Neo Noir
View allAll Photos Tagged existentialist,
LES DEUX MAGOTS
PARIS
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A Cafe synonymous with
artistic and literary life. Founded in 1812.
The Café began to play an important role in Parisian cultural life before asserting its literary vocation in 1933 with the creation of the Prix des Deux Magots.
Frequented by many famous artists such as Louis Aragon, André Gide, Jean Giraudoux, Picasso, Fernand Léger, Prévert, Hemingway…, it welcomes the surrealists under the aegis of André Breton and the existentialists around Sartre and Beauvoir.
Existentialist questions in my mind once again! What is it all about? How come we all ended up here in this very specific time of history? Some say it is because we have made an agreement before we landed to this specific land in this specific time. It sounds like a computer game. Strangely, scientists can’t prove the otherwise. Happy weekend everyone ..
The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught.
You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it,
but only in such a way that it catches you.
Soren Kierkegaard.
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christendom, morality, ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment. Source Wikipedia.
' Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal. ' - Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French existentialist philosopher and writer.
Pink, gold, blue and green: light from the rising sun skimming a gap between hills illuminating part of the fog a bright fiery shade of orange, contrasting with all the cool shadowy tones.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/gallery/glen-devon
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Albert Camus
French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 - 1960)
Leaves of a red Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) stubbornly holding fast in late Autumn.
You've heard of rubber duckies? Well, this fellow is absolutely wired.
Shot with my new Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 30mm F3. 5 Macro lens.
I had originally set out with camera and long telephoto zoom lens with intent to take photos of a bird in the area, but got distracted by dappled patches of sunlight passing by on the nearby hill instead.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/photo/Sunlight-on-Craig-Rossie--Verd...
One of my favourite wee burns - running through the braes of Aoineadh Mor where the former township/village was situated before the evictions of the Highland Clearances. It must have been an idyllic location to live.
"Patience is a virtue,
possess it if you can.
Seldom found in woman,
never found in man."
- An old saying.
These beautiful seagulls were sitting there waiting. Waiting perhaps for someone to offer them a morsel, despite the signs which clearly said, "Do not feed the birds."
Waiting requires the virtue of patience. It also needs hope. Waiting is a state of being between moments and events. For this we need faith. These are all things philosophers have taught us from the ancient Greeks to modern existentialists. The world is waiting right now. We are about to move from one act to another in this drama of souls.
In a small reflective book published in 1982, the English theologian W.H. Vanstone wrote these words:
"...a person to whom few things are important rarely waits. A person who views the world with indifference rarely finds himself waiting. Conversely a person to whom many things matter will often find himself waiting. The experience of waiting is the experience of the world as in some sense mattering, as being of some kind of importance."
("The Stature of Waiting", Morehouse Publishing, 2006).
Vanstone then goes on and shows how our faith and hope and love for our world will drive us on in even the most trying circumstances that we do not understand:
"To man as he waits the world discloses its power of meaning - discloses itself in its heights and its depths, as wonder and terror, as blessing and threat. Man becomes, so to speak, the sharer with God of a secret - the secret of the world's power of meaning." (p.112)
We cannot be sure of comfort in these words, life wasn't meant to be easy, and recall that the evolutionary process itself seems extremely costly and is full of dead ends (extinctions). No wonder the ancient Gnostics believed that the True God was beyond all this and hidden from view. That this world of woe is much the creation of a lesser god or fallen angel (Yaldabaoth) and that true liberation comes when our spirits are reunited with the Eternal Spirit after we have "shuffled off this mortal coil" as Shakespeare put it. www.worldhistory.org/Gnosticism/
Whatever your beliefs, this much is true: We must wait. And to do so we need the virtues of patience, hope, faith and above all love. We must love each other.
I used a prompt generator for surrealist ideas and was given "meerkat, bench and hyperspace.". A late nod to Earth Day, 2025.
A small burn flowing through a depression in the grassy hillside - surrounded by heather and rocky boulders (garnet semi-pelite).
Taken beside the Strathmore/Hope Road north of Altnaharra: a scene full of time from distant mountains to history of the foreground disused shepherd's house surrounded by former grazing terraces.
The term despair, when used by existentialists, refers to the fact that all the choices we make are based on uncertain information and an incomplete understanding of the world.
Source : Wikipedia
View large to appreciate more!
Comments are welcomed.
Beautiful diffuse warm light: early morning golden hour, visibility so low all but one lone dead tree and its former branch were obscured in the fog.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/gallery/glen-devon
There's something magical about watching the clouds blowing along the strath dropping precipitation in their wake - especially when it's as thick as the sleet/snow coming down with these.
A pleasant dusting of snow on the hills beyond.
Prints and things: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/photo/Cloudy-Days-2--Passing-Snow--S...
There's something magical about watching the clouds blowing along the strath dropping precipitation in their wake - especially when it's as thick as the sleet/snow coming down with these.
A pleasant dusting of snow on the hills beyond.
Prints and things: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/photo/Cloudy-Days-1--Passing-Snow--S...
Who is more encaged, ANIMALS or HUMAN BEINGS?
Who is more trapped?
Who holds the cage?
Who? not an easy answer at all !
the serenity the beauty the graceful GORILLA feeding his young one, carrying him on his back, the leopard on the mountain top spotting his prey, the hamster picking up a stray from the litter. The GIRAFFE at sunset picking berries from 20 feet above ground.
The serenity, the beauty the amazingly picturesque daily existence of the HUMAN being sweating at the super market cursing the prices, jogging believing that will add years to your life as it kills your spine, carrying 7 bags of groceries that cost twice more than they cost 1 year ago, maintaining a house, working 24/7, stuck in traffic 2 hours a day, crying over the RECESSION because GREED finally showed its ugly face in our GREEDY society,
planning the 250 thousand dollars to pay for kids tuition, the bills, the heat, the cold, the taxes, the tattooed adolescents who rebel against you, the husband or wife who has lost interest, the 2 weeks vacation you get that you really don’t care if you take it or not, the routine, the rituals, your visits to shrinks, the ANTIDEPRESSANTS, and life without the TV the CABLE the WEB the facebook, the wrinkles on your face, the spots on your skin, that real ugly one that you noticed only recently ,cursing the slow working computer, the 4 hours at night after work is over to nourish your brain with CNN FOX and inane comedy shows........... the weekend spent shopping..........cleaning.......the strained family relations as people get old sick and more self hating............is this morbid enough?
IS there enough stress in your life or do you want more?
How about the time to work out, meet with friends, watch a new movie, read a new book, write a new song, learn to play a new instrument, have a hobby,
DO SOMETHING THAT YOU DONT ORDINARILY HAVE TO?
where is the romance? where is the "im looking forward to stuff anymore"
IS THIS ALL THERE IS?????????????????????????????????
DID all YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE IN YOUR LIFE FOR YOU?
did they?
are you happy?
are you in a RUT? like the caged TIGER?
are you any better? Because you are conscious of your wonderful existence a la the “EXISTENTIALISTS”?
Are you living the AMERICAN DREAM?
who is the one really encaged?
GROWL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, RUFFFFFFFFF.....................ROAR......................NEIGH........................
Photography’s new conscience
Angst
See below in the first comment for the untouched raw file..
I have had this shot in the planning for some time but I have been waiting for the overcasted dead light to get this washed out color. Everything was done in cam. My remote shutter release (Velo) broke down so I had to set it to 10 sec delay and run for it:p Glad there wasnt many around.. Had no tripod so I just placed the cam on the ground and put a lens under the lens..
I have removed 2 items from the building. A cctv and an antenna. White balance and colors were adjusted in Ligthroom. Also adde some contrast and sharpening to get the that clean futuristic look I hope I have gotten..
Inspiration for the pov was stolen from "stoffen", see link below for his shot.. I like it a lot.
I hesitated a lot to find a good title and I came down to a shortlist of:
Angst
Paranoia
Paranoia, the destroyer
The truth is in there
After you
Any tip on a good title is very welcome.
****
Update: I know see a different take on this shot as pointed out from the comments down below..
The title should be: Can you give me a hand please?
As this guy (me) is trying to move the box and not hiding from demons (wich was what I tried to look like).
Haha...
*****
Angst means fear or anxiety (anguish is its Latinate equivalent, and anxious, anxiety are of similar origin). The word angst was introduced into English from the Danish and Dutch word angst and the German word Angst. It is attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Kierkegaard and Freud. It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety, or inner turmoil.
In German, the technical terminology of psychology and philosophy distinguishes between Angst and Furcht in that Furcht is a negative anticipation regarding a concrete threat, while Angst is a non-directional and unmotivated emotion. In common language, however, Angst is the normal word for "fear", while Furcht is an elevated synonym.
In other languages having the meaning of the Latin word pavor, the derived words differ in meaning, e.g. as in the French anxiété and peur. The word Angst has existed since the 8th century, from the Proto-Indo-European root *anghu-, "restraint" from which Old High German angust developed. It is pre-cognate with the Latin angustia, "tensity, tightness" and angor, "choking, clogging"; compare to the Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ankho) "strangle".
In Existentialist philosophy the term angst carries a specific conceptual meaning. The use of the term was first attributed to Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). In The Concept of Anxiety (also known as The Concept of Dread, depending on the translation), Kierkegaard used the word Angest (in common Danish, angst, meaning "dread" or "anxiety") to describe a profound and deep-seated condition. Where animals are guided solely by instinct, said Kierkegaard, human beings enjoy a freedom of choice that we find both appealing and terrifying. Kierkegaard's concept of angst reappeared in the works of existentialist philosophers who followed, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger, each of whom developed the idea further in individual ways. While Kierkegaard's angst referred mainly to ambiguous feelings about moral freedom within a religious personal belief system, later existentialists discussed conflicts of personal principles, cultural norms, and existential despair.
A pleasant landscape moment: fog in the background as the rising sun illuminated first the surrounding hills and then the shapely Ash tree at Frandy, Glen Devon.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/gallery/glen-devon
Situated on the southern shores of Loch Rannoch, the Black Woods are one of two Caledonian Forest reserves in Perthshire.
Being paler green, the mid-distant rowan tree catches the eye; it stands at a corner of what used to be a farm building, now nothing but a pile of rubble.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/gallery/rannoch
For a longer zoom into those funky trees: www.flickr.com/photos/spodzone/49141918142/
Best seen larger.
'Phantasms of Love': www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqotXDqwcEE
Jane Campion's film trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzuJkLwcW60
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY is a novel by HENRY JAMES, first published as a serial in 'The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine', in 1880 –1881, and then as a book in 1881.
'The Portrait of a Lady' is the story of spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Like many of James' novels, it is set mostly in Europe, notably England and Italy. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of his early phase of writing, this novel reflects James's continuing interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, betrayal, and sexuality.
James' first idea for 'The Portrait of a Lady' was simplicity itself: a young American woman confronting her destiny, whatever it might be. Only then did he begin to form a plot to bring out the character of his central figure. Ironically, that plot became an uncompromising story of the free-spirited Isabel losing her freedom — despite (or because of) suddenly coming into a great deal of money — and getting "ground in the very mill of the conventional." The theme of freedom vs. responsibility runs throughout 'The Portrait' and helps explain Isabel's possible final decision to return to Osmond. In this sense it is rather existentialist, as Isabel is very committed to living with the consequences of her choice with integrity but also a sort of stubbornness.
But that decision is affected by another major theme of the novel: Isabel's sexual fears and diffidence. Although she is eventually shown as capable of deep arousal, she rejects Lord Warburton and Goodwood, two very strong and masculine suitors, in favor of the seemingly less threatening and hopelessly cold Osmond. Although the conventions of 19th century Anglo-American fiction prevented a completely frank treatment of this part of Isabel's character, James still makes it clear that her fate was at least partially shaped by her uneasiness with passionate commitment.
The richness of The Portrait is hardly exhausted by a review of Isabel's character. The novel exhibits a huge panorama of trans-atlantic life, a far larger canvas than any James had previously painted. This moneyed world appears charming and leisurely but proves to be plagued with treachery, deceit and suffering. It is only through disappointment and loss, James seems to say, that one can grow to complete maturity.
(in Wikipedia)
Second Life - Vamporium (Victorian dark role play)
Outfit created by Cutea Benelli (GRIM BROS.)
The well-known Ash tree at Frandy Fisheries, Glen Devon, in the last few moments of pre-dawn twilight as the sunlight started to make its way down the surrounding hillsides, fog in the distance.
An amazing moment in the landscape: as the sun rose behind the hill in the distance, brilliant light illuminated the foreground fog, the tree casting rays of light and shadow in the mist.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/gallery/glen-devon
the sandbar of Bais-Manjuyod, Negros Oriental, the Philippines
This is the Maldives, existentialist-style. Imagine a sandbar in the middle of the deep blue sea, not more than 500 meters long during low tide and reduced to nothing when the tide comes back in. Three houses on stilts provide creature comforts but not much really, which is part of the sandbar’s adventurous charm. No electricity, just car battery-operated lamps. No running tap, just a barrel of freshwater. No radio nor television, just the sound of rushing waters and of course, the company you keep.
try living in the middle of the sea at the sandbar of Bais in colloidfarl.blogspot.com/
also recommended in my Philippine Summer Destinations, part 2 (the isolation series)
I stopped to admire some vibrant trees on the other side of the road - but found the view back along the glen quite appealing too, especially with the passing cloud-shadows and dappled sunlight.
from a long forgotten 2001 journal recovered off A GODDAMN FLOPPY DISK: "I’ve taken a few photos of myself. I am fascinated not for any vanity reasons but because for many years I’ve taken really awful photographs and hated being photographed. This, I now realize, is because I was unhappy. Something has changed in my eyes, in my facial presence. I seem a bit more brave, and, I think, honest. Miserable, but as the existentialists say, I am up against boundaries, and so am that much more alive. "
Damn girl, eyeroll. 2020, once again on the other side of a long dark passage. I had just taken some photos of myself a few days before I found that text last night. Maybe a bit more brave and honest. Less miserable, more alive, but also, nineteen years and one day closer to death! Shrug emoji.
The approach to Slains castle - having spent a happy couple of hours making photos by the castle itself, on returning to the car the sun came out for one last brilliant burst of vibrant golden light, illuminating the landscape most spectacularly - it amused me to see just the top half of the castle across the fields.
Hardly the subtlest of HDR processings, but then it was hardly the subtlest of landscapes either.
“Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living.”
Soren Kierkegaard (Danish Philosopher and Theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. 1813-1855)
Best seen large: www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1341596419&size=l
Him yelling, Give me lust, baby.
Flash.
Give me malice.
Flash.
Give me detached existentialist ennui.
Flash.
Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism.
I'm not entirely sure the ancient superstition worked. The rowan tree remains but the croft-house at whose corner it stands is long decayed into little more than a couple perpendicular lines of stones returning to the bog.
Subtle tones and contrasts: bright pale green tree-beard lichen and moss covering the rowan tree, tall conifers just behind and other trees fading into the rain in the distance.
Prints and things are available from the website: www.shinyphoto.co.uk/photo/Keeping-the-Witch-Away-000f6e5...
For a wider perspective on the forest clearing: www.flickr.com/photos/spodzone/48797551158/
So this weekend I got to hang with one of my old pals and awesome photographer Alexandra Cameron!
We had a blast and I got to be a part of her Giant series, we made a huge paper boat in my kitchen and set it sail on this lake, so I figured I would do my own take with this pic, featuring musician Philippa Hanna.
I've been a bit of a lone sailor myself this year, on a voyage of self discovery. So it's all very exciting to feel like that journey is complete (albeit always continuing) and moving on to a new adventure, this time I'm setting out to learn as much as I can about the world and figure myself out a purpose. Essentially, I want to begin my metamorphosis into a giant existentialist sponge.
You can keep up with me and said adventures on
Exploring light and colour deep in the depths of the Black Woods of Rannoch one autumn morning. Something about the ray of light through the tree canopy partly illuminating the heather and spider's web caught my eye, along with the jumble of diagonal tree trunk and branch lines.
Prints, masks, cards and other things are available from the website: Autumn in the Woods.
Film noir, (French: “dark film”) style of film-making characterised by such elements as cynical heroes, stark lighting effects, frequent use of flashbacks, intricate plots, and an underlying existentialist philosophy. The genre was prevalent mostly in American crime dramas of the post-World War II era.
Pure simple symmetry - the water reflecting the cool tones of blue hour on a grey day. Beautiful.
Prints, masks, cards and other things: Loch Earn symmetry.