View allAll Photos Tagged methodology
Canon 500D
The amazing result of an old entry level Canon 500D I possess.
To be honest, i own a couple of very basic cameras vary from Canon 1000D,500D,600D, 650D beside some higher end 7D, 70D, 5D Mark2 and 6D respectively.
Basically, we all started off somewhere very very similar, likely most of us are not sure of camera choice, what we particularly good at, when is the best time for shooting,where is the best composition and last but not least why we keep blaming our inferior gears n instead usually envy at others who look Pro holding a junky premium camera and assume we can guarantee had better n quality result if we possess them……..and so on!
Well, don't blame your camera n start invest less but spend quality time leveling up ones photoshop skill. is definitely more effective and economy than burning a hole in ur pocket soon.
Someday you'll have to agree with my methodologies sometime somewhere when you realize the simple Philosophy of Photography
Considered, methodological, quiet, contemplative.
Today’s film photographer isn’t someone you’ll likely see running after the next shot. He plods, ponders, thinks, frames and shoots before moving on to pastures new. Welcome to the world of Colin Wilson; 35mm and 120 shooter ...
Read on at: emulsive.org/interviews/film-photographer-interviews/inte...
Filed under: #FilmPhotographerInterviews, #Interviews, #ColinWilson, #EMULSIVEInterview, #FilmPhotographerInterviews, #Hasselblad, #Hasselblad501CM, #ILFORDHP5PLUS, #ImpossibleProject, #Interview, #KodakEktar100, #Pentax, #PentaxLX
#shootfilmbenice #filmphotography # believeinfilm
Lataif-e-sitta (Persian: لطائف سته) or al-Laṭaʾif as-Sitta (Arabic: اللطائف الستة), meaning "The Six Subtleties", are psychospiritual "organs" or, sometimes, faculties of sensory and suprasensory perception in Sufi psychology, and are explained here according to the usage amongst certain Sufi groups (key terms in this article are taken from the Urdu, rather than the original Arabic). These six subtleties are thought to be parts of the self in a similar manner to the way glands and organs are part of the body. Drawing from the Qur'an, many Sufis distinguish Nafs, Qalb, Sirr, Ruh, Khafi, and Akhfa as the six laṭaʾif.
Similar concepts in other spiritual systems include the Dantian mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts and meditation, the sephiroth of kabbalah and the chakras of Indian Tantra and Kundalini yoga.
Among Sufis spiritual development involves awakening centers of perception that lie dormant in every person. The help of a guide is considered necessary to help activate them in a certain order. Each center is associated with a particular color, a general area of the body, and often with a particular prophet. Activation of all these "centers" is part of the inner methodology of the Sufi way or "Work". Purification of the elementary passionate nature (tazkiyat an-nafs), cleansing the spiritual heart (tazkiyat al-qalb), becoming a receptacle of divine love (ishq), illumination of the spirit (tajjali ar-ruh), emptying egocentric drives (taqliyyat as-sirr) and remembering the divine attributes, often through repetition of the names of God, (dhikr) are a process by which the dervish is said to reach a certain type of "completion" in the opening of the last two faculties, khafi and akhfa.
According to some, this latifa is located slightly below the navel, and is yellow, for others, it is between the eyebrows and is blue.
The word nafs is usually translated as self or psyche. Its etymology is rooted in "breath" (similar to Biblical or Kabbalistic nefesh) and is common to virtually all archaic psychologies where the act of breathing was connected with life, animating otherwise lifeless object. In this respect, ancient notions of "Prana" in Hinduism, Greek "pneuma", Latin "spiritus" or Hebrew "Ruach" -all equate the basic visible process of breathing with energizing principle that confers existence to an individual human being. Some Sufis consider under the term "Nafs" the entirety of psychological processes, encompassing whole mental, emotional and volitional life; however, the majority of Quranic-based Sufis are of the opinion that Nafs is a "lower", egotistical and passionate human nature which, along with Tab (literally, physical nature), comprises vegetative and animal aspects of human life. Ego may be assumed as an equivalent for Nafs in modern psychology. The central aim of the Sufi path is transformation of Nafs (technical term is tazkīyyat an-nafs or "purging of the soul") from its deplorable state of ego-centredness through various psycho-spiritual stages to the purity and submission to the will of God. Although the majority of the Sufi orders have adopted convenient 7 maqāms (maqāms are permanent stages on the voyage towards spiritual transformation), and some still operate with 3 stages, the picture is clear: the Sufi's journey begins with an-nafs al-ʾammārah (commanding soul), an-nafs al-luwwāmah (self-accusing soul), and ends in an-nafs al-muṭmaʾinnah (satisfied soul) - although some Sufis's final stage is, in their technical vocabulary, an-nafs aṣ-ṣāfīyah wa-al-kāmilah (soul restful and perfected). In essence, this is almost identical to Christian paradigm of "vita purgativa" and various stages the spiritual aspirant traverses in the journey towards .
Qalb. According to some, this latifa is located in the left of Chest and is yellow, for others it is red. In it man witnesses his deeds. By awakening it man also gets the knowledge of the realm of Jins.The word Qalb, stands for heart. In Sufi terminology, this spiritual heart (not to be confused with the blood pumping organ) is again variously described. For some, it is the seat of beatific vision. Others consider it the gate of Ishq or Divine love. Yet, for the majority, it is the battleground of two warring armies: those of Nafs and Ruh or spirit. Here, one again encounters terminological confusion: for the Sufis influenced by Neoplatonism, a "higher" part of Nafs is equated to the Aql or intellect (called Nafs-I-Natiqa) or "rational soul" and is the central active agent in spiritual battle: Ruh or spirit, notwithstanding its name, is rather passive in this stage. In short, cleansing of the Qalb or heart is a necessary spiritual discipline for travellers on the Sufi path. The term for this process is Tazkiah-I-Qalb and the aim is the erasure of everything that stands in the way of purifying God's love or Ishq.
Often people take their heart's word (inner feeling) as truthful. If the hearts were indeed truthful, then why are not all the people of the heart united? Qalb of the common folk is in a sleeping or unconscious state, and does not possess any awareness or correct understanding. This heart can err in judgement due to the dominance of the Self and Khannas (the Whisperer), or due to the person's own simple-mindedness. Placing trust in a sleeping (or unconscious) heart is foolish. When the Name Allah does vibrate in the heart, an awareness of Right and Wrong, and understanding follows. It is then called Qalb-e Salim (the sound Heart). Then the prominence of the meditation by Qalb changes its direction towards God; it is called Qalb-e Minib (the repentant Heart). This heart can prevent a person from mischief, but it can not make a right judgement. When the theophanies (Tajalliyat) of God begin to fall on the Heart, it is called Qalb-eshahid(the witnessing Heart).
A leading Indian artist, Geeta Vadhera, has titled her 37th exhibition of paintings as Qalb Qudrat - At the Heart of Nature.
Ruh
According to some, this latifa is located in the right side of the chest and is red, for others it is green. After its activation the human gets acquainted with Alam-e-Aaraf (the place where man resides after death).This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. This is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. It is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty. Ruh or spirit is the second contender in the battle for human life. Again, opinions on Ruh differ among Sufis. Some deem it coeternal with God; others consider it a created entity. Be that as it may, Ruh is the plateau of consensus for the majority of Sufis, especially the early ones (before 11th/12th century C.E.). For those Sufis with Gnostic leanings (which can be found in Bektashi or Mevlevi orders), Ruh is a soul-spark, immortal entity and transegoic "true self", similar to the Christian concepts of "synteresis" or "Imago Dei", or Vedantist notion of "jiva", as well as Tibetan Buddhist "shes-pa", principle of consciousness and Taoist "shen" or spirit. But, the majority of the Sufis would consider this an unnecessarily extravagant speculation and would stick to the more orthodox notion of dormant spiritual faculty that needs to be worked upon by constant vigil and prayer in order to achieve the Tajliyya-I-Ruh, or Illumination of the spirit. Ironically, this spiritual faculty is frequently referred to in terms one encounters in connection with Nafs- "blind" life force or life current that needs to be purified by strict religious observances in order to achieve illumination.
Sirr
Sirr is located in the solar plexus and is associated with the color white. It records the orders of Allah for the individual in similitude to that which is originally present in Loh-e-mehfooz (Preserved Scripturum). After its activation, human being gets acquainted with Aalam-e-Misal (The Allegorical realm - Reflection of knowledge of the preserved Scripturum.) This center is associated with consciousness. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. The dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets.
Sirr, literally means "the secret". Emptying of the Sirr (Taqliyya-I-Sirr) is basically focusing on God's names and attributes in perpetual remembrance or Dhikr, hence diverting one's attention from the mundane aspects of human life and fixing it on the spiritual realm. The "emptying" signifies negation and obliteration of ego-centred human propensities.
Khafi. According to some, it is located in the middle of the forehead (between the eyes or third eye position) and is black, to others blue. It's the equivalent of Kitab-e-Marqoom (the written book). According to others this is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. The term Khafi means mysterious, arcane or Latent Subtlety. It represents intuition.
Akhfa
The term Akhfa or ikhfa means most arcane, deeply mysterious, or obscure, subtlety. Its location is deep inside the brain or on center-top of the head. The color of this center, according to some, is green, to others, violet. It's the Nuqta-e-wahida (point of unity) in every human where the Tajalliat (beatific visions) of Allah are directly revealed. It contains information about the hidden knowledge of the universe. By entering into this point, the human being enters the system of the universe and laws governing the universe. This center is associated with deep perception.
According to some this is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.
The last center or subtlety is "accessible only to those who have developed the others, and belongs to the real sage." (see "The Sufis" by Idries Shah).
Three Souls
Qalb and Nafs form the "Rooh-e-haivani" (Animal Soul). This part of the soul has the record of every activity of life. It is also termed as Joviya (Confluence).
Sirr and Rooh form "Rooh-e-Insani (Human soul) or Ayan. This part of the soul is inscribed with commands characterizing the life. It is also termed as Ayan. When a human being gets acquainted with it, he can witness the record and scheme of "all that exists", written on loh-e-mahfooz.
Akhfa and khafa form "Rooh-e-azam" (the great soul), also called sabita. It is a bright ring of light in which all the information pertaining to the unseen and seen cosmos is inscribed.
"Great Soul", "Human Soul", and "Animal Soul" are actually levels of functioning of the same soul and are not three different souls. These three components are like three rings of light infused in one another and are collectively called the soul, the indivisible entity, the Lord's edict, or simply the man. Man gets acquainted with them one by one by Muraqaba ( Sufi Meditation), Dhikr (Remembrance of God) and purification of one's psyche/life from negative thinking patterns (fear, depression), negative emotions (hate, contempt, anger, lust) and negative practices (hurting others psychologically or physically). Loving God and loving/helping every human being irrespective of his race, religion, or nationality, and without consideration for any possible reward, is the key to ascension according to Sufis.
The Attributes of God that have been transferred to the existents and have become parts of the mechanism of the universe are collectively known as the Incumbent Knowledge (Ilm-e-wajib). Knowledge of the Incumbent means knowledge that has been transferred to the existents, that is, it refers to those Attributes of God with which existents enjoy affinity and correlation. The Knowledge of the Incumbent is also known as the Knowledge of the Pen (Ilm-e-Qalum).
First Descent is that state when God exhibited the program present in His Mind as He Willed. The creative formulae of the cosmos are the secrets of the First Descent. Why did God opt to create the universe and what is the Will of God, which He intends to accomplish? Reflection of all these things is found in the Great Soul; The Firmly Affixed Inscription. One side of Great Soul is the Obscure Subtlety (akhfa) and the other side is the Latent Subtlety (khafi) Great Soul is the storehouse of eleven thousand beatific visions of God. The person who attains communion with these two subtleties can observe these visions. These two subtleties of akhfa and khafi are found in every human being irrespective of who he is, what he is, or his station in life.
Hey, hey, I think I'm gettin' there. Only two of the elements in this one were my shots and the rest were stock photos. Fair enough. But the methodology was yours truly's and it didn't take anywhere near as long to complete (though I don't think it is) as it would otherwise have.
Original File: Breadman.psb
The Tau empire has always preferred peaceful expansion over violent. Why waste troops when systems may be willingly coerced into being annexed? To give themselves willingly to the pursuit of the Greater Good.
However, after the Damocles Gulf Crusade, Imperial forces became very guarded against Tau diplomatic infiltration. Fear of the vengeful force of the Emperor, of punitive Astartes crusades or a harrowing Inquisition. This fear would become the primary obstacle identified by Tau Water Caste as preventing peaceful annexation of planets.
Responding to this, it was decided by the Ethereal Caste to train and arm an auxiliary force of Gue'vesa (Humans who have defected to serve the Tau and the Greater Good). These would be selected from the most veteran and well trained of the former Guardsmen, especially those with intelligence or covert ops backgrounds, and inserted into targeted systems in advance of any diplomatic envoy. Here, these undercover operatives would seek out Inquisition personnel and gauge the loyalties of the nobility and governing officials. The Gue'vesa Hunters would identify and eliminate Inquisition assets and any other approved threats to potential Tau diplomacy to prepare for the delegation's arrival. After the Water Caste Tau Diplomat arrived, these Gue'vesa hunters would continue to operate in the shadows to ensure their safety as well as thwart any Imperial intelligence operations.
If all went to plan, the Gue'vesa Hunters could ensure that the system was able to engage in negotiations without fearful pressure, and that the Empire of Man would not learn of the defection until after Tau Annexation was complete.
To assist with this mission, dead drops of Tau armor, weapons, and technology would also be inserted to provide the Gue'vesa Hunters with support should human gear be insufficient for the mission. A special Pulse Rifle designed to better suit human physicality was included in these arsenals, and became symbolic of the increasing numbers and participation of Gue'vesa within the Tau Empire.
The fire hydrant is attractive, appealing and outstanding. So you can easily find them when you need them for firefighting purpose. Yet they are humble, not over-shiny and not over-exaggerating in appearance.
It is a nice example that combines the conflicting qualities in real world.
It is like my first lesson in photography. Our teacher told us to take more pictures i.e. to experiment and explore, and at the same time take less pictures i.e. being more critical and selective on your subject, scene and light.
Dialectics is a philosophical methodology using the opposite forces or ideas and finding solutions by resolving and integrating the ideas.
This is the fire hydrant at the corner opposite to my home and the shot was taken with my Fuji point & shoot.
Happy weekend!
C4C- Images taken to test the methodology of table top lighting. All these are lit with a simple side light and a second curtain flash on camera. The Goose is just a friend who pops in now and again.
The first lesson I have learned is to clean all the dust away first...and to smooth out he table cover.
Maker: Frederick H. Evans (1853-1943)
Born: UK
Active: UK
Medium: photogravure
Size: 8.6" x 7.5"
Location:
Object No. 2016.1071
Shelf: N-9.5
Publication: Mark Haworth-Booth, The Golden Age of Photography Portfolio, Aperture, New York, 1985.
Graver la Lumiere, Fondation William Cuendet, Vevey, 2002 pg 17
Julien Faure-Conorton, La Photographie Pictorialiste, Actes Sud, Paris, 2025, pg 1
Other Collections:
Provenance: Binoche et Giquello, Photographies Anciennes et Modernes, Paris, No. 10, 2016, Lot 72.
Notes: published by the Silver Mountain Foundation. Printed by John Goodman. Frederick H. Evans (26 June 1853 – 24 June 1943) was a British photographer, best known for his images of architectural subjects, such as English and French cathedrals.[
Evans was born and died in London. He began his career as a bookseller, but retired from that to become a full-time photographer in 1898, when he adopted the platinotype technique for his photography. Platinotype images, with extensive and subtle tonal range, non glossy-images, and better resistance to deterioration than other methods available at the time, suited Evans' subject matter. Almost as soon as he began, however, the cost of platinum - and consequently, the cost of platinum paper for his images - began to rise. Because of this cost, and because he was reluctant to adopt alternate methodologies, by 1915 Evans retired from photography altogether. Evans' ideal of straightforward, "perfect" photographic rendering - unretouched or modified in any way - as an ideal was well-suited to the architectural foci of his work: the ancient, historic, ornate and often quite large cathedrals, cloisters and other buildings of the English and French countryside. This perfectionism, along with his tendency to exhibit and write about his work frequently, earned for him international respect and much imitation. He ultimately became regarded as perhaps the finest architectural photographer of his, or any, era - though some professionals privately felt that the Evans' philosophy favoring extremely literal images was restrictive of the creative expression rapidly becoming available within the growing technology of the photographic field. Evans was also an able photographer of landscapes and portraits, and among the many notable friends and acquaintances he photographed was George Bernard Shaw, with whom he also often corresponded. Evans was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1928, he was also a member of the Linked Ring photographic society
To view our archive organized by Collections, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS
For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
Ah! Post WW2 planners utopia! As early as 1942/43 British planners were looking ahead to post-war reconstruction - both to deal with the devastation of Britain's urban fabric by enemy bombing as well as the social and economic 'evils' of much of the unchecked Victorian urban and industrial expansion. Hitherto much of the methodology behind contemporary urban expansion and new housing was to manage the rapid suburban development that, in many cities had lead to edge of town development of 'suburbia' - interestingly loved by those who lived and aspired to such 'semis' and hated by planners and architects as drab fungal growths on the urban fringe ('subtopia'). The other great priority was slum clearance and in-city redvelopment of existing urban areas. Most British towns, cities and regions produced massive development plans and these were to form the foundation of many elements of post-war construction - most notably in the landmark Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 in which the new Labour Government enshrined the production of planning and plans themselves, introduced the 'green belt' concept to protect the boundaries of existing and pushed for the construction of quite a British solution - "New Towns". In the 1940s and '50s numerous New Towns were 'designated' including a ring of such towns around London that had been suggested in the 1944 Greater London Plan. This magnificent volume, sister to the 1943 County of London Plan, was largely authored by one of the doyen of UK planning, Patrick Abercrombie. It put forward plans that helped formulate various of the London 'new towns' - one site considered was the large Essex village of Chipping Ongar, better known as Ongar. Eventually Ongar was de-selected in c1947 largely because of the cost of the ambitious transport plans involving the London - Ongar branch railway line - the scheme would have seen extension of the line into a loop running through to Brentwood and electrification. This foundered, due to potential costs in post-war austerity - had it happened the history of the branch (that ended up being reluctantly electrified as part of London Transport's Central line and eventually abandoned in 1994) would have been very, very different. Anyhow - the Plan contains some illustrations of the 'new world' proposed - by the illustrator Peter Shepheard, they are in that marvellous style that seems so utopian to us now but must have been so asperational and vital to a British population that had suffered years of war, depression and who often lived in crowded, drab slums. Here we see spring in the air at the sleek lines of a proposed neighbourhood shopping centre that would have helped form the nucleus of the Greensted 'village' to the west of Ongar. Much was made of the traffic free environment - this form of segregation was seen as being key to allow the relaxed, carefree lifestyle New Towns would offer. Happy women and children, cavorting with cats and dogs (I see no men - they're all at work!) do the daily shopping, having arrived by foot or London Transport bus - one of the drawbacks of many post-war plans was the inability to deal with late 20th century growth in personal ownership of motor cars that is seen in road sizes and car parking in many UK towns and cities. In the evening you could have gone to the Greensted Ritz - to see Carmen Miranda in Rio, I'm amazed it isn't 'Brave New World"!
If Ongar didn't get off the drawing board a neighbouring Essex village of Harlow did and was to see precisely the sorts of changes that Ongar had illustrated. Harlow, designated in 1947, saw many of these proposals implemented and, in time, was seen to be the most successful of the 'New Towns'. Places such as Harlow are easily sneered at I fear but one has to admire the energy and passion put into the intention to 'better' peoples lives, whatever you think of the planning and concepts. Interesting that now, in 2014, a new generation of New Towns is proposed to help manage the UK's housing shortage - based on the premise that the 1947 Act, now seen by some as being at the roots of the 'strangulation' of urban development, has been radically overturned we may turn back to one of the very concepts that engendered such centralised planning!
Being photographed after 2nd Chobi Mela IX workshop. Working Internationally: Strategies and Methodologies. Shafiq Alam AFP, Abir Abdullah EPA, Shahidul Alam Drik/Pathshala at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute
John Pollini in my opinion is the number 1 authority on Julio Claudian Portrait study. I have had much correspondence with Prof. Pollini and he is passionate about Roman Art. Here is his curriculum Vitae:
Education
B.A. Classics, University of Washington, 1/1968
M.A. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, UC Berkeley, 1/1973
Ph.D. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, UC Berkeley, 1/1978
Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History
Professor, Department of Art History (Adjunct Professor for Department of Classics and Department of History), University of Southern California, 1991-
Dean of the School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, 1993-1996
Chairman of the Department of Art History, University of Southern California, 1990-1993
Associate Professor, Department of Art History and Department of Classics (adjunct appointment), University of Southern California, 1987-1991
Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Johns Hopkins University, 1980-1987
Curator, Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum, 1980-1987
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Johns Hopkins University, 1979-1980
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Classics, Case Western Reserve University, 1978-1979
Description of Research
Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Pollini's research is concerned with methodologies of classical art and archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, epigraphy and numismatics. His other scholarly research interests include ancient religion, mythology, narratology, rhetoric and propaganda. Over the years Professor Pollini has excavated at the Greco-Roman site of Aphrodisias, Turkey, and the Etruscan site of Ghiaccio Forte, Italy, and participated in the underwater survey of the port of Tarquinia (Gravisca), Italy. Trained in the methodologies of classical art & archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, epigraphy, and numismatics, Professor Pollini is committed to interdisciplinary teaching and research. Professor Pollini has lectured widely both in the United States and abroad. He has published numerous articles and authored several books.
Research Specialties
Classical Art and Archaeology
Honors and Awards
Elected Life Member, German Archaeological Association, 2000-
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, awarded for second time, 2006-2007
Guggenheim Fellowship, deferred until 2007-2008, 2006-2007
Whitehead Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (Honorific Appointment), 9/1/2006-6/1/2007
Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching 2002, 2002-2005
Mellon Foundation Award for Excellence in Mentoring, 2004-2005
Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching 1998, 1998-2001
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, awarded for second time, 1995-1996
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, 1987-1988
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1983-1984
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1978-1979
Fulbright Award, Fellowship to Italy, 1975-1976
CURRICULUM VITAE
JOHN POLLINI
Department of Art History
Von Kleinsmid Center 351 University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0047
Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, Department of Art History
Joint Professor, Department of History
Adjunct Professor, Department of Classics
President, Classical Archaeological Association of Southern California (CAASC)
DEGREES
Ph. D. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California at
Berkeley (1978) (interdisciplinary program involving the Departments of Art History,
Classics, and History; major field: Etruscan and Roman Art and Archaeology; minor
fields: Greek Art and Archaeology and Roman History; Ph.D. equivalency exams in
ancient Greek and Latin) [Diss.: Studies in Augustan “Historical” Reliefs]
M.A. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California at
Berkeley (l973) [MA Thesis: Two Marble Portrait Statues of Pugilists from Carian
Aphrodisias: Iconography and Third Century A.D. Sculptural Traditions in the Roman
East]
B.A. magna cum laude, Classics, University of Washington (1968)
POSTDOCTORAL ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Dean of the School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, with administrative,
budgetary, and fund-raising responsibilities (1993-1996)
Chairman of the Department of Art History, University of Southern California
(1990-1993)
Full Professor, University of Southern California, Department of Art History
(1991-present), with joint appointment in the Department of History and adjunct
appointment in the Department of Classics
Associate Professor, University of Southern California, Department of Art History, with
adjunct appointment in the Department of Classics (1987-1991)
Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Classics (1980-1987) and
Curator of the Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum (1980-1987)
Visiting Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Classics
(1979-1980)
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Classics
(1978-1979)
INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS,
AWARDS, HONORS
William E. Metcalf Lectureship (2008)
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2006-2007, deferred to
2007-2008)
Whitehead Professor of Archaeology, American School of Classical Studies at
Athens (2006-2007)
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (2006-2007)
Kress Foundation Travel Grant (Summer 2006)
Mellon Foundation Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2005)
Taggart Foundation Grant: Campus Martius Virtual Reality Project (2005)
Distinguished Lecturer, Biblical Archaeological Society and Center for Classical
Archaeology, University of Oklahoma, Norman (2005): Series of three lectures on
Roman and Christian Religion, Art, and Ideology
Kress Foundation Travel Grant (2003)
Senior Humboldt Research Prize (nominated) to Berlin, Germany, for 2000-2001
Elected Member (for life) of the German Archaeological Institute (Berlin) (2000)
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and
Research (1995-1996)
Kress Foundation Travel Grant (Summer 1988)
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1987-1988)
Kress Foundation Travel Grant (1987)
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and
Research (1983-1984)
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Case Western Reserve University (1978-1979)
Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund Fellowship to Italy (1975-1976)
Fulbright Fellowship, Università di Roma, Rome, Italy (1975-1976)
UNIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS
Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching
(2002-2005)
College Faculty Research Development Award (consecutive years: 2000-2007)
University of Southern California Grant for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching
(with Lynn Swartz Dodd and Nicholas Cipolla) for a virtual reality project “Imaging
Antiquity: Creating Context through Virtual Reconstructions, Digital Resources, and
Traditional Media” (2003-2004)
Grant for the “College Initiative for the Study of Political Violence” (2002)
University of Southern California Grant for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching
(with Bruce Zuckermann and Lynn Swartz Dodd) to develop a new interdisciplinary and
interdepartmental course entitled “Accessing Antiquity: Actual Objects in Virtual Space”
(2000-2001)
University of Southern California Senior Nominee for National Endowment for the
Humanities Summer Stipend for Faculty Research (1998-1999)
Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching
(1998-2001)
College Awards and Grants for Research Excellence (consecutive years: 1997-2000)
Hewlett Foundation Award and Grant for General Education Course Development
(1997-1998)
Faculty Research and Innovation Fund Grant, University of Southern California (1988)
University of California Traveling Fellowship (1976-1977)
Dean’s Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley (1973-1975)
Phi Beta Kappa (1968), University of Washington
ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION
Field trips sponsored by the American Academy in Rome, German Archaeological
Institute, and Comune di Roma (1975-1978)
Research in Rome, Italy for dissertation (1975-1978), as well as further study of Greek
and Roman art and architecture in Italy and elsewhere in Europe during this period
Supervised study of Greek and Roman sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum, with
J. Frel (1973-1975)
Course in Greek art and archaeology at the Universität München, Munich, Germany
with E. Homann-Wedeking (1971)
Study of the German language at the Goethe Institute, Grafing (Munich), Germany (1971)
Course work in Roman, Etruscan, and Italic art and architecture, Università di Roma,
with G. Becatti, M. Pallottino, F. Castagnoli, and M. Squarciapino (1970-1971)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD WORK
Underwater survey of port of Tarquinia (Gravisca), Italy (1977): Consultant
Excavation of Etruscan site of Ghiaccio Forte, Italy (1973)
Excavation of Greco-Roman site of Aphrodisias, Turkey (1970-1972)
Excavation of Spanish/Indian Mission, Guavave, Arizona (1965-1966)
LANGUAGES
Ancient: Latin and Greek
Modern: German, Italian, French, modern Greek, some Turkish
BOOKS
PUBLISHED:
I) The Portraiture of Gaius and Lucius Caesar (Fordham University Press, New York
1987) (with a book subvention from the National Endowment for the Humanities).
II) Roman Portraiture: Images of Character and Virtue, with graduate student
participation (Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles 1990).
III) Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization:The Cobannus Hoard
(Monumenta Graeca et Romana IX) (Brill, Leiden 2002).
IV) The de Nion Head: A Masterpiece of Archaic Greek Sculpture (Philipp von
Zabern, Mainz 2003).
V) Terra Marique: Studies in Art History and Marine Archaeology in Honor of Anna
Marguerite McCann on the Receipt of the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute
of America (editor, designer, and contributor of introduction, publication list, and
one of 19 essays) (Oxbow Publications, Oxford 2005).
SUBMITTED:
VI) From Republic to Empire: Rhetoric, Religion, and Power in the Visual Culture of
Ancient Rome (University of Oklahoma Press), comprising eight chapters:
CHAPTER I: The Leader and the Divine: Diverse Modes of Representation in Roman Numismatics
CHAPTER II: The Cult Image of Julius Caesar: Conflicts in Religious Theology and Ideology in
Augustus’ Representational Program
CHAPTER III: From Warrior to Statesman in Augustan Art and Ideology: Augustus and the Image of
Alexander
CHAPTER IV: The Ideology of “Peace through Victory” and the Ara Pacis: Visual Rhetoric and the
Creation of a Dynastic Narrative [revised and updated essay originally published in
German]
CHAPTER V: The Acanthus of the Ara Pacis as an Apolline and Dionysiac Symbol of
Anamorphosis, Anakyklosis and Numen Mixtum [revised and updated publication].
CHAPTER VI: Divine Providence in Early Imperial Ideology: The Smaller Cancelleria Relief and
the Ara Providentiae Augustae
CHAPTER VII: The “Insanity” of Caligula or the “Insanity” of the Jews? Differences in Perception
and Religious Beliefs
CHAPTER VIII: “Star Power” in Imperial Rome: Astral Theology, Castorian Imagery, and the Dual
Heirs in the Transmission of the Leadership of the State
IN PROGRESS:
VII) Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquity: A Study
in Religious Intolerance in the Ancient World
VIII) Dynastic Narratives in Augustan Art and Thought: The Rhetoric and Poetry of
Visual Imagery [with DVD Virtual Reality Program of the Monuments]
IX) The Image of Augustus: Art, Ideology, and the Rhetoric of Leadership
X) Social, Sexual, and Religious Intercourse: Sacrificial Ministrants and Sex-Slaves
in Roman Art -- 3rd Century B.C. - 4th Century A.D.
ARTICLES
PUBLISHED:
1) “A Flavian Relief Portrait in the J. Paul Getty Museum,” in Getty Museum Journal
5 (1977) 63-66.
2) “Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and the Ravenna Relief,” in Römische Mitteilungen
88 (1981) 117-40.
3) “A Pre-Principate Portrait of Gaius (Caligula)?” in Journal of the Walters Art
Gallery 40 (1982) 1-12.
4) “Damnatio Memoriae in Stone: Two Portraits of Nero Recut to Vespasian in
American Museums,” in American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984) 547-55.
5) “The Meaning and Date of the Reverse Type of Gaius Caesar on Horseback,” in
American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 30 (1985) 113-17.
6) “Response to E. Judge’s ‘On Judging the Merits of Augustus,’” in Center for
Hermeneutical Studies: Colloquy 49 (1985) 44-46.
7) “Ahenobarbi, Appuleii and Some Others on the Ara Pacis,” in American Journal of
Archaeology 90 (1986) 453-60.
8) “The Findspot of the Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta,” in Bullettino della
Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 92 (1987/88) 103-108.
9) “Two Acrolithic or Pseudo-Acrolithic Sculptures of the Mature Classical Period in
the Archaeological Museum of the Johns Hopkins University,” in Classical Marble:
Geochemistry,Technology, Trade (NATO ASI Series E vol. 153), edd. N. Herz and
M. Waelkens (Dordrecht 1988) 207-17.
10) “Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation in the Late Republic and Early
Principate,” in Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His
Principate, edd. K.A. Raaflaub and M. Toher (Berkeley 1990) 333-63.
11) “The Marble Type of the Augustus from Prima Porta: An Isotopic Analysis,” in
Journal of Roman Archaeology 5 (1992) 203-208.
12) “The Tazza Farnese: Principe Augusto ‘Redeunt Saturnia Regna’!” in American
Journal of Archaeology 96 (1992) 249-55, 283-300.
13) “The Cartoceto Bronzes: Portraits of a Roman Aristocratic Family of the Late First
Century B.C.,” in American Journal of Archaeology 97 (1993) 423-46.
14) “The Gemma Augustea: Ideology, Rhetorical Imagery, and the Construction of a
Dynastic Narrative,” in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art, ed. P. Holliday
(Cambridge 1993) 258-98.
15) “The Acanthus of the Ara Pacis as an Apolline and Dionysiac Symbol of
Anamorphosis, Anakyklosis and Numen Mixtum,” in Von der Bauforschung zur
Denkmalpflege, Festschrift für Alois Machatschek (Vienna 1993) 181-217.
16) “The ‘Trojan Column’ at USC: Reality or Myth?” in Trojan Family (May, 1994)
30-31.
17) “The Augustus from Prima Porta and the Transformation of the Polykleitan Heroic
Ideal,” in Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition, ed. W. Moon (Madison 1995)
262-82.
18) “The ‘Dart Aphrodite’: A New Replica of the ‘Arles Aphrodite Type,’ the Cult Image
of Venus Victrix in Pompey’s Theater at Rome, and Venusian Ideology and Politics
in the Late Republic - Early Principate,” in Latomus 55 (1997) 757-85.
19) “Parian Lychnites and the Prima Porta Statue: New Scientific Tests and the Symbolic
Value of the Marble” (with N. Herz, K. Polikreti, and Y. Maniatis), in Journal of
Roman Archaeology 11 (1998) 275-84.
20) “The Warren Cup: Homoerotic Love and Symposial Rhetoric in Silver,” in The Art
Bulletin 81 (1999) 21-52.
21) “Ein mit Inschriften versehener Legionärshelm von der pannonisch-dakischen Grenze
des römischen Reiches: Besitzverhältnisse an Waffen in der römischen Armee,” in
M. Junkelmann, Römische Helme VIII Sammlung Axel Guttmann, ed. H. Born
(Mainz 2000) 169-88.
22) “The Marble Type of the Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta: Facts and Fallacies,
Lithic Power and Ideology, and Color Symbolism in Roman Art,” in Paria Lithos:
Parian Quarries, Marble and Workshops of Sculpture (Proceedings of the First
International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades, Paros, 2-5
October 1997), edd. D.U. Schilardi and D. Katsonopoulou (Athens 2000) 237-52.
23) “The Riace Bronzes: New Observations,” in Acten des 14. Internationalen
Kongresses für Antike Bronzen, Kölner Jahrbuch 33 (2000) 37-56.
24) “Two Bronze Portrait Busts of Slave-Boys from a Shrine of Cobannus in Roman
Gaul,” in Studia Varia II: Occasional Papers on Antiquities of The J. Paul Getty
Museum 10 (2001) 115-52.
25) “A New Portrait of Octavian/Augustus Caesar,” in Roman Sculpture in the
Art Museum, Princeton University (Princeton 2001) 6-11.
26) “Two Gallo-Roman Bronze Portraits of Sacrificial Ministrants in the J. Paul Getty
Museum,” in From the Parts to the Whole 2: Acta of the 13th International Bronze
Congress, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28 - June 1, 1996, edd. C.C.
Mattusch, A. Brauer, and S.E. Knudsen (Portsmouth, Rhode Island 2002) 89-91.
27) “‘Frieden-durch-Sieg’ Ideologie und die Ara Pacis Augustae: Bildrhetorik und
die Schöpfung einer dynastischen Erzählweise,” in Krieg und Sieg: Narrative
Wanddarstellungen von Altägypten bis ins Mittelalter (Internationales
Kolloquium 23. - 30. Juli 1997 im Schloss Heindorf, Langenlois; Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften XXIV), edd. M. Bietak und M. Schwarz (Vienna
2002) 137-59.
28) “A New Portrait of Octavia and the Iconography of Octavia Minor and Julia Maior,”
Römische Mitteilungen 109 (2002) 11-42.
29) “Slave-Boys for Sexual and Religious Service: Images of Pleasure and Devotion,” in
Flavian Rome: Culture, Image, Text, edd. A.J. Boyle and W.J. Dominik (Leiden
2003) 149-66.
30) “The Caelian Hill Sacrificial Minister: A Marble Head of an Imperial Slave-Boy from
the Antiquarium Comunale on the Caelian Hill in Rome,” in Römische Mitteilungen
111 (2004) 1-28.
31) “A New Head of Augustus from Herculaneum: A Marble Survivor of a Pyroclastic
Surge,” in Römische Mitteilungen 111 (2004) 283-98.
32) “The Armstrong and Nuffler Heads and the Portraiture of Julius Caesar, Livia, and
Antonia Minor in Terra Marique: Studies in Honor of Anna Marguerite McCann
on the Receipt of the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America, ed.
J. Pollini (Oxbow Publications, Oxford 2005) 89-122.
33) “A New Marble Portrait of Tiberius: Portrait Typology and Ideology,” in Antike Kunst
48 (2005) 57-72.
34) “A North African Portrait of Caracalla from the Mellerio Collection and the
Iconography of Caracalla and Geta,” in Revue Archéologique (2005) 55-77.
35) “A Bronze Gorgon Handle Ornament of the Ripe Archaic Greek Period,” in Annuario
della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene e delle Missioni Italiani in Oriente 83
(2005) 235-47.
36) “Ritualizing Death in Republican Rome: Memory, Religion, Class Struggle, and the
Wax Ancestral Mask Tradition’s Origin and Influence on Veristic Portraiture” in
Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Ritual in the Ancient Near East
and Mediterranean (Oriental Institute Seminars 3, University of
Chicago), ed. N. Laneri (Chicago 2007) 237-85.
37) “A New Bronze Portrait Bust of Augustus,” in Latomus 66 (2007) 270-73.
FORTHCOMING:
38) “Gods and Emperors in the East: Images of Power and the Power of Intolerance,”
in the proceedings of an international conference on “‘Sculptural Environment’ of the
Roman Near East: Reflections on Culture, Ideology, and Power” (University of
Michigan), in Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion,
edd. E.A. Friedland, S.C. Herbert, and Y.Z. Eliav (Peeters Publ.: Leuven).
39) “A New Portrait Bust of Tiberius in the Collection of Michael Bianco,” in Bulletin
Antieke Beschaving 83 (2008) 133-38.
40) “The Desecration and Mutilation of the Parthenon Frieze by Christians and Others,” in
Athenische Mitteilungen 122 (2007).
41) “Problematics of Making Ambiguity Explicit in Virtual Reconstructions:
A Case Study of the Mausoleum of Augustus,” for the proceedings of an international
conference, “Computer Technology and the Arts: Theory and Practice,” sponsored by
the British Academy and the University of London.
42) “A Winged Goat Table Leg Support from the House of Numerius Popidius Priscus at
Pompeii,” in Pompei, Regio VII, Insula 2, pars occidentalis. Indagini, Studi,
Materiali (la Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei), ed. L. Pedroni.
43) “Augustus: Portraits of Augustus,” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and
Rome (2008).
44) “A New Bronze Lar and the Role of the Lares in the Domestic and Civic Religion of the Romans,” in Latomus (2008).
IN PROGRESS:
45) “The ‘Colville Athena’ Head and Its Typology.”
46) “Idealplastik and Idealtheorie: Paradeigmatic Systems, Homosexual Desire, and the
Rhetoric of Identity in Polykleitos’ Doryphoros and Diadoumenos.”
REVIEW ARTICLES
PUBLISHED:
D. Boschung, Die Bildnisse des Augustus (Das römische Herrscherbild I.2) (Berlin 1993),
in Art Bulletin 81 (1999) 723-35.
E. Varner, Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial
Portraiture (Monumenta Graeca et Romana 10) (Leiden 2004), in Art Bulletin 88
(2006) 591-98.
BOOK REVIEWS
PUBLISHED:
M. Torelli, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs, in American Journal of
Archaeology 87 (1983) 572-73.
J. Ganzert, Das Kenotaph für Gaius Caesar in Limyra, in American Journal of
Archaeology 90 (1986) 134-36.
R. Brilliant, Visual Narratives. Storytelling in Etruscan and Roman Art in American
Journal of Philology 107 (1986) 523-27.
PUBLISHED IN CHOICE:
E. Bartman, Portraits of Livia: Imaging the Imperial Woman in Augustan Rome, in
vol. 37 (1999) 126.
B.S. Ridgway, Prayers in Stone: Greek Architectural Sculpture (Ca. 600 - 100 B.C.),
in vol. 37 (2000) 1095.
W.E. Mierse, Temples and Towns in Roman Iberia: The Social and Architectural
Dynamics of Sanctuary Designs from the Third Century B.C. to the Third Century A.D.
in vol. 37 (2000) 1458.
V. Karageorgis, Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan
Museum of Art (New York 2000)in vol. 38 (2000) 1953.
Z. Hawass, Valley of the Golden Mummies (New York 2000) in vol. 38 (2001)
4036.
M.W. Jones, Principles of Roman Architecture (New Haven 2000) in vol. 38 (2001)
5409.
F. Salmon, Building on Ruins: The Rediscovery of Rome and English Architecture
(Ashgate 2000) in vol. 39 (2001) 106.
J. Boardman, The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters and Pictures (New York
2001) in vol. 39 (2002) 3755.
Roman Sculpture in the Art Museum, Princeton University, ed. J. M. Padgett (Princeton
2001) in vol. 39 (2002) 6218.
G. Hedreen, Capturing Troy: The Narrative Function of Landscape in Archaic and Early
Classical Greek Art (Ann Arbor, 2001) in vol. 40 (2002) 73.
A. J. Clark, M. Elston, and M.L. Hart, Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms,
Styles, and Techniques (Los Angeles 2002) in vol. 40 (2003) 3185.
S. Woodford, Images of Myths in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge 2003) in vol. 41
(2003) 89.
J. Aruz with R. Wallenfels (edd.), Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from
the Mediterranean to the Indus (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) (New
Haven 2003) in vol. 41 (2004) 2584.
G. Curtis, Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo (New York 2003) in vol. 41 (2004)
5083.
Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit, edd. J.J. Herrmann and C.
Kondoleon (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) in vol. 42 (2004) 646.
E.W. Leach, The Social Life of Painting in Ancient Rome and on the Bay of Naples
(Cambridge 2004) in vol. 42 (2004) 1215-16.
D. Mazzoleni, Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House (Los Angeles 2004) in vol. 42
(2005) 1809.
S. Fine, Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology
(Cambridge 2005) in vol. 43 (2006) 1586-87.
C.H. Hallett, The Roman Nude: Heroic Portrait Statuary 200 B.C. -- A.D. 300 (Oxford
2005) in vol. 44 (2006).
Constantine the Great: York’s Roman Emperor, edd. E. Hartley, J. Hawkes, M. Henig, and
F. Mee (York 2006) in vol. 44 (2006).
M.D. Stansbury-O’Donnell, Vase Painting, Gender, and Social Identity in Archaic Athens
(Cambridge 2006) in vol. 44 (2006).
PRINCIPAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS (Hard Copy and Online):
Greek Art and Archaeology: Course Manual (113 pages, 23 plates) and online version of
this Course Manual with digitized images
Roman Art and Archaeology: Course Manual (158 pages, 58 plates) and online version
of this Course Manual with digitized images
Digging into the Past: Material Culture and the Civilizations of the Ancient
Mediterranean: Course Manual (43 pages)
Proseminar Guide to General and Specific Works on Greek and Roman Art and
Archaeology and Related Disciplines (50 pages) and online version
Website for AHIS 425, “Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research and Methodology
in Classical Art and Archaeology and Related Disciplines” with links to other important
websites in the fields of Art, Archaeology, Classics, and Ancient History
Website for AHIS 201g: “Digging into the Past: Material Culture and the
Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean” (with digitized images)
PAPERS GIVEN AT INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL
CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA
On Judging the Merits of Augustus: Center for Hermeneutical Studies: Colloquy,
Berkeley (April, 1985)
Investigating Hellenistic Sculpture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,
National Gallery of Art (October, 1986)
Augustus: Monuments, Arts, and Religion: Brown University (March, 1987)
Aspects of Ancient Religion: University of California at Berkeley (April, 1987)
Marble and Ancient Greece and Rome: International conference sponsored by
NATO at Il Ciocco (Tuscany), Italy (May, 1988)
Polykleitos, the Doryphoros and Its Influence: University of Wisconsin, Madison
(October, 1989)
UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: UCLA, Los Angeles (December, 1992)
XIIIth International Bronze Congress: Harvard University (May 28 - June 1, 1996)
UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: Roman Representations: Subjectivity, Power
and Space: USC, Los Angeles (March, 1997)
International Symposium at Cuma (Naples): Flavian Poets, Artists, Architects and
Engineers in the Campi Flegrei (July, 1997)
International Symposium at the University of Vienna: Interdisziplinäres Kolloquium
Historische Architekturreliefs vom Alten Ägypten bis zum Mittelalter (July, 1997)
First International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades: Paros,
Greece (October, 1997)
Getty Research Institute Colloquium: Work in Progress (November, 1997)
Annual Meetings of the Art Historians of Southern California at California State
University, Northridge, California (November, 1998)
XIV. Internationaler Kongress für Antike Bronzen: Werkstattkreise, Figuren und Geräte
(Sponsored by Das Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt Köln und das
Archäologisches Institut der Universität zu Köln [September 1999]): Besides giving paper,
chaired the session “Bronzestatuen und -statuetten: Fundkomplexen, Fundgruppen,
Einzelstücke, und Typen”
First International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and
Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- keynote speaker and chaired
session on “Ideology, Historiography, and the Imperial Family” (May, 2000)
International Symposium at Emory University, Atlanta: Tyranny and Transformation
(October, 2000)
Annual Meeting of the Art Historians of Southern California at the Getty Center,
Los Angeles, California (November, 2000)
Getty Research Institute Colloquium: Work in Progress (December, 2000)
Second International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and
Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- chaired session on “The Image of
the Princeps and the Ruler Cult” (May, 2001)
UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: UCLA, Los Angeles (April, 2002)
Third International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and
Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- chaired session on “Roman History
and Ideology” (May, 2002)
Symposium on the Age of Augustus at UCLA -- (Feb., 2003)
Fourth International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and
Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- keynote speaker and
chaired session (May, 2003)
International Archaeological Congress, Harvard University (Aug. 2003): Besides giving a
paper, chaired session on “Ancient Society”
VIIth International ASMOSIA Conference, Thasos, Greece (Sept. 2003)
International Conference in the Arts and the Humanities, Honolulu, Hawaii (Jan. 2004)
Symposium on Roman Sculpture, Minneapolis Museum of Art (organized by Richard
Brilliant) (April, 2004)
International Symposium on Interaction of Indigenous and Foreign Cults in Italy at Cuma
(Naples) (May, 2004): Besides giving a paper, chaired session
International Conference at University of Michigan: “‘Sculptural Environment’ of the
Roman Near East: Reflections on Culture, Ideology, and Power (November 2004)
International Conference at Stanford University: “Seeing the Past” (February 2005)
International Conference at the University of London: “Computer Technology and the Arts:
Theory and Practice” (November 2005)
International Conference at the University of Chicago: “Performing Death: Social Analyses
of Funerary Ritual in the Mediterranean” (February 2006)
VIIIth International ASMOSIA Conference, Aix-en-Provence, France (June 2006)
Symposium “Art of Warfare”: Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University (January
2007)
PAPERS PRESENTED AT ANNUAL CONVENTIONS OF THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE
COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION
Boston (AIA, December, 1979)
New Orleans (AIA, December, 1980)
San Francisco (AIA, December, 1981)
Philadelphia (AIA, December, 1982)
Cincinnati (AIA, December, 1983)
Toronto (AIA, December, 1984)
Washington, D.C. (AIA, December, 1985) -- invited paper, “The Promulgation of the
Image of the Leader in Roman Art,” in a special AIA plenary session on Politics and
Art
San Antonio (AIA, December, 1986) -- invited paper, “Time, Narrativity, and Dynastic
Constructs in Augustan Art and Thought,” at a joint AIA-APA session on topics
illustrating connections between Roman art and philology
Houston (CAA, February, 1988) -- invited paper, “The Gemma Augustea and the
Construction of a Dynastic Narrative,” for a CAA session on Narrative and Event in
Greek and Roman Art
Atlanta (AIA, December, 1994) -- discussant for a joint AIA-APA session on “Rethinking
Nero’s Legacy: New Perspectives on Neronian Art, Literature, and History”
New York (AIA, December, 1996) -- special poster session: “The Marble Type of the
Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta: New Scientific Tests” (prepared in collaboration
with Norman Herz, Director of Programs, Center for Archaeological Sciences, University
of Georgia)
Chicago (AIA, December, 1997)
Washington, D.C. (AIA, December, 1998) -- invited paper, “A Portrait of a Sex-Slave
‘Stud’ (?) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,” for a special colloquium in
honor of Anna Marguerite McCann on the receipt of the “Gold Medal” of the
Archaeological Institute of America
San Francisco (AIA, January, 2004) -- joint paper with N.Cipolla and L. Swartz Dodd
OTHER ACADEMIC AND PUBLIC LECTURES/TALKS
American Academy, Rome, Italy (March, 1976)
Cleveland Society AIA, Cleveland, Ohio (April, 1979)
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. (September, 1980)
Institute of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y. (October, 1980)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. (January, 1983)
New York Society AIA, New York, N.Y. (January, 1983)
Baltimore Society AIA, Baltimore, Md. (February, 1983)
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (March, 1987)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ca. (March, 1987)
Columbia University, New York, N.Y. (April, 1987)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, UCLA, Ca. (November 1989)
Tulane University, New Orleans, La. (February, 1990)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, USC, Ca. (February 1990)
Los Angeles Society AIA, Los Angeles, Ca. (March, 1990)
Fisher Gallery and School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles,
Ca. (March, 1990)
Institute of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y. (April, 1990)
American Academy, Rome, Italy (May, 1990)
University of Vienna and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria (June, 1990)
San Diego Society AIA, San Diego, Ca. (September, 1990)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Getty Museum, Malibu, Ca.
(November, 1990).
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. (December, 1990)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Gamble House, Pasadena, Ca.
(March 1991)
Henry T. Rowell Lecturer: Baltimore Society AIA, Baltimore, Md. (November, 1991)
Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. (November, 1991)
Royal-Athena Galleries, Los Angeles, Ca. (October, 1992)
Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C. (November, 1992)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. (November, 1992)
Duke University, Durham, N.C. (November, 1992)
University of California, Los Angeles: UCLA/USC Seminar in Roman Studies, Los
Angeles, Ca. (December, 1992)
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ca. (January, 1993)
J. Paul Getty Museum and Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Malibu,
Ca. (February, 1993)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, UCLA, Ca. (March 1993)
California State University, Long Beach, Ca. (March, 1993)
Stanford University, Palo Alto, Ca. (April, 1993)
University of California, Berkeley, Ca. (April, 1993)
California State University, Northridge, Ca. (April, 1993)
University of Arizona, Tucson, Az. (April, 1993)
American Academy, Rome, Italy (June, 1994)
Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (Director’s Series) (Dec., 1994)
University of California, Irvine (May, 1997)
American Academy, Rome, Italy (July, 1997)
American School of Classical Studies, Athens (October, 1997)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (March, 1998)
British School at Rome (June, 1998)
University of California, Berkeley (November, 1998)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, University of California,
Santa Barbara (March, 1999)
Work in Progress: Getty Research Institute, Brentwood, California (December, 2000)
Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Getty Research Institute,
Brentwood, Ca. (April, 2001)
American Academy, Rome, Italy (May, 2001)
Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles (March, 2002)
Southern California Institute of Architecture (February, 2003)
Columbia University, New York (April, 2003)
University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (May, 2003)
University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands (May, 2003)
American School of Classical Studies, Athens (September, 2003)
University of Oklahoma, Norman (March, 2005)
Cambridge University, Cambridge, England (November, 2005)
American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece (March, 2007)
University of Athens, Greece (May, 2007)
Los Angeles Society of the AIA, Los Angeles (December, 2007)
College of William and Mary (January, 2008)
Duke University, Durham (February, 2008)
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA (March, 2008)
University of Nebraska, Lincoln (April, 2008)
AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS as Whitehead Professor of Archaeology (2006-2007)
Participated in all Fall trips of the School to various parts of Greece, giving
presentations on each of the trips.
Participated in the School’s Spring trip to Central Anatolia, giving several presentations.
Offered a seminar in the Winter Quarter: “Christian Destruction and Desecration of
Images and Shrines of Classical Antiquity.”
MISCELLANEOUS TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Lectures and talks on site regarding the architecture and topography of Rome, Ostia,
and Hadrian’s Villa for members of the Technische Universität für Architektur und
Denkmalpflege, Vienna, Austria; the Summer School of the American Academy in
Rome; St. Olaf College’s Junior Year Abroad Program; and M.A. students of
architecture in a joint summer program of the University of Southern California and the
University of Illinois; and the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome.
Talks on various aspects of Classical art and archaeology at meetings of the
Archaeological Society of the Mid-Atlantic States (1980-1987)
Gallery talks on the ancient collections of the Archaeological Museum of the Johns
Hopkins University (in capacity as curator) and of the Walters Art Gallery (1979-1987)
Gallery talks on the ancient collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art (1987-present)
Talk for USC graduate students in the Dept. of Classics at the Ara Pacis and Mausoleum of
Augustus in Rome (May 26, 2006), organized by Prof. Claudia Moatti, Dept. of Classics
SPECIAL TALKS AND LECTURES AT USC
Seminar for Professor Claudia Moatti, Department of Classics: “Problems in Ancient Art”
(March, 2005)
Seminar for Dr. Daniela Bleichmar, Department of Art History: Rediscovering the
Classical Past: The Relationship of Art History, Archaeology, and Visual Culture (March,
2005)
University of Southern California’s 125th Celebration: For Symposium on “Trojan
Legends” presented paper: “USC's Trojan Column: An Ancient and Modern Myth”
(October, 2005)
MEDIA INTERVIEWS AND CONSULTATION
New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The
History Channel, Arts and Entertainment Channel, KPCC Radio Los Angeles, NBC, Fox
Featured piece on my innovative work on the marble type of the statue of Augustus from
Prima Porta: A. Elders, “Tracing the Stones of Classical Brilliance,” in Hermes -- Greece
Today 35 (1999) 20-24.
ORGANIZER AND LEADER OF TOURS OF MUSEUMS AND SITES
Turkey (for Board of Councilors and donors of the School of Fine Arts, USC, 1995; for
university students and the general public, 1998)
Greece (Attica and the Peloponnese) (for university students and the general public, 1999)
Central Italy (for university students and the general public, 2000, 2002, 2003)
PARTICIPATION IN OTHER COLLOQUIA AND SYMPOSIA
Roman Sculpture and Architecture: German Archaeological Institute, Rome
(January, 1978)
Roman Architecture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery
of Art (January, 1981)
The Age of Augustus. The Rise of Imperial Ideology: Brown University (April, 1982)
Pictorial Narratives in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: The Johns Hopkins University and
the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (March, 1984)
Villa Gardens of the Roman Empire: Dumbarton Oaks (May, 1984)
Retaining the Original -- Multiple Originals, Copies, and Reproductions: Center for
Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (March, 1985)
Investigating Hellenistic Sculpture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,
National Gallery of Art (October, 1986)
Marble -- Art Historical and Sculptural Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture: J. Paul Getty
Museum (April, 1988)
International Conference on Roman Archaeology and Latin Epigraphy: University of
Rome and the French School of Rome (May, 1988)
Roman Portraits in Context: Emory University (January, 1989)
Small Bronze Sculpture from the Ancient World: J. Paul Getty Museum (March, 1989)
Alexandria and Alexandrianism: J. Paul Getty Museum (April, 1993)
International Symposium: “Rome Reborn” Visual Reality Program at UCLA (December,
1996)
History of Restoration of Ancient Stone Sculptures, J. Paul Getty Museum (October, 2001)
Re-Restoring Ancient Stone Sculpture, J. Paul Getty Museum (March, 2003)
Marble Conference on Thasos, Liman, Thasos (Sept. 2003)
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Editorial Assistant (1968-1969) and Associate Editor (1969-1970), AGON: Journal of
Classical Studies
Editorial Board, American Journal of Philology (January, 1982-January, 1987)
Delegate from Baltimore Society AIA to National Convention (1984-1986)
Vice-President, Baltimore Society of the AIA (1985-1987)
Co-Director, Exhibition on Roman Portraiture, Fisher Gallery (1989)
Co-Founder (with Dr. Diana Buitron) of the Classical Archaeological Society of the Mid-
Atlantic States (1978-87)
Founder and President of the Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California
(1987-present)
Member of the Ancient Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1987-
present)
Oversaw the publication and helped edit the newsletter “ARTFACTS” of the
School of Fine Arts (1993-1996) during my tenure as Dean of the School of Fine Arts
USC Representative to Advisory Council of the American Academy in Rome
(1993-present)
Comitato di Collaborazione Culturale to the Consul General of Italy at Los Angeles
(1995-1998)
Advisory Committee for the Virtual Reality Project for Ancient Rome (“Rome Reborn”)
(1996-1998)
Delegate from Los Angeles Society AIA to National Convention (Chicago, Dec., 1997)
Reviewer for the Getty Grant Program (1999)
Reviewer for the MacArthur Foundation Grant (2000, 2003)
Planning Committee for a Four-Year International Conference on “Roman Imperial
Ideology” at the Villa Vergiliana at Cuma (Naples), organized by J. Rufus Fears (2000-
2003)
Consultant for the Forum of Augustus Project: Sovrintendenza Archeologica Comunale,
Direzione al Foro di Augusto (2004-present)
Editor of the newsletter “Musings” for the Department of Art History, USC (2005)
Planning Committee for the Internation Bronze Congress in Athens, Greece (2006-2007)
Chaired two sessions -- “Roman Sculpture” and “Augustan Art” -- at the Annual Meeting
of the Archaeological Institute of America (San Diego 2007)
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES AND OTHER SERVICE
Faculty Senate (1988-1991)
Advisory Committee to the Dean of the School of Fine Arts (1990-1991, 1992-1993)
Chairman, Personnel Committee of the School of Fine Arts (1988-1990)
Library Liaison Officer for Art and Architecture Library (1987-present)
Search Committee for Reference Librarian of the Art and Architecture Library
(1989-1990 and 2000)
University Library Committee (1989-1990, 1998-2001)
Recruitment Committee for the School of Fine Arts (1989-1995)
Space Allocation Committee, School of Fine Arts (1989-1990)
University Research Committee (1990-1991)
Promotion Committee, School of Fine Arts (1990-1995)
University Ad Hoc Committee on Revenue Center Management (1990-1995)
Committee for University Development, School of Fine Arts (1993-1995)
Development Task Force, the School of Fine Arts (1993-1995)
Consultative Committee to the Provost (Spring 1993-1995)
University Galleries Advisory Committee (1993-1995)
University Committee on Transnational and Multicultural Affairs (1993-1995)
Provost’s Council at USC (formerly Council of Deans) (1993-1995)
USC Representative to the Advisory Council of the American Academy in Rome
(1993-present)
Founder and Member of the Board of Councilors for the School of Fine Arts (1994-1995)
Consortium Council of Deans for Development at USC (1995)
Tenure and Promotion Committee, Department of Art History (1995-to present)
Recruitment Committee for Department of Art History in the College of
Letters, Arts, and Sciences (1996-2005)
Program Proposer for the Establishment of an Interdepartmental and Interdisciplinary
Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program (1997-1999)
Chinese Search Committee, Department of Art History (1998-1999)
Japanese Search Committee, Department of Art History (1998-1999)
Professor-In-Charge, USC-Getty Lecture Series, Seminar, and Faculty Dinner (honoring
Salvatore Settis) (1998-1999)
Curriculum Committee (Co-Chair) (1998-1999)
Chair, Committee for Selection of Departmental Chair (1999-2000)
Chair, Merit Review Committee (1999-2000)
Committee for the Establishment of an Undergraduate Major in Archaeology
(2002-present)
Greek Art Search Committee, Department of Art History and Classics (2001-2004)
Faculty Search Committee, Department of Art History: Senior Hiring Initiative (2003-
present)
Junior Faculty Review Committee, Department of Art History (2003)
USC’s Arts and Humanities Committee (2003-2004)
Chair of Oversight Committee for the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Major (Spring 2006)
MEMBERSHIPS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATIONAL:
Archaeological Institute of America
College Art Association
American Philological Association
Association of Ancient Historians
Vergilian Society
INTERNATIONAL:
Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica
Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity (AMOSIA)
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
TUCSON, AZ — Pictured here are three light meters that I use.
Our tools and methodology often are the result of the type of photography that we do, or would like to do. Often a piece of equipment is purchased to solve a particular problem.
People have criticized me for actually using a light meter. I don’t always. In fact when I started, my teacher wouldn’t even allow my to have a camera that had one. But it saves me time and having to retake photos. As a young reporter, I HATED having to retake photos. Way to much work, and it irritated the people around me.
Historically, my most often used light meter is the Pentax Spotmeter V (pictured at the right). In fact I have two of them, and they both have served me well. To be able to be point at sections of my subject and read how much light is reflecting allows me to plan how I will shape the photo. This mostly came about when a photog could take multiple images, at multiple exposures and splice them together. How wonderful!!!
The other light meters, the Sekonic L-758DR, and the Sekonic C-500, I plan to write about at another date.
The images were tagged with Photo Mechanic 6; camera and lens profiles were added added with Photoshop Lightroom and then merged using Photomatix. The images were spruced-up using the Topaz filter Denoise AI and Adjust AI and the final was touched-up using Adobe Photoshop.
__________
PENTAX 645Z
SMC Pentax-FA 645 120mm F4 Macro
ISO 100, ƒ4, ⅛-30 seconds
In Disney, I tried to really nail good shots, moving away from a spray-and-pray methodology I started with; accuracy by volume if you will. More often than not, I was nailing the shot I wanted in 2 to 3 frames, which really made me happy. I've finally noticed how a shot sets up in the viewfinder, how everything comes together. This is one of those shots I nailed in two, and only then by accident (I had left my camera on Continuous High from trying some HDR bracketing). I just love Spaceship Earth. Do I have to say anymore than that?
This shot looks way better on black, so tap L on your keyboard please!
Buy prints on SmugMug! | Like me on Facebook! | Follow me on Twitter! | Check out my website!
Considered, methodological, quiet, contemplative.
Today’s film photographer isn’t someone you’ll likely see running after the next shot. He plods, ponders, thinks, frames and shoots before moving on to pastures new. Welcome to the world of Colin Wilson; 35mm and 120 shooter ...
emulsive.org/interviews/i-am-colin-wilson-and-this-is-why...
#ColinWilson #Hasselblad #Hasselblad501CM #IlfordHP5 #ImpossibleProject #KodakEktar100 #Pentax #PentaxLX
Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi says, ‘I have written down in my book (thereligionofgod.com/) the methodology of how to obtain God, how to bring God in the heart. Exercise the method. If you’re Christian and need help, call upon Jesus to come and help you. If you are a Jew, call upon Abraham or Moses to come and help you. If you are a Muslim, call upon Prophet Mohammad or any relevant saint.’ If they do not appear to help you, in the end when you are helpless and hopeless, then Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi invites you to put Gohar Shahi to the test. Now, Gohar Shahi says, ‘Call upon me and put me to a test.’ After this sentence, don’t ask me whether or not Gohar Shahi will help you. Put Gohar Shahi to a test. - HH Younus AlGohar, CEO of MFI
Maker: Frederick H. Evans (1853-1943)
Born: UK
Active: UK
Medium: photogravure
Size: 5 3/4" x 7 1/4"
Location: UK
Object No. 2015.830
Shelf: C-5
Publication: Camera Work IV, 1903
Anne Hammond, Ed, Frederick H Evans, Selected Texts and bibliography, Clio Press, Oxford, 1992, pg 52
Camera Work, The Complete Illustrations 1903-1917, Taschen, 1997 pg 143
Camera Work, A Pictorial Guide, Dover, 1978, pg
Other Collections:
Provenance: Doyle Auctioneers, Rare Books, Autographs & Photographs, November 23, 2015, lot 678
Rank: 40
Notes: Frederick H. Evans (26 June 1853 – 24 June 1943) was a British photographer, best known for his images of architectural subjects, such as English and French cathedrals.[
Evans was born and died in London. He began his career as a bookseller, but retired from that to become a full-time photographer in 1898, when he adopted the platinotype technique for his photography. Platinotype images, with extensive and subtle tonal range, non glossy-images, and better resistance to deterioration than other methods available at the time, suited Evans' subject matter. Almost as soon as he began, however, the cost of platinum - and consequently, the cost of platinum paper for his images - began to rise. Because of this cost, and because he was reluctant to adopt alternate methodologies, by 1915 Evans retired from photography altogether. Evans' ideal of straightforward, "perfect" photographic rendering - unretouched or modified in any way - as an ideal was well-suited to the architectural foci of his work: the ancient, historic, ornate and often quite large cathedrals, cloisters and other buildings of the English and French countryside. This perfectionism, along with his tendency to exhibit and write about his work frequently, earned for him international respect and much imitation. He ultimately became regarded as perhaps the finest architectural photographer of his, or any, era - though some professionals privately felt that the Evans' philosophy favoring extremely literal images was restrictive of the creative expression rapidly becoming available within the growing technology of the photographic field. Evans was also an able photographer of landscapes and portraits, and among the many notable friends and acquaintances he photographed was George Bernard Shaw, with whom he also often corresponded. Evans was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1928, he was also a member of the Linked Ring photographic society
To view our archive organized by themes and subjects, visit: OUR COLLECTIONS
For information about reproducing this image, visit: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
Ardstraw, Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
This stunning sunflower field was planted for the sole purpose to raise money for Charities. The methodology is that everyone is welcome to visit, donate what they wish into a sealed collection box, then are free to walk anywhere & enjoy these flowers in any form. For your contribution you are advised to cut a few flowers to take home as a thank you token. Don’t panic as these flowers are going to wither away soon, so cutting a few to bring home doesn’t impact the ecology of the field. There are literally millions of these flowers so there are plenty to be shared with folk to help brighten their day a little 🌻
As everyone can clearly see, this is a wonderful idea for a very great cause. Although whilst standing in the middle of all these sunflowers waiting for patches of light to shine through the moving clouds, I soon recognised an equally important underlying benefit to all these sunflowers. All around me on almost every flower head Bumble Bees & other flying insects feeding off the sunflower pollen. I have heard recently that our bees are in decline due to lack of flowers etc so this was amazing to experience. These stunning Sunflowers are helping both us humans & bees equally. There should be more projects like this, even if there was funding for farmers to partially plant a small corner portion of their fields with sunflowers. It would have an immediate positive effect on us all.
Hope you enjoy! Please Favourite & Follow to view my newest upcoming works, Thank you
Here is my present to you on this Halloween eve: a quick chart on dispatching rightly those bumps in the night. See larger size for better detail.
In previous post I explained some bits about my own methodology achieving 'good colors' which involved Zeiss glass, VSCO-presets and diligent editing. However, this shortlist is missing something and it's called 'a taste'. I've found that no matter how much one has other resources like lenses or hours for editing, it doesn't compensate the inner vision which comes down to taste. When I started my search for the 'good colors' and 'the look' in general I really didn't know how to do define my target. Sure, I had some examples of what I liked, but to be honest they didn't take me very far. Like all newcomers in photography, I unconsciously thought that 'good colors' somehow mean same as 'more colors' - and I tried to approach the colors with 'Saturation', 'Vibrance' and 'Clarity' sliders. This was years ago when I had wrongly thought that software would give me some sort of edge when it comes to photography. Today I tend to think that I need a careful exposure and while some software provides nice tools, it more about getting basic stuff like white balance, curves and contrast right than esoteric filters.
One could argue that my current 'look' is based on this same premise of 'bold colors', but I would argue it is achieved more delicately. Between the old and new me I have definitely developed my vision and taste. One principle guiding my taste is the idea that photographs should look like 'photographs'. What does this tautology mean, you might ask? Like I already wrote earlier, I think that standard JPEGs out of the camera often look to much like a 'digital files' rather than actual material photographs everyone has seen in their earlier life. I tend to think that when editing photographs one should try to approach these real photographs and try to avoid the temptation of editing them, for example, too perfect (but still keep them contemporary). I'm always questioning myself from this point of view and to be honest I'm also often unsure since there are so many options. While my current look is based on strong and rich colors, there exists many other paths which also carry the legacy of the film era in terms of colors. Think, for example, photographs which have been taken with films and pushed/pulled a stop or two. They represent one specific aspect of the film era and it is evident that these grainy pictures and their subdued colors have molded our perception of photography in a great way. Or the golden slide films like Kodachrome and such, which have vibrant colors and dark shadows - that's another look which everyone knows. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are many different photographic worlds which lives inside the historical legacy of pre-digital photography, and if you're just editing your pictures to 'look better' you are probably missing out something. Testing different looks with something like VSCO and trying to learn differences between different presets might be one way to develop your taste. Getting some books and following interesting photographers might be another. Third way could be to buy some real film and test how it turns out. All in all, it serves to pay attention to 'colors' in some other ways than just the usual raw-editor route.
Days of Zeiss: www.daysofzeiss.com
“Sunflowers & Bumblebees”
Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
This stunning sunflower field was planted for the sole purpose to raise money for “Cancer Research UK”. The methodology is that everyone is welcome to visit, donate what they wish into a sealed collection box, then are free to walk anywhere & enjoy these flowers in any form. For your contribution you are advised to cut a few flowers to take home as a thank you token. Don’t panic as these flowers are going to wither away soon, so cutting a few to bring home doesn’t impact the ecology of the field. There are literally millions of these flowers so there are plenty to be shared with folk to help brighten their day a little 🌻
As everyone can clearly see, this is a wonderful idea for a very great cause. Although whilst standing in the middle of all these sunflowers waiting for patches of light to shine through the moving clouds, I soon recognised an equally important underlining benefit to all these sunflowers. All around me on almost every flower head were Bumblebees & other flying insects feeding off the sunflower pollen. I have heard recently that our bees are in decline due to lack of flowers etc so this was amazing to experience 🐝 It was also my first ever attempt at photographing a flower & its something ill certainly be doing again in future.
These stunning Sunflowers are helping both us humans & bees equally. There should be more projects like this, even if there was funding for farmers to partially plant a small corner portion of their fields with sunflowers. It would have an immediate positive effect on us all.
Hope you enjoy! Please Favourite & Follow to view my newest upcoming works, Thank you
The Symbiotic Matrix of Rovingian Existence - The Quantum Perspective by Daniel Arrhakis (2026)
The Symbiotic Matrix of Rovingian Existence - The Quantum Perspective
Introduction
Rovingian animism posits that existence is neither a static attribute of matter nor an isolated emanation of consciousness. It invariably emerges from the symbiotic product of both.
This unifying principle condenses into a fundamental ontological postulate for Rovingian animism: "There is no pure observer isolated on a spiritual pedestal, nor is there pure matter floating in a vacuum without witnesses."
Far from being confined to abstract mysticism or idealistic solipsism, this postulate finds its validation and resonance at the frontiers of contemporary science.
Through the formal foundations of quantum mechanics and systems biology, it is demonstrated that the separability between matter (the observed) and consciousness or spirit (the observer) is a methodological illusion.
Reality, in physical and biological terms, is an uninterrupted co-creation and a symbiosis between consciousness and matter.
The Participatory Universe: The Dissolution of Quantum Separability
The Myth of Isolated Matter
Classical and mechanistic physics operated for centuries under the Cartesian assumption of a universe composed of pure matter floating in a vacuum without witnesses. In this deterministic model, the observer was a mere passive spectator, totally isolated from the workings of reality.
Quantum mechanics definitively destroyed this conception, transforming the scientist into an active and inseparable participant in the cosmic fabric.
The Measurement Problem and the Wave Function
In quantum formalism, an isolated physical system does not possess strictly defined macroscopic properties. Instead, it exists in a superimposed potential state, mathematically described by the wave function (Psi). The transition from this potential state to concrete reality—the so-called collapse of the wave function—occurs only in the act of measurement.
The variables of a physical system only acquire real and defined coordinates at the exact moment of interaction with another system, be it the environment or the measuring instrument itself.
The Axiom of the Interdependent Cosmos – The Participatory Universe
The axiom of the interdependent cosmos is the fundamental principle that absolutely nothing in the universe exists in isolation, and each element is defined by its relations with the whole.
This phenomenon illustrates a fundamental ontological postulate for Rovingian Animism: there is no pure observer isolated on a spiritual pedestal, nor pure matter without witnesses.
It is the exchange of information between the experimental apparatus and the observed system that forces nature to manifest itself in a single spatiotemporal coordinate.
As the physicist John Wheeler argued, we inhabit a "participatory universe." Matter needs coupling with measurement and consciousness to actualize itself in raw reality; without this witness, the external world remains a spectral fog of intangible probabilities.
“There is no pure observer isolated on a spiritual pedestal, nor pure matter floating in a vacuum without witnesses” – Quantum matter requires a “witness” to collapse into factual reality, while consciousness needs a material substrate to anchor and express its interpretative dynamism.
Entanglement and Non-Separability
The principle of entanglement, formalized by Bell's Theorem and validated experimentally, demonstrates that interacting particles remain linked in an informational matrix that transcends classical space-time. Changing the state of one instantaneously determines the state of the other, regardless of distance.
This subatomic non-separability mirrors Rovingian Symbiosis: if the fundamental components of the cosmos reject isolation, the strict philosophical division between res extensa (matter) and res cogitans (consciousness) collapses.
Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM)
Proposed by physicist Carlo Rovelli, this interpretation argues that quantum objects do not possess absolute intrinsic properties. An electron only acquires characteristics (such as velocity or position) in relation to other objects or the environment with which it interacts. From this perspective, the observer and the observed system merge into a single, indivisible quantum system.
Thus, the universe itself is seen as a dynamic web of constantly changing relationships and interactions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Matriz Simbiótica da Existência Rovingiana - A Perspetiva Quântica
Introdução
O animismo rovingiano postula que a existência não é um atributo estático da matéria, nem uma emanação isolada da consciência. Ela emerge, invariavelmente, do produto simbiótico de ambas.
Este princípio unificador condensa-se num postulado ontológico fundamental para o animismo rovingiano : "Não há um observador puro isolado num pedestal espiritual, nem há uma matéria pura a flutuar num vácuo sem testemunhas".
Longe de se encerrar no misticismo abstrato ou no solipsismo idealista, este postulado encontra a sua validação e ressonância nas fronteiras da ciência contemporânea.
Através dos alicerces formais da mecânica quântica e da biologia sistémica, demonstra-se que a separabilidade entre matéria (observado) e consciência ou espírito (o observador) é uma ilusão metodológica.
A realidade, em termos físicos e biológicos, é uma cocriação ininterrupta e uma simbiose entre consciência e matéria.
O Universo Participativo: A Dissolução da Separabilidade Quântica
O Mito da Matéria Isolada
A física clássica e de matriz mecanicista operou, durante séculos, sob o pressuposto cartesiano de um universo composto por matéria pura a flutuar num vácuo sem testemunhas. Neste modelo determinista, o observador era um mero espectador passivo, totalmente isolado da engrenagem da realidade.
A mecânica quântica destruiu definitivamente esta conceção, transformando o cientista num participante ativo e indissociável do tecido cósmico.
O Problema da Medição e a Função de Onda
No formalismo quântico, um sistema físico isolado não possui propriedades macroscópicas estritamente definidas. Em vez disso, ele existe num estado de sobreposição de potencialidades, descrito matematicamente pela função de onda (Psi). A transição deste estado potencial para a realidade concreta — o chamado colapso da função de onda — ocorre apenas no ato da medição.
As variáveis de um sistema físico só adquirem coordenadas reais e definidas no momento exato da interação com outro sistema, seja ele o meio envolvente ou o próprio instrumento de medição.
O Axioma do Cosmos Interdependente – O Universo participativo
O axioma do cosmos interdependente é o princípio fundamental de que absolutamente nada no universo existe de forma isolada, sendo que cada elemento é definido pelas suas relações com o todo.
Este fenómeno ilustra um postulado ontológico fundamental para o Animismo Rovingiano: não existe um observador puro isolado num pedestal espiritual, nem uma matéria pura sem testemunhas.
É o intercâmbio de informação entre o aparato experimental e o sistema observado que força a natureza a manifestar-se numa única coordenada espaciotemporal.
Como defendeu o físico John Wheeler, habitamos um "universo participativo". A matéria necessita do acoplamento com a medição e a consciência para se atualizar na realidade bruta; sem este testemunho, o mundo exterior permanece um nevoeiro espectral de probabilidades intangíveis.
“Não existe um observador puro isolado num pedestal espiritual, nem uma matéria pura a flutuar num vácuo sem testemunhas” - A matéria quântica exige a "testemunha" para colapsar em realidade factual, enquanto a consciência necessita do substrato material para ancorar e expressar o seu dinamismo interpretativo.
Entrelaçamento e Não-Separabilidade
O princípio do entrelaçamento (entanglement), formalizado pelo Teorema de Bell e validado experimentalmente, demonstra que partículas que interagiram permanecem ligadas numa matriz informacional que transcende o espaço-tempo clássico. A alteração do estado de uma determina instantaneamente o estado da outra, independentemente da distância.
Esta não-separabilidade subatómica espelha a Simbiose Rovingiana: se as componentes fundamentais do cosmos rejeitam o isolamento, a divisão filosófica estrita entre a res extensa (matéria) e a res cogitans (consciência) colapsa.
Mecânica Quântica Relacional (RQM)
Proposta pelo físico Carlo Rovelli, esta interpretação defende que os objetos quânticos não possuem propriedades intrínsecas absolutas. Um eletrão só adquire características (como velocidade ou posição) em relação a outros objetos ou ao ambiente com o qual interage. Sob esta perspetiva, o observador e o sistema observado fundem-se num único sistema quântico indivisível.
Assim o próprio universo é encarado como uma teia dinâmica de relações e interações em constante mudança.
Methodology behind a “Pick”
A Observe
B select
C approach
D Complimrnt/Distract
E Begin the lift
F Close Casually
Main Story
In the early 1910’s a phamplett on pickpocketing, several centuries olde, came into the Universities Archives with a collection donated by a County Constabultory.
Catalogued and Filed away it remained basically unnoticed for decades until a student looking for material to complete a thesis on criminal justice stumbled upon it quite by accident
Most of the chapters dealt with the various methods of pickpocketing pockets and purses, along with a section on lifting men’s watches .
Towards the end she chillingly read a treatise on how to lift a ladies jewelry, something she was not aware was an area of pick pocketing!, or anything else of that nature!
It pretty much gave me a whole new insight into an area of crime she had never realized even existed, and is pretty much the reason I have created this account on flickr…
With the help of a pair of fellow students at the time she made a video on the subject using pointers mentioned in the Phamplette as an addition to her written thesis on the subject…
Here are still(s) from that video with various observations
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Along with some random guidelines outlined in the phamplette:
-The Lifting necklaces, is by far the easiest and usually The more Valuable of pieces to obtain .
-Their Bracelets, brooches and rings ( covered in later chapters) are a bit more difficult, but can be easily quite as valuable as any other bit of Gliss(Jewels). Especially if gloves are being worn.
- Earrings can be taken , usually singly, with increased chance of just appearing to have been lost, but if both are taken it would have the quite opposite effect once discovered. Recommended only for the most accomplished of Pickpockets.
-Chapters on How to select and approach your subject were also included:
- look for the more expensive material of clothing. Easier to lift from, and the “more valuable the cloth, usually the more valuable the jewel”
-The methodology over the use of Dance Cards.
-How to tell real jewels from rhinestones
-If Dancing, start at her waist, slowly work you hand up, be very aware if she appears to notice, hence the amount of alcohol consumed is an important factor. Keep her eyes in contact, do not let your gaze drift to her jewels!
-Continue the dance, ask her if you can have another a bit later after meeting the gents in the smoking lounge, or suggest going out for fresh aire, a good time to lift a bracelet if the necklace attempt fails.
-When attempting a lift while not dancing, hold her gloved hand and gently caress as you talk, then lift a ring or bracelet as you take her attention elsewhere’s
-A well-executed bit of tickling, especially on the younger lassies, can create a number of easily undefended advantages!
-Just as advantageous can be a well-timed nudge, bump, or trip along with advantageously placed hands upon a slippery dressed female victim.
-Just as you make the final lift, distract her attention to anything away from her immediate surroundings, point out something for her to look at, taking her mind away from your game!.
-Cardinal rule, do not ever mention her jewels! Keep her mind in the complete opposite directions by compliments on her on her hair, perfume, and most certainly her dress., but act as if she is wearing no jewels at all, be totally oblivious, and concentrated on the task at hand.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This phamplette went into much more detail than we are able to give here, for rather obvious legal implications!
I thought I would give the strobist methodology a try...
Flash to camera left at 1/4 power - 160@f/16
1/2 x 2
W.I.P. Product Methodology: Tracing paper.
A Hinged Realization of a Plane Tessellation
"It was in the left hand try-pot of the Pequod, with the soapstone diligently circling round me, that I was first indirectly struck by the remarkable fact, that in geometry all bodies gliding along the cycloid, my soapstone for example, will descend from any point in precisely the same time."
Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 1851
Leonardo Da Vinci painted this woman at two ages is that he himself had a screenplay. The canvas is not only an aesthetic work but also an allegory of the myth of Isis.The whole composition of the painting, its decorations and tasks combine in an orderly and chronological way all the elements of the myth of Isis. Thierry Gallier zooms in on certain parts of the painting and shows us scenes, objects and characters. Thus the famous phallus of Osiris is found in the meanders of a path in the background of the painting. It's all there! We let ourselves be guided by the author, especially since in the preamble of the book, he had given us a quotation from Leonardo da Vinci which invited the observer to find realities in graphical representations that could have appeared at first glance as abstract or random. The Italian genius would have been a follower of the language of birds applied to painting. Mona Lisa is... Isis. The world's most famous painting chronologically tells the story of Isis and Osiris.
The woman depicted in the Mona Lisa might be both a Chinese slave, and Leonardo da Vinci's mother, according to a new theory from Angelo Paratico, a Hong Kong-based historian and novelist.
The identity of the sitter for the portrait hanging in Paris' Louvre museum has long been a matter of debate. If Paratico's theory is correct, it means the 15th-century polymath was half-Chinese.
However, the historian's claims are tenuous.
Paratico told the South China Morning Post: "I am sure up to a point that Leonardo's mother was from the Orient, but to make her an oriental Chinese, we need to use a deductive method.
"One wealthy client of Leonardo's father had a slave called Caterina. After 1452, Leonardo's date of birth, she disappeared from the documents. She was no longer working there. During the Renaissance, countries like Italy and Spain were full of oriental slaves."It is also necessary to rethink Western ethnocentrism in order to regain the invention of landscape painting in China and certainly to rediscover the contribution of Taoist alchemy in medieval alchemy with the important role of religious emissaries.
In support of his theory, Paratico, who is finishing a book entitled Leonardo da Vinci: a Chinese scholar lost in Renaissance Italy, also cited Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud's 1910 assumption that the painting was inspired by the artist's mother, and claimed that certain aspects of Da Vinci's life and work suggest an oriental link.
Freud was the first to apply psychoanalysis to art, choosing for his subject the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci. Observing Leonardo's partly fused image of the Virgin and St. Anne, he inferred that the artist had depicted his two mothers, his biological mother and his stepmother. This very early analytic discourse on parent loss and adoption changed the course of the interpretation of art. Freud explored the psychology of art, the artist, and aesthetic appreciation. Confronting the age-old enigma of the Mona Lisa, he proposed a daring solution to the riddle of the sphinxlike smile of this icon of art. His paper prefigures concepts of narcissism, homosexuality, parenting, and sublimation. Lacking modern methodology and theory, Freud's pioneering insights overshadow his naive errors. In this fledgling inquiry, based on a childhood screen memory and limited knowledge of Leonardo's artistic and scientific contributions, Freud identified with this Renaissance genius in his own self-analytic and creative endeavor.
"For instance, the fact he was writing with his left hand from left to right... and he was also a vegetarian which was not common," he told the paper. "Mona Lisa is probably a portrait of his mother, as Sigmund Freud said in 1910. On the back of Mona Lisa, there is a Chinese landscape and even her face looks Chinese."
Users of China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo were quick to express their incredulity, posting dozens of parodies of the painting.
One user replaced her features with unlikely faces ranging from Chinese male comedian Zhao Benshan (pictured below) to British actor Rowan Atkinson, to a grimacing robot holding a Mona Lisa mask.
"I now understand why her smile looks so mysterious and concealed – it's typically Chinese," said another poster.
THE VULTURE phantasy of Leonardo still absorbs our interest. In words which only too plainly recall a sexual act (“and has many times struck against my lips with his tail”), Leonardo emphasizes the intensity of the erotic relations between the mother and the child. A second memory content of the phantasy can readily be conjectured from the association of the activity of the mother (of the vulture) with the accentuation of the mouth zone. We can translate it as follows: My mother has pressed on my mouth innumerable passionate kisses. The phantasy is composed of the memories of being nursed and of being kissed by the mother. 1
A kindly nature has bestowed upon the artist the capacity to express in artistic productions his most secret psychic feelings hidden even to himself, which powerfully affect outsiders who are strangers to the artist without their being able to state whence this emotivity comes. Should there be no evidence in Leonardo’s work of that which his memory retained as the strongest impression of his childhood? One would have to expect it. However, when one considers what profound transformations an impression of an artist has to experience before it can add its contribution to the work of art, one is obliged to moderate considerably his expectation of demonstrating something definite. This is especially true in the case of Leonardo. 2
He who thinks of Leonardo’s paintings will be reminded by the remarkably fascinating and puzzling smile which he enchanted on the lips of all his feminine figures. It is a fixed smile on elongated, sinuous lips which is considered characteristic of him and is preferentially designated as “Leonardesque.” In the singular and beautiful visage of the Florentine Monna Lisa del Giocondo it has produced the greatest effect on the spectators and even perplexed them. This smile was in need of an interpretation, and received many of the most varied kind but none of them was considered satisfactory. As Gruyer puts it: “It is almost four centuries since Monna Lisa causes all those to lose their heads who have looked upon her for some time.” 1 3
Muther states: 2 “What fascinates the spectator is the demoniacal charm of this smile. Hundreds of poets and writers have written about this woman, who now seems to smile upon us seductively and now to stare coldly and lifelessly into space, but nobody has solved the riddle of her smile, nobody has interpreted her thoughts. Everything, even the scenery is mysterious and dream-like, trembling as if in the sultriness of sensuality.” 4
The idea that two diverse elements were united in the smile of Monna Lisa has been felt by many critics. They therefore recognize in the play of features of the beautiful Florentine lady the most perfect representation of the contrasts dominating the love-life of the woman which is foreign to man, as that of reserve and seduction, and of most devoted tenderness and inconsiderateness in urgent and consuming sensuality. Müntz 3 expresses himself in this manner: “One knows what indecipherable and fascinating enigma Monna Lisa Gioconda has been putting for nearly four centuries to the admirers who crowd around her. No artist (I borrow the expression of the delicate writer who hides himself under the pseudonym of Pierre de Corlay) has ever translated in this manner the very essence of femininity: the tenderness and coquetry, the modesty and quiet voluptuousness, the whole mystery of the heart which holds itself aloof, of a brain which reflects, and of a personality who watches itself and yields nothing from herself except radiance….” The Italian Angelo Conti 4 saw the picture in the Louvre illumined by a ray of the sun and expressed himself as follows: “The woman smiled with a royal calmness, her instincts of conquest, of ferocity, the entire heredity of the species, the will of seduction and ensnaring, the charm of the deceiver, the kindness which conceals a cruel purpose, all that appears and disappears alternately behind the laughing veil and melts into the poem of her smile…. Good and evil, cruelty and compassion, graceful and catlike, she laughed….” 5
Leonardo painted this picture four years, perhaps from 1503 until 1507, during his second sojourn in Florence when he was about the age of fifty years. According to Vasari he applied the choicest artifices in order to divert the lady during the sittings and to hold that smile firmly on her features. Of all the gracefulness that his brush reproduced on the canvas at that time the picture preserves but very little in its present state. During its production it was considered the highest that art could accomplish; it is certain, however, that it did not satisfy Leonardo himself, that he pronounced it as unfinished and did not deliver it to the one who ordered it, but took it with him to France where his benefactor Francis I, acquired it for the Louvre. 6
Let us leave the physiognomic riddle of Monna Lisa unsolved, and let us note the unequivocal fact that her smile fascinated the artist no less than all the spectators for these 400 years. This captivating smile had thereafter returned in all of his pictures and in those of his pupils. As Leonardo’s Monna Lisa was a portrait we cannot assume that he has added to her face a trait of his own so difficult to express which she herself did not possess. It seems, we cannot help but believe, that he found this smile in his model and became so charmed by it that from now on he endowed it on all the free creations of his phantasy. This obvious conception is, e.g., expressed by A. Konstantinowa in the following manner: 5 7
“During the long period in which the master occupied himself with the portrait of Monna Lisa del Gioconda, he entered into the physiognomic delicacies of this feminine face with such sympathy of feeling that he transferred these creatures, especially the mysterious smile and the peculiar glance, to all faces which he later painted or drew. The mimic peculiarity of Gioconda can even be perceived in the picture of John the Baptist in the Louvre. But above all they are distinctly recognized in the features of Mary in the picture of St. Anne of the Louvre.” 8
But the case could have been different. The need for a deeper reason for the fascination which the smile of Gioconda exerted on the artist from which he could not rid himself has been felt by more than one of his biographers. W. Pater, who sees in the picture of Monna Lisa the embodiment of the entire erotic experience of modern man, and discourses so excellently on “that unfathomable smile always with a touch of something sinister in it, which plays over all Leonardo’s work,” leads us to another track when he says: 6 9
“Besides, the picture is a portrait. From childhood we see this image defining itself on the fabric of his dream; and but for express historical testimony, we might fancy that this was but his ideal lady, embodied and beheld at last.” 10
Herzfeld surely must have had something similar in mind when stating that in Monna Lisa Leonardo encountered himself and therefore found it possible to put so much of his own nature into the picture, “whose features from time immemorial have been imbedded with mysterious sympathy in Leonardo’s soul.” 7 11
Let us endeavor to clear up these intimations. It was quite possible that Leonardo was fascinated by the smile of Monna Lisa, because it had awakened something in him which had slumbered in his soul for a long time, in all probability an old memory. This memory was of sufficient importance to stick to him once it had been aroused; he was forced continually to provide it with new expression. The assurance of Pater that we can see an image like that of Monna Lisa defining itself from Leonardo’s childhood on the fabric of his dreams, seems worthy of belief and deserves to be taken literally. 12
Vasari mentions as Leonardo’s first artistic endeavors, “heads of women who laugh.” 8 The passage, which is beyond suspicion, as it is not meant to prove anything, reads more precisely as follows: 9 “He formed in his youth some laughing feminine heads out of lime, which have been reproduced in plaster, and some heads of children, which were as beautiful as if modeled by the hands of a master….” 13
Thus we discover that his practice of art began with the representation of two kinds of objects, which would perforce remind us of the two kinds of sexual objects which we have inferred from the analysis of his vulture phantasy. If the beautiful children’s heads were reproductions of his own childish person, then the laughing women were nothing else but reproductions of Caterina, his mother, and we are beginning to have an inkling of the possibility that his mother possessed that mysterious smile which he lost, and which fascinated him so much when he found it again in the Florentine lady. 10 14
The painting of Leonardo which in point of time stands nearest to the Monna Lisa is the so-called Saint Anne of the Louvre, representing Saint Anne, Mary and the Christ child. It shows the Leonardesque smile most beautifully portrayed in the two feminine heads. It is impossible to find out how much earlier or later than the portrait of Monna Lisa Leonardo began to paint this picture. As both works extended over years, we may well assume that they occupied the master simultaneously. But it would best harmonize with our expectation if precisely the absorption in the features of Monna Lisa would have instigated Leonardo to form the composition of Saint Anne from his phantasy. For if the smile of Gioconda had conjured up in him the memory of his mother, we would naturally understand that he was first urged to produce a glorification of motherhood, and to give back to her the smile he found in that prominent lady. We may thus allow our interest to glide over from the portrait of Monna Lisa to this other hardly less beautiful picture, now also in the Louvre. 15
Saint Anne with the daughter and grandchild is a subject seldom treated in the Italian art of painting; at all events Leonardo’s representation differs widely from all that is otherwise known. Muther states: 11 16
“Some masters like Hans Fries, the older Holbein, and Girolamo dei Libri, made Anne sit near Mary and placed the child between the two. Others like Jakob Cornelicz in his Berlin pictures, represented Saint Anne as holding in her arm the small figure of Mary upon which sits the still smaller figure of the Christ child.” In Leonardo’s picture Mary sits on her mother’s lap, bent forward and is stretching out both arms after the boy who plays with a little lamb, and must have slightly maltreated it. The grandmother has one of her unconcealed arms propped on her hip and looks down on both with a blissful smile. The grouping is certainly not quite unconstrained. But the smile which is playing on the lips of both women, although unmistakably the same as in the picture of Monna Lisa, has lost its sinister and mysterious character; it expresses a calm blissfulness. 12 17
On becoming somewhat engrossed in this picture it suddenly dawns upon the spectator that only Leonardo could have painted this picture, as only he could have formed the vulture phantasy. This picture contains the synthesis of the history of Leonardo’s childhood, the details of which are explainable by the most intimate impressions of his life. In his father’s home he found not only the kind step-mother Donna Albiera, but also the grandmother, his father’s mother, Monna Lucia, who we will assume was not less tender to him than grandmothers are wont to be. This circumstance must have furnished him with the facts for the representation of a childhood guarded by a mother and grandmother. Another striking feature of the picture assumes still greater significance. Saint Anne, the mother of Mary and the grandmother of the boy who must have been a matron, is formed here perhaps somewhat more mature and more serious than Saint Mary, but still as a young woman of unfaded beauty. As a matter of fact Leonardo gave the boy two mothers, the one who stretched out her arms after him and another who is seen in the background, both are represented with the blissful smile of maternal happiness. This peculiarity of the picture has not failed to excite the wonder of the authors. Muther, for instance, believes that Leonardo could not bring himself to paint old age, folds and wrinkles, and therefore formed also Anne as a woman of radiant beauty. Whether one can be satisfied with this explanation is a question. Other writers have taken occasion to deny generally the sameness of age of mother and daughter. 13 However, Muther’s tentative explanation is sufficient proof for the fact that the impression of Saint Anne’s youthful appearance was furnished by the picture and is not an imagination produced by a tendency. In 1910, after about a year from his trip to the US, Freud decided to write something on Leonardo da Vinci. The outcome of that decision was a novelette whose purpose was to expose a psychoanalytic study on Leonardo. Freud acknowledged that this endeavor was very tentative and his findings were based on a scarcity of biographical materials. Nevertheless, he established the framework of his book on a rumination about childhood that Leonardo left in one of his notebooks. Freud took that childhood contemplation and elaborated an artistic interpretation from it. First, here is Leo’s legacy to Freud:
It seems…that I was destined to occupy myself so thoroughly with a vulture, for it comes to my mind as a very early memory that, as I was in my cradle, a vulture came down to me, opened my mouth with its tails, and stuck me many times with its tail against my lips.
Freud, who was an erudite in religion and history, knew that the symbol for vulture was a hieroglyph for mother in ancient Egypt. Since Leonardo was an illegitimate child, Freud called him, romantically, the “vulture child.” Later on, Freud speculated that Leonardo had a very affectionate mother, and that passionate maternal love, coupled with the experience of not having a father, had an important influence on is early development. However, because of the over-protective and excessive love from her mother, Leonardo was subjected to too much femininity, which set the stage for his homosexuality. But that explained only the inception process of homosexuality. Full blown homosexual behavior comes later on in life, after the child finally becomes an adult and tends to repress his love for his mother and inadvertently identifies with her. Additionally, another important factor that plays a role in becoming a homosexual is anal eroticism. Anal eroticism comes from a fixation during the anal stage of psychosexual development.
This theory about the origins of homosexuality seems far-fetched. It was based on a vague account that Leonardo left behind, to which Freud found mainly an artistic interpretation. The book is replete with lyricism, so its appeal is understandable. Nevertheless, the conjectures Freud made are not entirely scientific.
The Evidence
In order to give some validity to Freud’s claims, we need to find if there is any evidence that support the fact that males from the homosexual community had (1) careless or missing fathers, (2) overly affective mothers, (3) strong maternal identification, and (4) some characteristics that relate to anal fixation.
Leonardo’s childhood was precisely as remarkable as this picture. He has had two mothers, the first his true mother, Caterina, from whom he was torn away between the age of three and five years, and a young tender step-mother, Donna Albiera, his father’s wife. By connecting this fact of his childhood with the one mentioned above and condensing them into a uniform fusion, the composition of Saint Anne, Mary and the Child, formed itself in him. The maternal form further away from the boy designated as grandmother, corresponds in appearance and in spatial relation to the boy, with the real first mother, Caterina. With the blissful smile of Saint Anne the artist actually disavowed and concealed the envy which the unfortunate mother felt when she was forced to give up her son to her more aristocratic rival, as once before her lover. 19
Our feeling that the smile of Monna Lisa del Gioconda awakened in the man the memory of the mother of his first years of childhood would thus be confirmed from another work of Leonardo. Following the production of Monna Lisa, Italian artists depicted in Madonnas and prominent ladies the humble dipping of the head and the peculiar blissful smile of the poor peasant girl Caterina, who brought to the world the noble son who was destined to paint, investigate, and suffer. 20
When Leonardo succeeded in reproducing in the face of Monna Lisa the double sense comprised in this smile, namely, the promise of unlimited tenderness, and sinister threat (in the words of Pater), he remained true even in this to the content of his earliest reminiscence. For the love of the mother became his destiny, it determined his fate and the privations which were in store for him. The impetuosity of the caressing to which the vulture phantasy points was only too natural. The poor forsaken mother had to give vent through mother’s love to all her memories of love enjoyed as well as to all her yearnings for more affection; she was forced to it, not only in order to compensate herself for not having a husband, but also the child for not having a father who wanted to love it. In the manner of all ungratified mothers she thus took her little son in place of her husband, and robbed him of a part of his virility by the too early maturing of his eroticism. The love of the mother for the suckling whom she nourishes and cares for is something far deeper reaching than her later affection for the growing child. It is of the nature of a fully gratified love affair, which fulfills not only all the psychic wishes but also all physical needs, and when it represents one of the forms of happiness attainable by man it is due, in no little measure, to the possibility of gratifying without reproach also wish feelings which were long repressed and designated as perverse. 14 Even in the happiest recent marriage the father feels that his child, especially the little boy has become his rival, and this gives origin to an antagonism against the favorite one which is deeply rooted in the unconscious. 21
When in the prime of his life Leonardo reencountered that blissful and ecstatic smile as it had once encircled his mother’s mouth in caressing, he had long been under the ban of an inhibition, forbidding him ever again to desire such tenderness from women’s lips. But as he had become a painter he endeavored to reproduce this smile with his brush and furnish all his pictures with it, whether he executed them himself or whether they were done by his pupils under his direction, as in Leda, John, and Bacchus. The latter two are variations of the same type. Muther says: “From the locust eater of the Bible Leonardo made a Bacchus, an Apollo, who with a mysterious smile on his lips, and with his soft thighs crossed, looks on us with infatuated eyes.” These pictures breathe a mysticism into the secret of which one dares not penetrate; at most one can make the effort to construct the connection to Leonardo’s earlier productions. The figures are again androgynous but no longer in the sense of the vulture phantasy, they are pretty boys of feminine tenderness with feminine forms; they do not cast down their eyes but gaze mysteriously triumphant, as if they knew of a great happy issue concerning which one must remain quiet; the familiar fascinating smile leads us to infer that it is a love secret. It is possible that in these forms Leonardo disavowed and artistically conquered the unhappiness of his love life, in that he represented the wish fulfillment of the boy infatuated with his mother in such blissful union of the male and female nature.
I've always been attracted to some of the utilization of "blur" in photography and noticed a few of my contacts have recently been playing with the process. I, too, have sometimes found the application interesting and actually have some images that I've created myself. I've even posted some. The methodology I usually employ is slipping on the ice or snow, or tripping on a stair or branch, while inadvertently simultaneously clicking the picture-taking button (sorry for the technical reference) on the camera. Any type of unplanned erratic movement works quite well. You know...that which everyone else finds hilarious while you find it aggravating and slightly embarrassing.
In any event, here is a break for both of us...representing a different type of landscape. I will leave it to the unmatched and inestimably creative minds of you, my Flickr friends, to let your imagination take you where it may. A bit of a warmer feel, I'll be back with more snow tomorrow...maybe.
The methodology of feudal taxation and detached written religious order might find a late stronghold of post prehistoric belief (today grouped under the term pagan) in need of particular local attention. The ancient Abbey of La Roubière sits on the far off hill and the Église Saint-Quirinusux of Montjeaux (pictured above) may have each had roles to play from either side of the 12th century.
The diversity of Abbeys is greater than any constant, suffice to say that setting examples of ways-of-being and gently integrating ancient belief systems were elements within their patina of early expression. The approach of the above church may have been in contrast and perhaps closer in approach to visual ridicule.
We know that elders of the post neolithic Celtic traditions spent large amounts of time learning by heart verbal stories and heuristics. A last stronghold in the greater area of the Statue Menhirs - with more quiet corners than noisy junctions - may have had learned persons in and around a loci that became known as Mount Jupiter (Mons Jovis and the 'Monjeaux' of this church); people who held ideas of deep history in a collective consciousness. A third example that suggests local difficulties with residual pagan beliefs will be covered in the future.
When looking at the chapiteaux do we see residual transport 'dragons' - living myths from the past, the people of the cow symbol (Sardinia to Mont Bego), and the owl (see past posts for speculation regarding its potential importance) - all shown to be either fighting each other, dangerous for the common man or useless in catching the wrong pests.
The visual stories of these carvings were perhaps blatant to understand for modest and illiterate farm workers impressed by the new and then modern religious buildings, and equally impressed by old traditions and the rich stories, sense of people and place and wisdom that came with them.
The head of one of the dragons is missing.
AJM 16.07.20
*Finally Got A Pro Account Sorted Out.
Contemporary Landscape University Project.
Landscape - Rural.
Location - Barr Beacon (Birmingham).
Photography And Post Processing - Me.
This project gave me a chance to analyse the materials, methodologies, processes and techniques of other landscape photographers. The aim was to develop and refine my basic core subject skills and abilities of Photography and Moving Image. The project brief required the ability to shoot both of the following topics and investigate it's relationship with landscape through depiction and research. One must be Urban (a.) Which sounds interesting and the other Rural (b.) My final body of work will consist of two fine conventional black and white prints presented in an appropriate form with the 35mm negatives. My final prints i will scan on to my computer then upload them on Flickr for everybody to see. I will also try out some digital color/colour landscape experiments. To compliment this i will add contact sheets and test stripes. i think some of the most important things to consider with Landscape Photography is form, shape and tone.
A Urban Landscape is something which is based in the main city and an Rural landscape is based in the countryside. Now i have the basic research, knowledge and to push this project further i needed to decide on a theme. I combined my theme on environmentalism, memories and surrealism. I picked one for my final body of work which was environmentalism and i establish connections. Environmentalism is interesting as a social movement, it's the need for a point of view, to show the Landscape for what it is and to change the publics perception/point of view. Memories might be interesting but surrealism could again be interesting taking an object/subject and constructing it.
Ah! Post WW2 planners utopia! As early as 1942/43 British planners were looking ahead to post-war reconstruction - both to deal with the devastation of Britain's urban fabric by enemy bombing as well as the social and economic 'evils' of much of the unchecked Victorian urban and industrial expansion. Hitherto much of the methodology behind contemporary urban expansion and new housing was to manage the rapid suburban development that, in many cities had lead to edge of town development of 'suburbia' - interestingly loved by those who lived and aspired to such 'semis' and hated by planners and architects as drab fungal growths on the urban fringe ('subtopia'). The other great priority was slum clearance and in-city redvelopment of existing urban areas. Most British regions produced massive development plans and these were to form the foundation of many elements of post-war construction - most notably in the landmark Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 in which the new Labour Government enshrined the production of planning and plans themselves, introduced the 'green belt' concept to protect the boundaries of existing and pushed for the construction of quite a British solution - "New Towns". In the 1940s and '50s numerous New Towns were 'designated' including a ring of such towns around London that had been suggested in the 1944 Greater London Plan. This magnificent volume, sister to the 1943 County of London Plan, was largely authored by one of the doyen of UK planning, Patrick Abercrombie. It put forward plans that helped formulate various of the London 'new towns' - one site considered was the large Essex village of Chipping Ongar, better known as Ongar. Eventually Ongar was de-selcted in c1947 largely because of the cost of the ambitious transport plans involving the London - Ongar branch railway line - the scheme would have seen extension of the line into a loop running through to Brentwood and electrification. This foundered, due to potential costs in post-war austerity - had it happened the history of the branch (that ended up being reluctantly electrified as part of London Transport's Central line and eventually abandoned in 1994) would have been very, very different. Anyhow - the Plan contains some illustrations of the 'new world' proposed - by the illustrator Peter Shepheard, they are in that marvellous style that seems so utopian to us now but must have been so asperational and vital to a British population that had suffered years of war, depression and who often lived in crowded, drab slums. Here we see the proposed neighbourhood planned around the lands surrounding the UK's oldest timber church at the hamlet of Greensted to the west of Ongar. The church is seen on the right - the perspective is slightly south of west so this is looking towards Toot Hill. Much was made of the mixture of types of housing and the preservation of landscape forms and features - fingers of rural greenery containing the carefully planned settlement - the basis of the relaxed, carefree lifestyle New Towns would offer. In contrast to suburban development each 'neighbourhood' had a full range of shopping, educational and social centres, serving the local population and supportingt he town as a whole.
If Ongar didn't get off the drawing board a neighbouring Essex village of Harlow did and was to see precisely the sorts of changes that Ongar had illustrated. Harlow, designated in 1947, saw many of these proposals implemented and, in time, was seen to be the most successful of the 'New Towns'. Places such as Harlow are easily sneered at I fear but one has to admire the energy and passion put into the intention to 'better' peoples lives, whatever you think of the planning and concepts. Interesting that now, in 2014, a new generation of New Towns is proposed to help manage the UK's housing shortage - based on the premise that the 1947 Act, now seen by some as being at the roots of the 'strangulation' of urban development, has been radically overturned we may turn back to one of the very concepts that engendered such centralised planning!
Pachamama Raymi is a methodology which seeks to break through the vicious circle of environmental degradation and rural poverty, promoting the sustainable management of natural resources.
For Meteorologist it's been summer since June 1, but astronomical summer begins today. However you mark the beginning of summer it's definitely in full effect here today in RVA (Richmond VA).
Sometimes, the process and methodology precede all others...but the outcome is essentially what matters most. If the work allows to open up multiple levels of meaning and interpretation, that is exactly what any drawings stand for.
Ryota Matsumoto Studio
Website: ryotamatsumotostudio.blogspot.com
Poverty in India is widespread, and a variety of methods have been proposed to measure it. The official measure of Indian government, before 2005, was based on food security and it was defined from per capita expenditure for a person to consume enough calories and be able to pay for associated essentials to survive. Since 2005, Indian government adopted the Tendulkar methodology which moved away from calorie anchor to a basket of goods and used rural, urban and regional minimum expenditure per capita necessary to survive.
The World Bank has similarly revised its definition and benchmarks to measure poverty since 1990, with $1.25 per day income on purchasing power parity basis as the definition in use from 2005 to 2013. Some semi-economic and non-economic indices have also been proposed to measure poverty in India; for example, the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index placed 33% weight on number of years spent in school and education and 6.25% weight on financial condition of a person, in order to determine if that person is poor.
The different definitions and different underlying small sample surveys used to determine poverty in India, have resulted in widely different estimates of poverty from 1950s to 2010s. In 2013, the Indian government stated 21.9% of its population is below its official poverty limit. The World Bank, in 2010 based on 2005's PPPs International Comparison Program, estimated 32.7% of Indian population, or about 400 million people, lived below $1.25 per day on purchasing power parity basis. According to United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 29.8% of Indians lived below poverty line in 2009-2010.
Poverty in India is a historical reality. From late 19th century through early 20th century, under British colonial rule, poverty in India intensified, peaking in 1920s. Famines and diseases killed millions each time. After India gained its independence in 1947, mass deaths from famines were prevented, but poverty increased, peaking post-independence in 1960s. A variety of welfare and food security initiatives, along with rapid economic growth since 1991, has led to sharp reductions in extreme poverty in India. However, those above poverty line live a fragile economic life. Lack of basic essentials of life such as safe drinking water, sanitation, housing, health infrastructure as well as malnutrition impact the lives of hundreds of millions.
The World Bank reviewed and proposed revisions in May 2014, to its poverty calculation methodology and purchasing power parity basis for measuring poverty worldwide, including India. According to this revised methodology, the world had 872.3 million people below the new poverty line, of which 179.6 million people lived in India. In other words, India with 17.5% of total world's population, had 20.6% share of world's poorest in 2013.
DEFINITION OF POVERTY
Poverty in India is widespread, and a variety of methods have been proposed to measure it. The official measure of Indian government, before 2005, was based on food security and it was defined from per capita expenditure for a person to consume enough calories and be able to pay for associated essentials to survive. Since 2005, Indian government adopted the Tendulkar methodology which moved away from calorie anchor to a basket of goods and used rural, urban and regional minimum expenditure per capita necessary to survive.
The World Bank has similarly revised its definition and benchmarks to measure poverty since 1990, with $1.25 per day income on purchasing power parity basis as the definition in use from 2005 to 2013. Some semi-economic and non-economic indices have also been proposed to measure poverty in India; for example, the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index placed 33% weight on number of years spent in school and education and 6.25% weight on financial condition of a person, in order to determine if that person is poor.
The different definitions and different underlying small sample surveys used to determine poverty in India, have resulted in widely different estimates of poverty from 1950s to 2010s. In 2013, the Indian government stated 21.9% of its population is below its official poverty limit. The World Bank, in 2010 based on 2005's PPPs International Comparison Program, estimated 32.7% of Indian population, or about 400 million people, lived below $1.25 per day on purchasing power parity basis. According to United Nations Development Programme, an estimated 29.8% of Indians lived below poverty line in 2009-2010.
Poverty in India is a historical reality. From late 19th century through early 20th century, under British colonial rule, poverty in India intensified, peaking in 1920s. Famines and diseases killed millions each time. After India gained its independence in 1947, mass deaths from famines were prevented, but poverty increased, peaking post-independence in 1960s. A variety of welfare and food security initiatives, along with rapid economic growth since 1991, has led to sharp reductions in extreme poverty in India. However, those above poverty line live a fragile economic life. Lack of basic essentials of life such as safe drinking water, sanitation, housing, health infrastructure as well as malnutrition impact the lives of hundreds of millions.
The World Bank reviewed and proposed revisions in May 2014, to its poverty calculation methodology and purchasing power parity basis for measuring poverty worldwide, including India. According to this revised methodology, the world had 872.3 million people below the new poverty line, of which 179.6 million people lived in India. In other words, India with 17.5% of total world's population, had 20.6% share of world's poorest in 2013.
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON
India determines household poverty line by summing up the individual per capita poverty lines of the household members. This practice is similar to many developing countries, but different from developed countries such as the United States that adjust poverty line on an incremental basis per additional household member. For example, in the United States, the poverty line for a household with just one member was set at $11,670 per year for 2014, while it was set at $23,850 per year for a 4-member household (or $5963 per person for the larger household). The rationale for the differences arise from the economic realities of each country. In India, households may include surviving grandparents, parents and children. They typically do not incur any or significant rent expenses every month particularly in rural India, unlike housing in mostly urban developed economies. The cost of food and other essentials are shared within the household by its members in both cases. However, a larger portion of a monthly expenditure goes to food in poor households in developing countries, while housing, conveyance and other essentials cost significantly more in developed economies.
For its current poverty rate measurements, India calculates two benchmarks. The first includes a basket of goods including food items but does not include the implied value of home, value of any means of conveyance or the economic value of other essentials created, grown or used without a financial transaction, by the members of a household. The second poverty line benchmark adds rent value of residence as well as the cost of conveyance, but nothing else, to the first benchmark. This practice is similar to those used in developed countries for non-cash income equivalents and poverty line basis.
2010s
The World Bank has reviewed its poverty definition and calculation methodologies several times over the last 25 years. In early 1990s, The World Bank anchored absolute poverty line as $1 per day. This was revised in 1993, and the absolute poverty line was set at $1.08 a day for all countries on a purchasing power parity (PPP)basis, after adjusting for inflation to the 1993 U.S. dollar. In 2005, after extensive studies of cost of living across the world, The World Bank raised the measure for global poverty line to reflect the observed higher cost of living. Thereafter, the World Bank determined poverty rates from those living on less than US$1.25 per day on 2005 PPP basis, a measure that has been widely used in media and scholarly circles.
In May 2014, after revisiting its poverty definition, methodology and economic changes around the world, the World Bank proposed another major revision to PPP calculation methodology, international poverty line and indexing it to 2011 U.S. dollar. The new method proposes setting poverty line at $1.78 per day on 2011 PPP basis. According to this revised World Bank methodology, India had 179.6 million people below the new poverty line, China had 137.6 million, and the world had 872.3 million people below the new poverty line on an equivalent basis as of 2013. India, in other words, while having 17.5% of total world's population, had 20.6% share of world's poor.
Semi-economic measures of poverty
Other measures such as the semi-economic Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which places 33% weight on education and number of schooling years in its definition of poverty, and places 6.25% weight on income and assets owned, suggests there were 650 million people (53.7% of population) living in MPI-poverty in India. 421 million of MPI-defined poor are concentrated in eight North Indian and East Indian states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The table below presents this semi-economic poverty among the states of India based on the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, using a small sample survey data for Indian states in 2005.
OTHER ESTIMATES
According to a 2011 poverty Development Goals Report, as many as 320 million people in India and China are expected to come out of extreme poverty in the next four years, with India's poverty rate projected to drop from 51% in 1990 to about 22% in 2015. The report also indicates that in Southern Asia, only India is on track to cut poverty by half by the 2015 target date.
GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX
Global Hunger Index (GHI) is an index that places a third of weight on proportion of the population that is estimated to be undernourished, a third on the estimated prevalence of low body weight to height ratio in children younger than five, and remaining third weight on the proportion of children dying before the age of five for any reason. According to 2011 GHI report, India has improved its performance by 22% in 20 years, from 30.4 to 23.7 over 1990 to 2011 period. However, its performance from 2001 to 2011 has shown little progress, with just 3% improvement.
CAUSES
One cause is a high population growth rate, although demographers generally agree that this is a symptom rather than cause of poverty. While services and industry have grown at double-digit figures, agriculture growth rate has dropped from 4.8% to 2%. About 60% of the population is employed in agriculture whereas the contribution of agriculture to the GDP is about 18%. The surplus of labour in agriculture has caused many people to not have jobs. Farmers are a large vote bank and use their votes to resist reallocation of land for higher-income industrial project.
REDUCTION OF POVERTY
Since the early 1950s, Indian government initiated various schemes to help the poor attain self-sufficiency in food production. These have included ration cards and price controls over the supply of basic commodities, particularly food at controlled prices, available throughout the country. These efforts prevented famines, but did little to eliminate or reduce poverty in rural or urban areas between 1950 and 1980.
One of the main reasons for record decline in Poverty is India's rapid economic growth rate since 1991. Another reason proposed is India's launch of social welfare programs such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Midday Meal Scheme in Government Schools.[citation needed] Klonner and Oldiges, in a 2012 study, conclude that MGNREGA helps reduce rural poverty gap (intensity of rural poverty), seasonal poverty, but not overall poverty.
WIKIPEDIA
Welcome to the Irrlicht Engine
The Irrlicht Engine is an open source realtime 3D engine written in C++. It is cross-platform, using D3D, OpenGL and its own software renderers. OpenGL-ES2 and WebGL renderers are also in development. It is a stable library which has been worked on for nearly 2 decades. We've got a huge community and Irrlicht is used by hobbyists and professional companies alike. You can find enhancements for it all over the web, like alternative terrain renderers, portal renderers, exporters, world layers, tutorials, editors, language bindings and so on. And best of all: It's completely free.
Irrlichtelieren (Will-o’-the-wisping-around)
Jane K. Brown
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
The lexeme Irrlichtelieren (will-o’-the-wisping-around, i.e. thinking outside the box) is Goethe’s neologism for a heterodox line of thought that displaces traditional methods of philosophy and science. Although the term occurs only once, in the student scene of Faust, Part One (FA 1.7:83.1917), the shifting value of will-o’-the-wisps in Faust and other works corresponds to the theories of scientific method Goethe advanced in essays of the 1790s and especially to the methodology of his Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Color) of 1810. While in Goethe’s letters and in the devil’s language in Faust, will-o’-the-wisps betoken illusion, they develop in the course of Faust into symbols of the ineffable truth that Kantian metaphysics had effectively substituted for God. The ironic dialectic of the will-o’-the-wisps shapes Goethe’s views of pedagogy and scientific epistemology and his positions on the idealist subject/object dichotomy, on the relationships of nature and truth, on representation and knowledge, and on knowledge and community.
Introduction
Etymological Implications
Learning as Flitting Around
Subject-Object Relations
The Relationship of Nature and Truth
Representation as Knowledge
Knowledge and Community
Notes
Related Entries
Works Cited and Further Reading
Introduction
The neologism irrlichtelieren can be defined as: “An innovative and eccentric line of thought, [. . .] a lexical innovation [. . .] that configures the ‘improper’ imperative of Goethean thought [. . .] to displace the ‘proper’ way of doing philosophy (including logic, rationalist metaphysics, and transcendental idealism) by repurposing its traditional instruments of torture.”1 Goethe invented the word and used it only once, in the student scene of Faust I. Derived from the noun Irrlicht (will-o’-the-wisp, or ignis fatuus), it initially identifies the confused thinking of the student who has yet to learn logic,
Daß er bedächtiger so fortan
Hinschleiche die Gedankenbahn,
Und nicht etwa, die Kreuz und Quer,
Irrlichteliere hin und her. (FA 1.7:83.1914–17)2
So that he creep more circumspectly
along the train of thought
and not go will-o’-the-wisping
back and forth and here and there.
However, the use of will-o’-the-wisp in Faust transforms this apparent praise of logic into its opposite, so that “will-o’-the-wisping back and forth” comes to represent the epistemology actually promoted not only in Faust but also in Goethe’s essays on scientific methodology and optics from the 1790s and in his massive Zur Farbenlehre (Theory of Colors) of 1810. Derived from irren (erring), the central theme of Faust, where the Lord says “Es irrt der Mensch, so lang er strebt” (FA 1.7:27.317; man errs as long as he strives) and Licht (light), used consistently as an image for knowledge or truth in Goethe, as so often in the period, irrlichtelieren becomes a useful term for Goethe’s process of learning truth by trial and error. It engages a series of epistemological issues typical of the period: thinking outside the box, subject/object, the relation of nature and truth, the role of representation in knowledge, and the epistemology of community formation. Irrlichtelieren not only exemplifies Goethe’s tendency to heuristic rather than systematic thought (unlike that of his Romantic colleagues), but indeed embodies its own meaning—for will-o’-the-wisps and similar figures appear as characters in his (arguably) most characteristic works: Faust and the Märchen (Fairy Tale) of 1795. Furthermore, the word irrlichtelieren appears in Faust in the context of philosophical discourse when Mephistopheles is holding forth on the place of logic in the curriculum; similarly, in Faust II, a will-o’-wisp-like creature named Homunculus, seeking to become, is introduced in the context of implied questions of becoming in idealist philosophy as well as the philosophical-scientific discourse of classical antiquity invoked by the two pre-Socratics Anaxagoras and Thales. Yet because, unlike most of the terms in this lexicon, irrlichtelieren begins in Goethe’s poetic works as a metaphor that then becomes a personification, it emerges as a philosophical concept only in the metadiscourse of scholarly analysis.
Etymological Implications
The addition of “-ieren” to the word “Irrlicht” turns it into a verb, so that it means “to wisp around.” The combination of “will-o’-the-wisp” with the formal French suffix is intentionally frivolous, as is often the case with Goethe at his most ironic and most profound moments. In Goethe’s day, an Irrlicht was a still mysterious natural phenomenon (now understood as a natural fluorescence originating in the spontaneous combustion of gases from rotting matter in marshy places). Its entry into folklore, specifically as a mischievous nature spirit, is documented in Germany only beginning in the sixteenth century, when the Latin term ignis fatuus (silly flame) was invented by a German humanist to lend the long-existing German word intellectual credibility.3 Although Goethe was familiar with explanations for Irrlichter extending back to Paracelsus (1493–1541) and, beyond him, to the pre-Socratics, he used it as a scientific term only once, in a reference to two essays by his friend, the botanist and Romantic natural philosopher Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776–1858).4 Esenbeck considered both will-o’-the-wisps and falling stars to be entirely natural phenomena connected to a slime (Schleim), but in a tension typical of Romantic Naturphilosophie remained uncertain as to whether its effects were natural or supernatural. Sly allusions to Esenbeck are to be found in Faust via the presence of falling stars in the “Walpurgis Night’s Dream” and the sticky roses that torment Mephistopheles in act five of Faust II. Otherwise, Goethe used Irrlicht in his poetic works, essays, and correspondence always negatively, to refer to delusions.5 Thus, in Faust, “will-o’-the-wisp” emerges primarily from the mouth of Mephistopheles, the skeptical conjuror of illusions, and its ultimate significance as the best way to learn about truth arises from the fundamental irony inherent in the devil’s role in the play.
Learning as Flitting Around
Irrlichter are delusive because they constantly move around and because their light leads travelers astray. And yet, for the author of innumerable works about characters who wander aimlessly, wandering is a primary mode of being. Examples of such characters include Faust, for whom erring is the only path to salvation; the hero of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795/96; Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship) and almost everyone in Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (1829; Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years); the indecisive traveler of Briefe aus der Schweiz (1808; Letters from Switzerland), who worries whether he should climb the Furka in winter; and the traveler in Italienische Reise (1816/17; Italian Journey), who hesitates to go to Sicily and decides not to go to Greece. In his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit (1833; Poetry and Truth), Goethe regularly defines epochs of his life in terms of place and consistently features his own lack of agency in his choice of places. He, too, was a constant wanderer, even after he was more or less settled in Weimar.
Wandering is also the primary mode of scientific experimentation in the essays of the 1790s, where a “good experiment” (Goethe’s word is “Erfahrung [. . .] einer höhern Art”; FA 1.25:34) requires multiple observations of the same object from many different points of view (see, especially, “Der Versuch als Vermittler zwischen Objekt und Subjekt” of 1793). Indeed, the word Erfahrung contains the verb fahren (to travel). In this respect, Goethe was already ahead of Hegel, whose Phänomenologie was originally called “Die Wissenschaft der Erfahrung des Bewußtseins” (The Science of the Experience of Consciousness) and who emphasizes the notion of “dialektische Bewegung” (dialectical movement) at the heart of Erfahrung. Similarly, Part 1 of the Farbenlehre calls upon the reader to engage in several long series of observations, each of which ends with analogical amplifications of central observation rather than with a theoretical conclusion. Indeed, at the end of a Goethean experiment, the phenomenon “kann niemals isoliert werden” (FA 1.25:126; can never be isolated), the truth is to remain untouched in the unarticulated center of all the different observations. The same is still true in the Wanderjahre of the late 1820s, a text that both celebrates wandering and delights in the juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory points of view in its narratives and aphorisms. Indeed, Goethe’s cultivation of aphorism, as also his history of the science of color in the form of separate descriptions of scientists without an overarching narrative, reflect this same method of what, at first, seems to be random flitting. Irrlichterlieren is the freedom to attend to each detail carefully in itself before connecting it to others.
Subject-Object Relations
The experimental method Goethe described in the 1790s, when he was doing research in botany, anatomy, geology, and optics, when he was also absorbed in Kant’s Kritik der Urteilskraft (Critique of Judgment) and bringing scientists and philosophers (like Hegel) of the new idealist movement to the university at Jena had, as its explicit purpose, the mediation between subject and object. The multiperspectivism of “Der Versuch als Vermittler” (The Experiment as Mediator) arises from the need to keep scientific knowledge from imposing the subject on the object, the basic problem of idealism. Too much subjectivity causes the investigator to draw arbitrary and often unwarranted connections among phenomena and to become too attached to hypotheses, while too much objectivity reduces scientific knowledge to a mere collection of isolated facts (FA 1.25:31–33). Goethe resolves the problem with the term “Entäußerung,” renunciation, or, literally, withdrawal of one’s self to the outside. Goethe’s “experiment” escapes subjectivity but connects facts by multiplying and varying the conditions of observation. The quality of wandering now becomes flitting around outside of the box—that is, behaving like an Irrlicht flitting around outdoors. Similarly, Faust removes himself to the outside of his study and his identity with the aid of Mephistopheles, the invoker of will-o’-the-wisps in the play, while the world of the Märchen transcends itself through the mediation of actual will-o’-the-wisps visiting from abroad. Such is the model for Goethe’s epistemology.
The Relationship of Nature and Truth
In the Farbenlehre and repeatedly in the Wanderjahre Goethe asserts that the truth, the phenomenon (and later Urphänomen, or sometimes das Absolute), remains unknowable. Ringed about by observations, it is incommensurable, a secret to be respected, in some contexts to be reverenced, but to remain unviolated. Especially the Farbenlehre makes generous use of the terms “higher” and “highest” to rank insights and phenomena and does not hesitate to address transition points from the material to the spiritual/intellectual realm. Above all, the volume communicates the profound respect the scientist owes to the purity and essential impenetrability of the natural phenomenon. Just as in the earlier methodological essays, the phenomenon proper, which Goethe calls the “Urphänomen,” remains, to the end, a riddle at the center of all the scientist’s observations. Esenbeck’s theory of the mysterious slime that characterizes will-o’-the-wisps and falling stars is a similar mystery at the heart of a scientific explanation, leaving an opening to the realm of Geist (spirit/mind). The Irrlicht is Goethe’s image for this essential part of his epistemology. The Irrlicht can never be grasped, like the rainbow in the first scene of Faust II or the jewels scattered by Knabe Lenker (Boy Charioteer) in act two that turn to insects in the hand. In its inconstant motion, it escapes the control even of Mephistopheles in the Walpurgis Night of Faust I and it is repeatedly imagined in evanescent lights in Faust I and in a series of mysterious attractive figures in Faust II, such as Knabe Lenker, Homunculus, the angels of the burning roses in act five, and, finally, the rising Mater Gloriosa, always just out of reach at the very end of the play. In the Märchen the will-o’-the-wisps, having transubstantiated the green snake, restore the world to order and harmony and end by scattering gold, always in Goethe a symbol of the vital force of life, natura naturans. As folklore figures, will-o’-the-wisps are Goethe’s ideal image of Romantic natural supernaturalism, of the permeable, ungraspable boundary between nature and spirit, between the real and the ideal.
Representation as Knowledge
While the Absolute cannot be grasped directly, it can nevertheless be known through representations the mind stages for itself. The essay “Physik überhaupt” (1798; Physics in general) already introduces aesthetic terminology: the goal of Goethe’s series of observations is not to pin down the phenomenon but to understand it in a sequence or in a series of episodes. To present it, then, requires the condensing activity of the subject to represent aspects of the object “in einer stetigen Folge der Erscheinungen” (FA 1.25:126; in a regular series of appearances). “Aesthetic” is the appropriate term here, because all of Goethe’s poetic writing of the 1790s has episodic plots consisting of a series of experiences repeated from varied perspectives. The tripartite structure of the Farbenlehre similarly reflects Goethe’s basic principle of examining any phenomenon from several different points of view, both between and within parts, and his corresponding stylistic tendency toward episodic organization.
Yet, aesthetic terminology plays an even greater role in the epistemology of the Farbenlehre. Part 1 discusses the subject-object tension, for example, by focusing on “Begrenzung” (limitation) as the essential cause of color rather than Newton’s refraction. Color, like any other phenomenon, can only be recognized as such through its boundaries. Defining the edges of color or of light, then, transforms it into an image, a Bild (“Anzeige und Übersicht des goetheschen Werkes zur Farbenlehre,” FA 1.23.1:1045). Such framing equates to looking at the phenomenon from outside, a single perspective at a time, followed by connecting single observations into patterns in order to transform attentive looking into theorizing (FA 1.23.1:14), as already in the essays of the 1790s. But the consistent focus on the word Bild for what Goethe calls “theorizing” dominates this work (see also FA 1.23.1:12, 120). The foreword to the Farbenlehre compares understanding people’s inner (hidden) character through their deeds to understanding the nature of light through color: “Die Farben sind Taten des Lichts, Taten und Leiden” (FA 1.23.1:12; Colors are the deeds of light, what it does and what it endures). The comparison of human character to light has suddenly morphed into personification when colors become the deeds and sufferings of humanity. Colors have become actors, and indeed, given the Aristotelian atmosphere evoked by “Taten und Leiden,” tragic actors. Actors are images, personifications, representations, and not essences, but these “actors” are the realia of empirical observations. Reality is now something staged. Indeed, the first part of the Farbenlehre provides illustrations to enable the reader to repeat, to reenact, the “experiments” described in the text, and Goethe justifies this move by comparing his illustrations to a play performance, which requires spectacle, sound, and motion to be realized (FA 1.23.1:18–19). Theorizing is transformed into interpretation as observation of nature is equated to observation of a play on stage.
This dramatizing personification underpins Goethe’s understanding of light. The human eye, he asserts, does not see forms, but only light, dark, and color. He continues, “Das Auge hat sein Dasein dem Licht zu danken. Aus gleichgültigen thierischen Hülfsorganen ruft sich das Licht ein Organ hervor, das seines Gleichen werde; und so bildet sich das Auge am Lichte für’s Licht, damit das innere Licht dem äußeren entgegentrete” (FA 1.23.1:24; The eye owes its existence to light. From among the lesser ancillary organs of the animals, light calls forth one organ to be its like, and thus the eye is formed by the light and for the light so that the inner light may emerge to meet the outer light).6 Now light is the creator god calling forth the human eye, made in the god’s own image. From here it is but a step back to Faust, with its little erring lights, the will-o’-the-wisps, and Faust as, in effect, the erring human eye, looking at and wanting to experience the entire creation, a notion of experience as viewing already adumbrated at the end of the Vorspiel auf dem Theater (Prelude on the Stage) and in the final line of the first scene in Faust II, “Am farbigen Abglanz haben wir das Leben” (FA 1.7.206:4727; Life is ours in the colorful reflection). Indeed, the Irrlichter in Faust actually anticipate the trajectory of color and light in the Farbenlehre. They enter the play in Mephistopheles’ frivolous neologism, irrlichtelieren, and appear on stage as speaking actors in the Walpurgis Night and in the Walpurgis Night’s Dream, then as Knabe Lenker, Homunculus, and the impish angels in Faust II. Seeming at first to be delusions leading into error, they become images, then actors, who mirror for Faust and for us the presence in the world of the invisible and incommensurable truth that gives it meaning. The whole drama is nothing but plays within the play, and, in the end, it turns out that is all anyone can expect. In the final scene, Faust floats upward and onward apparently into the infinite, but in order to know that, to perceive the infinites, images are still necessary. Hence the baroque Catholic imagery that is obviously and uncomfortably not “real.” The final “chorus mysticus” (FA 1.7:464.12104–11) speaks of “Gleichnis” (parable), an extreme form of image, and then of dramatic action (“getan” [done], “Ereignis” [event]), exactly the way the Farbenlehre describes the representation of light in color. “Das Unzulängliche” (what is inadequate/unachievable) itself is transformed in the process. In Goethe’s day, this adjective meant “inadequate” but, in Goethe’s usage, becomes “unachievable”—a category of the object becomes a category of subjective striving. The play ends with the impossible riddle, “das ewig-Weibliche” (the eternal feminine). It is the Urphänomen, the phenomenon that underlies all our observations but remains alone as a riddle in the center.
Knowledge and Community
As Irrlichter are promoted from metaphor to personification in Faust, they become mediators, agents of cooperation. They take on bodies, and in the course of Faust II appear in the bodies of poetry, the vital spirit of life, in effect as Beauty in the form of Helen, and eventually as the angelic messengers of Divine Love. In the course of the play, they represent everything up a great chain of being from delusive nature to higher truth, to pure spirit. In the Märchen their ontological status engages the same totality, but not in such a clearly ordered hierarchy. In that tale, they become brighter and apparently more solid after substantial meals of gold, and as they scatter their energy in showers of gold coins they lose substance and even visibility. But the fact that they generously spend their golden substance is crucial. In both their getting and spending they enable the troubled inhabitants of the fairytale world to work together as a community and to restore their golden age of unity, peace, and prosperity. Their arrival signals the beginning of the restoration, and their departure its completion. They are the circulators of gold, of the vitality of nature and spirit; they are the light of this particular world, its erring light. As the mediators between spirit and nature, they also enable the establishment of human community, the injection of ideal order into an otherwise imperfect real world. Cooperation is also an essential element of Goethe’s scientific epistemology: scientific knowledge is built up one small piece at a time, whether as the process of repeated observations by a single individual or, at least as importantly, as the accumulation of observations by many individuals over long periods. The historical section of the Farbenlehre is longer than its theoretical section and polemic against Newton put together. Irrlichtelieren, as a unique mode of engagement with others, inspires a different kind of cooperative knowledge from the chains of tradition.
Nevertheless, it would be naive and most un-Goethean to regard this view as simple optimistic progressivism. Irrlichter are transient, evanescent phenomena. They may inspire social cohesion for the moment, as in the Märchen, but they are eternal wanderers, succeeded in the tale, to be sure, by other wanderers, but hardly guarantors of a permanent future outside of a fairy tale. Similarly, Faust’s utopian draining of swamps does not last forever in the real world of Faust, and Faust’s own vision of the future foresees them constantly recreated in a permanent struggle with the sea. And the sea is not only a force of destruction, but is also, in itself, a life-giving force. It, too, is a wanderer. It takes wanderers, the force of constant change, to promote social community but, like the visitors to the New World in the Wanderjahre, they always leave again.
Goethe’s early political ideal was Justus Möser’s federalism of small states. While he read political thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gaetano Filangieri, and Cesare Beccaria, he never favored large permanent systems. He loved Rome, center of the world, for the personal relationships and development it afforded him, but not as the great political center. Not the Aeneid, the great epic of the founding of the Roman Empire, excited him, but the Odyssey, in which the hero’s struggles increasingly have to do with escaping the lures of women to return to his small island home, when he must yet again depart on another journey to plant an oar in a place where journeying by sea and epic heroism are unknown. Goethe admired but did not celebrate Napoleon, and he juxtaposed to his demonic hero Faust the passive, bourgeois heroes Wilhelm Meister and the Hermann of Hermann und Dorothea (1797; Hermann and Dorothea). His politics favored the small-scale operations that allowed for variation, change, indeed the “frivolity” of will-o’-wisps. In a common cliché, Goethe is the last Renaissance man, the last universalist, which is another way of saying that his scientific and poetic epistemologies, or his epistemology and his poetology, are essentially linked, as in this anything but frivolous term irrlichtelieren.
Clark Muenzer, personal communication. See also Muenzer’s “Begriff” entry in this volume. ↩
All references to Faust are cited parenthetically by line number. All translations are my own unless otherwise indicated. ↩
See the entry “Irrlicht” in Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, ed. Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli and Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1931-32). ↩
G. Schmid, “Irrlicht und Sternschnuppe,” Goethe 13 (1951): 268-89. ↩
See the entries “Irrlicht,” “irrlichtartig,” and “irrlichtelieren” in the Goethe-Wörterbuch, ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, and the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1978), 2:235-43. woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=GWB#0. ↩
Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Scientific Studies, trans. Douglas Miller (Suhrkamp: New York, 1988), 164. First sentence altered by JKB. ↩
Explicación visual del proceso de una metodología de Pensamiento Visual. A visual explanation about the process of a Visual Thinking methodology
An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron receives fuel from a KC-10 Extender assigned to the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron to receive fuel during Exercise Agile Lightning Aug. 6, 2019. The exercise demonstrated the adaptive basing methodology where personnel and aircraft can operate in austere environments to complete essential missions vital to the defense of U.S. assets and personnel.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground-attack and air-superiority missions. It is built by Lockheed Martin and many subcontractors, including Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems.
The F-35 has three main models: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the catapult-assisted take-off but arrested recovery, carrier-based F-35C (CATOBAR). The F-35 descends from the Lockheed Martin X-35, the design that was awarded the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program over the competing Boeing X-32. The official Lightning II name has proven deeply unpopular and USAF pilots have nicknamed it Panther, instead.
The United States principally funds F-35 development, with additional funding from other NATO members and close U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and formerly Turkey. These funders generally receive subcontracts to manufacture components for the aircraft; for example, Turkey was the sole supplier of several F-35 parts until its removal from the program in July 2019. Several other countries have ordered, or are considering ordering, the aircraft.
As the largest and most expensive military program ever, the F-35 became the subject of much scrutiny and criticism in the U.S. and in other countries. In 2013 and 2014, critics argued that the plane was "plagued with design flaws", with many blaming the procurement process in which Lockheed was allowed "to design, test, and produce the F-35 all at the same time," instead of identifying and fixing "defects before firing up its production line". By 2014, the program was "$163 billion over budget [and] seven years behind schedule". Critics also contend that the program's high sunk costs and political momentum make it "too big to kill".
The F-35 first flew on 15 December 2006. In July 2015, the United States Marines declared its first squadron of F-35B fighters ready for deployment. However, the DOD-based durability testing indicated the service life of early-production F-35B aircraft is well under the expected 8,000 flight hours, and may be as low as 2,100 flight hours. Lot 9 and later aircraft include design changes but service life testing has yet to occur. The U.S. Air Force declared its first squadron of F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. The U.S. Navy declared its first F-35Cs ready in February 2019. In 2018, the F-35 made its combat debut with the Israeli Air Force.
The U.S. stated plan is to buy 2,663 F-35s, which will provide the bulk of the crewed tactical airpower of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps in coming decades. Deliveries of the F-35 for the U.S. military are scheduled until 2037 with a projected service life up to 2070.
Development
F-35 development started in 1992 with the origins of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program and was to culminate in full production by 2018. The X-35 first flew on 24 October 2000 and the F-35A on 15 December 2006.
The F-35 was developed to replace most US fighter jets with the variants of a single design that would be common to all branches of the military. It was developed in co-operation with a number of foreign partners, and, unlike the F-22 Raptor, intended to be available for export. Three variants were designed: the F-35A (CTOL), the F-35B (STOVL), and the F-35C (CATOBAR). Despite being intended to share most of their parts to reduce costs and improve maintenance logistics, by 2017, the effective commonality was only 20%. The program received considerable criticism for cost overruns during development and for the total projected cost of the program over the lifetime of the jets.
By 2017, the program was expected to cost $406.5 billion over its lifetime (i.e. until 2070) for acquisition of the jets, and an additional $1.1 trillion for operations and maintenance. A number of design deficiencies were alleged, such as: carrying a small internal payload; performance inferior to the aircraft being replaced, particularly the F-16; lack of safety in relying on a single engine; and flaws such as the vulnerability of the fuel tank to fire and the propensity for transonic roll-off (wing drop). The possible obsolescence of stealth technology was also criticized.
Design
Overview
Although several experimental designs have been developed since the 1960s, such as the unsuccessful Rockwell XFV-12, the F-35B is to be the first operational supersonic STOVL stealth fighter. The single-engine F-35 resembles the larger twin-engined Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, drawing design elements from it. The exhaust duct design was inspired by the General Dynamics Model 200, proposed for a 1972 supersonic VTOL fighter requirement for the Sea Control Ship.
Lockheed Martin has suggested that the F-35 could replace the USAF's F-15C/D fighters in the air-superiority role and the F-15E Strike Eagle in the ground-attack role. It has also stated the F-35 is intended to have close- and long-range air-to-air capability second only to that of the F-22 Raptor, and that the F-35 has an advantage over the F-22 in basing flexibility and possesses "advanced sensors and information fusion".
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on 25 March 2009, acquisition deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mark D. "Shack" Shackelford, stated that the F-35 is designed to be America's "premier surface-to-air missile killer, and is uniquely equipped for this mission with cutting-edge processing power, synthetic aperture radar integration techniques, and advanced target recognition".
Improvements
Ostensible improvements over past-generation fighter aircraft include:
Durable, low-maintenance stealth technology, using structural fiber mat instead of the high-maintenance coatings of legacy stealth platforms
Integrated avionics and sensor fusion that combine information from off- and on-board sensors to increase the pilot's situational awareness and improve target identification and weapon delivery, and to relay information quickly to other command and control (C2) nodes
High-speed data networking including IEEE 1394b and Fibre Channel (Fibre Channel is also used on Boeing's Super Hornet.
The Autonomic Logistics Global Sustainment, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and Computerized maintenance management system to help ensure the aircraft can remain operational with minimal maintenance manpower The Pentagon has moved to open up the competitive bidding by other companies. This was after Lockheed Martin stated that instead of costing 20% less than the F-16 per flight hour, the F-35 would actually cost 12% more. Though the ALGS is intended to reduce maintenance costs, the company disagrees with including the cost of this system in the aircraft ownership calculations. The USMC has implemented a workaround for a cyber vulnerability in the system. The ALIS system currently requires a shipping-container load of servers to run, but Lockheed is working on a more portable version to support the Marines' expeditionary operations.
Electro-hydrostatic actuators run by a power-by-wire flight-control system
A modern and updated flight simulator, which may be used for a greater fraction of pilot training to reduce the costly flight hours of the actual aircraft
Lightweight, powerful lithium-ion batteries to provide power to run the control surfaces in an emergency
Structural composites in the F-35 are 35% of the airframe weight (up from 25% in the F-22). The majority of these are bismaleimide and composite epoxy materials. The F-35 will be the first mass-produced aircraft to include structural nanocomposites, namely carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy. Experience of the F-22's problems with corrosion led to the F-35 using a gap filler that causes less galvanic corrosion to the airframe's skin, designed with fewer gaps requiring filler and implementing better drainage. The relatively short 35-foot wingspan of the A and B variants is set by the F-35B's requirement to fit inside the Navy's current amphibious assault ship parking area and elevators; the F-35C's longer wing is considered to be more fuel efficient.
Costs
A U.S. Navy study found that the F-35 will cost 30 to 40% more to maintain than current jet fighters, not accounting for inflation over the F-35's operational lifetime. A Pentagon study concluded a $1 trillion maintenance cost for the entire fleet over its lifespan, not accounting for inflation. The F-35 program office found that as of January 2014, costs for the F-35 fleet over a 53-year lifecycle was $857 billion. Costs for the fighter have been dropping and accounted for the 22 percent life cycle drop since 2010. Lockheed stated that by 2019, pricing for the fifth-generation aircraft will be less than fourth-generation fighters. An F-35A in 2019 is expected to cost $85 million per unit complete with engines and full mission systems, inflation adjusted from $75 million in December 2013.
Wind mill, Strängnäs, Södermanland, Sweden. The making of this photo: shutter-life.com/2009/02/a-fear-to-find-motion-blur-and-a...