our lands give us precious gifts of food, oxygen and space. When we need it, our open lands become our lullaby, therapist, and medicine. As the soliloquy of life, our lands implore us to live the fullest.
And yet, we treat the land with greed, shortsightedness, and humiliate it as a commodity. We sacrifice it to endless drilling, fracking, mining, and all sorts of other ugly extortion in environmentally questionable fashions. In making our short-term profits from the land, we are rupturing those very fibers of our world that interconnect all living and non-living moiety and sustain this interdependent biosphere. Undeterred however, we are recklessly denuding our lands with impunity. Basking in such evils of our own making, we have forgotten what our shamans and ancestors knew and practiced with utmost humility – to praise and thank the land as our cradle.
We have arrived long after the land and will fade long before it. While here, it is in our best interest to take from it only what we need, not want, and more importantly, give it back another day as much as we take from it today. Such 'giving' gives the circle of life a chance to retain its fine balance. This ‘giving back’ and protecting the land is not as much a moral obligation –although that is a fine reason in itself– as it is an act of true compassion. Only when we compassionately protect and preserve our lands do we have a chance of attaining Theodore Roszak’s environmentally based conception of sanity, a unity of the mind with its age-old home— the land.
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Runa Photography, Daniel © 2015
© All rights reserved, don´t use this image without my permission.
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Un ecosistema es un sistema natural que está formado por un conjunto de organismos vivos (biocenosis) y el medio físico donde se relacionan (biotopo).
Un ecosistema es una unidad compuesta de organismos interdependientes que comparten el mismo hábitat. Los ecosistemas suelen formar una serie de cadenas que muestran la interdependencia de los organismos dentro del sistema.
También se puede definir así: «Un ecosistema consiste de la comunidad biológica de un lugar y de los factores físicos y químicos que constituyen el ambiente abiótico».
El término ecosistema fue acuñado en 1930 por Roy Clapham para designar el conjunto de componentes físicos y biológicos de un entorno.
El ecólogo británico Arthur Tansley refinó más tarde el término, y lo describió como «El sistema completo, ... incluyendo no sólo el complejo de organismos, sino también todo el complejo de factores físicos que forman lo que llamamos medio ambiente».
Fuente: wikipedia
The Small White Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium candidum) is a rare, endangered, perennial orchid with tiny white flowers that occurs in isolated patches in Ontario. As with all orchids, fungus found in the soil are interdependent for their nourishment and survival. The orchid requires approximately three years to produce its first leaf and as many as 16 years to produce its first flower after germination. The species is capable of extended dormancy, surviving underground for as long as six years, until suitable conditions occur for above ground growth. It is important to be aware of the ecological sensitivity of the location. I stay on the trails and minimize my impact on the environment at all times. I practice wildflower-friendly photo techniques only, to prevent damage to flowers and their habitat. Copyright © Kim Toews/All Rights Reserved.
A few of over a thousand islands, of which roughly 300 are inhabited.
With an average ground-level elevation of 1.5 metres above sea level, the Maldives are the world's lowest country, with its highest natural point being only at 2.4 metres. Due to the consequent risks posed by rising sea levels, the government pledged in 2009 to make the Maldives a carbon-neutral country by 2019. A desperate effort in an interdependent world, as long as others don't up their game.
Diesmal mit Wölkchen... Die in ihrer Unschuld in keinem Verhältnis stehen zu den symbolischen schwarzen Wolken, die am Horizont dräuen.
Stupa and prayer flags. Kathmandu, Nepal
( Stupa é uma construção em forma de torre, circundada por uma abóbada e um ou vários chanttras (toldos de lona). Originalmente era um monumento funerário de pedra, semi-esférico, com cúpula, mirante e balaustrada. Com o advento do Budismo, evoluiu para uma representação arquitectónica do Cosmos. O acesso a stupa é feito por um arco ou porta, normalmente adornado com esculturas. No entanto, as masi comuns são simples. Normalmente contém relíquias ou 'pequenos tesouros' simbólicos de uma determinada crença.
Outros termos para designar a stupa são chaitya, pagode e chorten.
......................................................................
The Tibetan word is Chorten, which means "the basis of offering".
Stupa is a symbol of enlightened mind, (the awakened mind, universal divinity) and the path to its realisation.
If you had to use just two words, the best definition I have seen is "Spiritual Monument"
The stupa represents the Buddha's body, his speech and his mind, but most especially his mind and every part shows the path to Enlightenment
SYMBOLIC MEANING OF STUPAS
1. The basic platform that "Holds the Earth" symbolises the ten virtues of :
Body :
to protect life
to practise generosity
keep pure morality.
Speech :
to tell the truth
to reconcile
to speak In a quiet and gentle way
to have a sensible speech.
Mind :
to be content
to be altruistic
to have faith In the right views (which are the correct foundation for liberation).
2. The three steps above symbolise the three refuges one holds on to:
Buddha
the reaching of Buddha (Dharma)
the Assembly of those who practise these teachings (Sangha).
3. The Lion-throne symboliscs the superiority over the whole universe.
4. The treasures vase symboliscs the eight Noble Riches.
5. The small and the big lotuses symbolises the six transcendental virtues :
generosity
pure morality
patience
energy
meditation
wisdom.
6. The four corners of the basic throne symbolise "the Four Unlimited" or Boundless ones:
unlimited love
unlimited compassion
unlimited joy
unlimited equanimity.
7. The first step symboliscs the fundamental four attentions:
Impermanence of the body
sensations
non-substantiality of thoughts
condition of existence (dharmas).
8. The second step symbolises the four perfect efforts (Sammapadhana):
striving to preserve favourable conditions yet existing
striving to produce such conditions not yet existing
striving to ward off unfavorable existing conditions
striving to make It impossible for such conditions to arise.
9. The third step symbolises the four miraculous feet (Riddhipada)
prayer
thought
perserverance
action.
10. The fourth step symbolises the five spiritual faculties (Indriya)
the faculty of faith
the faculty of Energy
the faculty of Attention
the faculty of Concentration
the faculty of Knowledge.
11. The unchanging base that supports the vase symbolises the five forces (Bala)
The force of faith
The force of Energy
The force of Attention
The force of Concentration
The force of Knowledge.
12. The vase in Its particularities symbolises, the seven branches of awakening (Bodhyanga)
the total memory (of past lives)
the perfect knowledge of all dharmas
the diligence
ecstasy
the perfect mastery of all disciplines
concentration
equanimity.
13. The "Tre" (above the vase) and Its reverse symbolisc the noble eightfold path
perfect view
perfect understanding
perfect speech
perfect action
perfect living
perfect effort
perfect attention
perfect concentration.
14.The tree of life symbolises the ten knowledges of
of phenomena
of mind
of Interdependent links
of illusion
of suffering
of the origin of suffering
of the cessation of suffering
of the path leading to the cessation of suffering
of destruction
of the non-appearance
of the ten transcendental knowledges
15. The thirteen rings symbolise
the ten powers and
the three essential remembrances.
16. The umbrella and Its support symbolise the State of a victorious one
17. The "Zaratsak" symbolises the ornaments of all the Supreme Qualities.
18. The Moon symbolises the elimination of all sufferings.
19. The sun symbolises the radiating thousand lights of compassion
20. The jewel at the top symbolises the fulfilment of all wishes.
The believers prostrate with great devotion and faith before such a wonderful Stupa, the embodiment of all the qualities of the victorious ones; only seeing. It brings liberation to all who respect It.
Bees and flowers are interdependent in several ways. While the bees need nectar, many planters rely on flying guests for pollination. Here is a hard-working pollination helper working on violet flowers!
...and that is ok as long as we also realise that all those individual universes intersect and are interdependent.
Arachtober 18
Amaral - El universo sobre mi
... it is almost farcical.
It is perhaps futile to speak of ardor to the ever-changing sky.
I sit here in the shadows describing the scent in the air—flowered,
almost sickening to the senses.
My first thoughts are to find another segment of this shrunken field
to lay poetry to dissertation, but my legs are unstable—the body
knows no other way.
And who lodged in me this stake? Who pressed their hands to soil
and then smiled? The nights I rose from the garden through a window,
passing with the moon on my back—open to trust, open and open.
The nights my dress fell to the sharp of a word in its excitement.
Did I know then what was bound to fuse in my hand? Did I seek
further than shoulder, run from poem to poem in madness?
Or was something was in the way?
I say, "no". I turn softly and utter, "yes".
And I would gather petals in the rain, march around reciting autonomy
from the latest masterpiece, lying myself into the photograph. And in
some ways I grow cold, inaccessible in the derisive language that
clings to that dress in gaiety.
(My lips frozen on the veranda—I cannot elude the image.)
So, of verse interdependency, a gratitude for losing sleep, I burn
language like fever on the tongue. And with a dither of light,
I no longer deliver necessity—I climb from the veranda,
and signal fireflies in the field.
Ciclotrama est un néologisme inventé par Janaina Mello Landini pour désigner le projet que l’artiste développe depuis 2010.
Travaillant avec des fils et des cordes, elle crée des installations in situ qui occupent l’espace d’une manière immersive et inattendue.
Pour elle, un Ciclotrama est la section d’un cycle continu et binaire. C’est une structure schématique avec une caractéristique hiérarchique, composée de parties interdépendantes, rejouant à la fois une vaste syntopie et une entropie, opposés d’un même système composé par des individus.
L’idée principale de l’artiste est de créer une expérience physique de tension, dépeignant des réseaux imaginaires, qui définissent des espaces et racontent des récits. La cartographie sociale des réseaux individuels montre l’infinie interconnexion et l’interdépendance des trajectoires personnelles à travers un système, la société et le monde dans son ensemble. Le mouvement des corps (cordes) et la relation entre le rythme et le temps sont également des aspects fondamentaux de ces séries.
À Chaumont-sur-Loire, Janaina Mello Landini a conçu un projet original pour l’Asinerie de la Cour de la Ferme où d’arachnéennes structures suspendues jouent avec l’architecture de bois de la galerie.
Ciclotrama is a neologism invented by Janaina Mello Landini to designate the project that the artist has been developing since 2010.
Working with wires and ropes, she creates in situ installations that occupy the space in an immersive and unexpected way.
For her, a Ciclotrama is the section of a continuous and binary cycle. It is a schematic structure with a hierarchical feature, composed of interdependent parts, replaying both a vast syntopia and an entropy, opposite of the same system composed by individuals.
The main idea of the artist is to create a physical experience of tension, portraying imaginary networks that define spaces and tell stories. The social mapping of individual networks shows the infinite interconnectedness and interdependence of personal trajectories across a system, society and the world as a whole. The movement of bodies (strings) and the relation between rhythm and time are also fundamental aspects of these series.
In Chaumont-sur-Loire, Janaina Mello Landini has conceived an original project for the Farm Court Asinerie where arachneal suspended structures play with the wooden architecture of the gallery.
In Chinese philosophy , the concept of yin +yang is used to describe how polar or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world. that is what will be remembered about us. we were so bad for each other ; it was perfect.
Excerpt from the plaque:
Sewing Seeds by Hitoko Okada (Hamilton)
Hitoko Okada is a queer, Nikkei, interdisciplinary artist researcher and independent arts organizer. Her research-based artistic practice critically investigates the colonial histories and geopolitics of the fashion supply chain and its impacts on racialized and gendered labour, and cultural heritage textile crafts and scared relationships to plants. Her queer nature leads her non-traditional approach to a diasporic practice that explores permaculture urban farming of indigo and Japanese textile folk crafts of shifu, aizome and kakishibu as an embodied archive of ancestral knowledge that honours mutualistic and interdependent relationships to water, land, community, and spirit.
Photo taken in an orphanage/AIDS hospice/preschool in slums of Bangkok. The Mercy Centre is run by a slum Catholic priest named Father Joe Maier.
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© 2007 Wiley Books
Photo of a rock garden playground at an AIDS orphanage/hospice/preschool in slums of Bangkok. The following is true:
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The chorus that christens the morning begins sharply at seven o'clock. Its crescendo rises softly in a child's soprano, then quickens into a staccato that flits like wind chimes through the slum priest's windows and the entire Mercy courtyard. Nothing about it is orchestrated. You couldn't if you wanted.
"Does a rock have life?" he asked me one day.
Silly question.
"Do rocks make noise?"
Sure, if you throw them against something.
Outside his house is a preschool playground with no swings, slides or ropes to climb, just beige sand and giant boulders, plenty of both. When Mercy constructed it from donated materials, the staff envisioned an aesthetic touch to the school yard. A rock garden, it's called. Then the preschoolers saw it and took off their shoes. They burrowed their toes into the sand and hopped from boulder to boulder, as if a creek gurgled underfoot. They patted and stroked the rough granite, pampered it like a pet, then marched around it smiling, laughing, joking. Turns out rocks and sand are good for more than their looks. The children were cut loose, told to go wild.
And that's when the Mercy morning received its gleeful accompaniment.
One of the kids told the priest that if one boulder is touched or climbed on then every boulder must be touched or climbed on. Seems all the preschoolers know this rule. You don't leave even one rock out, feelings get hurt that way. The priest shook his head at the obvious wisdom.
"Neither you nor I would ever think we could offend a rock, but actually it is a very (spiritual) concept, very cosmic, that all creation has life," he says. "So … does a rock have life?"
It can enrich it, I guess. Who knew? But left alone it's still just rock, and like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, maybe no one hears it, sees it or cares. That's where I figure he's headed: the Buddhist philosophy of interdependency. Everything affects everything else. Life does not exist in isolation. We receive by giving and vice versa. It's why Father Joe calls it a privilege for abused/orphaned/sick children to allow him to serve them. Their trust is electric.
"Yes, a rock is a form of life," he says finally. "Not one of the higher forms."
For more information on Father Joe's work and chairty visit the Mercy Centre website or its USA tax-deductible equivalent here
For my wife, my other half.
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PHOTO RECIPE
___________________
Ingredients:
Chinese baoding balls
white paper for bottom and background
50mm F1.8 II +Canon 40D
White plastic diffuser
How it's done:
Simply set balls on paper, with paper bent up to provide background. Compose with one ball behind the other. Set aperture small enough to get good focus on one ball, and leave other in bokeh-liscious blurr.
I used the on camera flash, diffused through handheld white plastic diffuser. Manual exposure. Import RAW file to Adobe, do some contrast magic and pop it to flickr for your enjoyment and my ego!
What do you think? Not bad for a simple shot or it sucks?