Europe in Pictures
View allAll Photos Tagged philosophical
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What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
-- William Wordsworth
Lake Great Prespa, Florina, Macedonia, Greece.
Near this location, Lake Prespa joins Lake Little Prespa.
A protected area which is National Park, Natura 2000, Ramsar site, Transboundary Park.
In fact I went to that place because I was captured by that beautiful tree silhouette in the fog from the distance already. Just when I came closer, I realized the difference between the field and the meadow. It seems that the meadow, even in deep winter, is emitting some kind of heat, strong enough to let the snow melt. I'm quite sure that the snow was not differentiating while falling down. The field, made by humans, even if there are growing plants too, is not able to spend that energy. Spontaneously it’s bringing me to some philosophical thoughts.
Eigentlich war ich an dieser Stelle, weil mir die wunderschöne Silhouette des Baumes im Nebel schon von Weitem aufgefallen ist. Erst als ich näher kam ist mir dieser Unterschied zwischen dem Feld und der Wiese aufgefallen. Es scheint, als ob die Wiese, selbst im tiefsten Winter, Wärme abstrahlt und so den Schnee zum Schmelzen bringt. Ich gehe mal fest davon aus, dass der Schnee beim herunterfallen diese Unterscheidung nicht gemacht hat. Das von Menschen angelegte Feld, auch wenn dort ebenfalls Pflanzen wachen, bringt diese Energie nicht auf. Das bringt mich spontan auf philosophische Gedanken.
more of this on my website at: www.shoot-to-catch.de
Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden designers to suggest an ancient and faraway natural landscape, and to express the fragility of existence as well as time's unstoppable advance. Ancient Japanese art inspired past garden designers. By the Edo period, the Japanese garden had its own distinct appearance. 30765
I mentioned yesterday the philosophical importance of seeing the world as a subject in relation to us. The camera becomes an extension of our body. Here is an example. I was taking some farm photographs when this beautiful creature came right up to me.
[Make sure you enlarge its beautiful face.]
Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden designers to suggest an ancient and faraway natural landscape, and to express the fragility of existence as well as time's unstoppable advance. Ancient Japanese art inspired past garden designers. By the Edo period, the Japanese garden had its own distinct appearance.
The Auburn Botanic Gardens are a botanical garden located in Auburn (a suburb of Sydney), New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1977 and covers an area of 9.7 hectares. There are two lakes, a waterfall and bridges. Duck River winds through the garden. The garden is maintained by Cumberland Council. It is open daily, and there is a small entry fee on weekends. The Japanese gardens, which have hosted couples from overseas, are one of the main attractions. 12554
Why do we find it so important to measure the passage of time? Can we not just appreciate the time that we have? See the beauty and enjoy the goodness that lies in the moment as we live it and stop living by clocks and calenders and we may all have more time to enjoy.
Philosophical reconstruction by Franco Raggi in 2006 for Attese Edizioni. As seen at the Ceramics Museum in Savona, Italy.
It's all here, the light and dark side of life, of us. The bud, stands for potential. The petals, protection or a cage? Tell me more little flower.
The Philosophical Hall at the Strahov Monastery, Prague, Czechia (the Czech Republic's official short name as of 2016)
(unless you made and paid for a reservation months beforehand, you are not allowed inside and can only admire the room from the doorway; photos can be taken only if you pay extra for a photo permit; best viewed enlarged for details)
Abbot Vaclav Mayer, during the last quarter of the 18th century, decided to build new library premises for the numerous acquisitions so he ordered the Philosophical Hall to be built by the naturalized Italian architect Johann Ignaz Palliardi. The hall is 32 meters long, 10 meters wide and 14 meters high, flanked on all sides by rich walnut wood bookcases. The highest shelves are only accessible from the gallery which is accessed by secret spiral staircases in both corners, masked by false book covers.
The ceiling was painted by Viennese artist Anton Maulbertsch over a period of 6 months, aided by only one assistant. The painting called The Spiritual Development of Mankind depicts the development of religion and science, guided by Divine Providence in the center of the painting, surrounded by virtues.
In the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte's wife Marie Louise visited the library and donated a four-volume work on Louvre museum paintings and Versailles gardens. The gift was stored in the tall bookcase that dominates the left side of the hall. On the top of the bookcase, there is a marble bust of Francis I, Emperor of Austria and Marie Louise's father.
The total number of volumes in the hall exceeds 50,000 works. In 2010, the Philosophical Hall was completely restored.
A philosophical and impressionnist photo safari concentrated mainly on a daily basis (or almost) on my small piece of planet of 55 000 square feet …!!!
A Thoreau "waldennienne" approach …!!!
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Un safari photo philosophique et impressioniste au quotidien concentré essentiellement (ou presque) sur un petit morceau de planète de 55 000 pieds carrés ...!!!
Une démarche "waldennienne" à la Thoreau …!!!
“If you can sit on it, they will come”
HBM Chat #11
Neighbor: “Hi Neighbor!”
Wife: “Hi Neighbor, how are you?”
Neighbor: “I’m good. I have a question though.”
Wife: “Sure, go ahead.”
Neighbor: “I know Steve is trying to be an internet influencer and bring more popularity to the world of benches. But I have to admit I didn’t understand Steve’s Happy Bench Monday post today.”
Wife: “What didn’t you understand?”
Neighbor: “I mean, it’s not even a real bench!”
Wife: “Oooof! Don’t say that to Steve!”
Neighbor: “Why not? It’s only a big flat rock next to a steep path that just happens to be the right height for sitting.”
Wife: “Yeh, that was in Arches National Monument in Utah, and he sat on it for a loooong time before we resumed the hike. In his mind that makes it a bench.”
Neighbor: “I admit it functions like a bench – but does that actually make it a bench?”
Wife: “You do NOT want to get him started on bench Zen!”
Neighbor: “What??”
Wife: “I’m just warning you. Do not question the reality of benches. He is prepared.”
Neighbor: “Sounds like he’s gone off the deep end and wants to be a some charismatic bench cult leader more than a bench influencer.”
Wife: “He’s more convincing than you might think.”
Neighbor:: “What did he say?”
Wife: “He quoted Adam Grant, who said ‘We don’t see things as they are – we see them as we expect them to be.’”
Neighbor: “Grant Schmant…”
Wife: “George Lucas said, ‘Always remember, your focus determines your reality.’”
Neighbor: “The ‘Star Wars’ guy?”
Wife: “Then he hit me with Plato who said, ‘The world is a shadow of the true reality that is the world of forms.’”
Neighbor: “Plato never said a rock is a bench!”
Wife: “He concluded with Einstein who said, ‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.’"
Neighbor: “I think it’s just a lot of mumbo-jumbo so Steve could justify sneaking a nice scenic panorama into a bench-only photo group.”
Wife: “That’s not beyond him, and I did question that.”
Neighbor: “So what did he answer?”
Wife: “He said, ‘I sit, therefore I am…on a bench.’ HBM!”
"Many of us seem to carry time, all its weight,
into the present, see it not, call it our fate…”
-- William J. Jr. Atfield
The two main halls of the Strahov Library in Prague house about 200,000 volumes. This is the Philosophical Hall, which is 32 m long, 22 m wide and 14 m high. The ceiling fresco by Viennese painter Anton Maulbertsch was painted over six months in 1794. It is called "Intellectual Progress of Mankind" and is a concise depiction of developments in science and religion, their mutual impact on each other, and quests for knowledge from the oldest times until the time the hall was built.
IILICIT GLIMPSE the April/May 2026 exhibition @ the Annex of Nitroglobus
Philosophical Spine of the exhibition
In Ilicit Glimpse, visibility isn’t passive or total; it is something I shape with intention. In a world that constantly floods us with images, I treat privacy as both power and practice, revealing only what I choose, when I choose it. What is unseen is not empty space; it carries meaning, where imagination, curiosity, and desire meet restraint. Mystery is not absence; it is allure, subtle and deliberate, resisting anything predictable or obvious.
This work questions how often sensuality is overplayed, expected, and consumed in art. Sensuality is still present, part of being human, part of being a woman, but it is not treated as spectacle. Instead, I let presence, gesture, and shadow carry intention, story, and quiet confidence. What I choose not to show matters just as much as what I do show. Even the viewer’s gaze shifts here; it becomes less about simple looking and more about a quiet negotiation with distance, discretion, and the work itself.
I hope it captivates you.
Opening party:
📅 Monday, 20 April 2026
🕛 12 PM SLT / 21:00 CET
🎵 Music by DJ NOIR
Taxi: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/165/4...
My heartfelt thanks to Dido Haas for inviting me and welcoming me into her amazing gallery.
Philosophical Musings
Democracy is won in the hearts. The minds just argue :)
Humanism and human rights (human dignity is inviolable) take precedence over racist categorizations and national interests.
Nationalism is a narrow-minded mindset that seeks to prevent people from looking beyond their own horizons.
It’s about your children.
"The Earth is One.
Love Against Fascism
Philosophical morning.
(A vida é unha cuestión de tons. Aproveitemos para tentar de desenvolvelos. Dende a nosa dotación xenética 🙈 e antes de que se produza a morte 😎)
Half a bee, philosophically, must ipso facto half not be. But half the bee has got to be, vis-à-vis its entity – d'you see? But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee when half the bee is not a bee, due to some ancient injury?"
The first posted image of 2019. January 1.
After a string of very ornate work I thought it would be a refreshing thing to start the new year off with a straight out of the camera, pano-sabotage shot. There was no processing used other than standard tweaks to clarify and sharpen the image, take out excess white glare and bump up the saturation a bit.
The brightly coloured planes to the right of the image are not the result of filters or effects, post capture. The older buildings to the left are contrasted by another that is covered with long strips of highly irridescent metal that shift colour as you move around the structure. Hence the striking colour facets in the image to the right.
Pano-Sabotage, or more simply, "Pano", is a unique photographic practice that undermines, or sabotages the iPhone's camera Pano function. By deliberately moving the camera in a wide variety of motions OFF the guiding line that is meant to ensure a seamless panoramic image, the camera is "constantly trying to find North", as Tim Noonan once put it, and so is desperately trying to record what it sees as "up". The many "ups", tumbling against each other, is what results.
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In the late 19th century there was a lot of philosophical, spiritual and mathematic talk about the 4th dimension. This ferment of ideas, super potent and conceptually rich, made their way to one Pablo Picasso. The mathematical theories of Henri Poincaré, the poetic writings of Guillaume Appolinaire, two widely divergent thinkers, both influenced Picasso. He struggled with the ideas artistically, shutting himself away in the Bateau Lavoir until he gave birth to the painting that altered the course of Art, "Les Demoiselles D'Avignon". In it he finally realized how, on a 2 dimensional plane, to visually convey what a fourth dimensional image would show ... all angles of an object as seen simultaneously. The Analytical Cubist vision, then, asks the VERY potent question ... does anything, ultimately, have a defining, absolute shape ?
Albert Einstein, at the same time, also influenced by Poincaré, was asking strikingly similar questions about assumed absolutes, leading him, of course, to his theories of relativity.
Pano-Sabotage ( Pano ) seems to echo this view and offers, perhaps, through a new technology, another way to render, or at least strongly point to, the 4th dimension.
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© Richard S Warner ( Visionheart ) - 2018. All Rights Reserved. This image is not for use in any form without explicit, express, written permission.
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Gallery of Novobirzhevoy Gostiny Dvor (1800-1815 years, architect Giacomo Antonio Domenico Quarenghi). Philosophy Faculty of St. Petersburg State University (in the building since 1934). Vasilevsky Island. St. Petersburg. December 3, 2016.
Галерея Новобиржевого Гостиного двора (1800 - 1815 годы, архитектор Джакомо Кваренги). Философский факультет Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета (в этом здании с 1934 года). Васильевский остров. Санкт-Петербург. 3 декабря 2016 года.
Canon EOS 600D,
Samyang 8mm f/3.5 AS IF UMC Fish-eye CS II.
A philosophical and impressionnist photo safari concentrated mainly on a daily basis (or almost) on my small piece of planet of 55 000 square feet …!!!
A Thoreau "waldennienne" approach …!!!
__________________________
Un safari photo philosophique et impressioniste au quotidien concentré essentiellement (ou presque) sur un petit morceau de planète de 55 000 pieds carrés ...!!!
Une démarche "waldennienne" à la Thoreau …!!!
It is hard not to get just a little philosophical at times like this. If a photographer is not present in a forest, will the leaves turn color anyway? This is no more idiotic of a sentence than asking the more familiar philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is present, does it make a sound?
I prefer the more modern question, "If a tree falls in the forest, is it the man's fault?"
What is the measure of a snail? In a philosophical sense, it would be that which determines its fundamental worth, where it stands in times of challenge not where it stands in times of comfort.
But this isn't philosophy, it is Macro Mondays theme 'Tiny', so the measure of a snail will refer to its size - but any individual snail can vary greatly in size depending on whether it is tucked up inside its shell or with its body fully extended.
To meet the brief of photographing something no bigger than 1 cm, I knew I would need to find a tiny juvenile snail - but these are quite common on my hostas at this time of year, presumably hatching then fattening themselves up as much as possible before hiding away for the winter season. The individual in the image is very tiny, much too small to be handled with my fingers as the shells are quite soft and delicate as this age. I needed to use a small plastic toothpick to pick it up and move it into position. It is clearly within the 1 cm limit.
No snails were harmed in the making of this photograph.
Here you see a three-dimensional artwork by Jaume Plensa, who can describe and explain his artworks with philosophical eloquence...
Among other things, it’s about appearances being deceiving and openness toward all people, no matter what they look like or where they come from—and, of course, that you can only truly see with your soul. Thus, his artworks often consist of wire or letters and numbers—all the characters from around the world.
When he displays several “human sculptures,” they are all from different parts of the world; one might look Asian, one European, and one African.
Das Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg präsentiert die bislang umfassendste Einzelausstellung des renommierten spanischen Bildhauers Jaume Plensa. Zum ersten Mal seit einem Jahrzehnt widmet ihm ein deutsches Museum eine derartige Schau. In der Ausstellung erwarten die Besucher über 50 beeindruckende Skulpturen, eine Auswahl seiner Papierarbeiten sowie eigens für das Museum Küppersmühle geschaffene Wandzeichnungen – eine einzigartige Begegnung mit Plensas kraftvoller poetischer Kunst.
„Meine Arbeit will immer Brücken bauen, Fragen stellen, Schönheit in den Alltag der Menschen bringen; Verbindungen zwischen Menschen schaffen, ohne dass Hautfarbe, Ideologie, Religion oder Geographie eine Rolle spielen.“
Plensa ist international bekannt für seine eindrucksvollen Arbeiten im Öffentlichen Raum, die er seit über 20 Jahren in allen Kontinenten der Welt präsentiert hat. Herausragend war sein Projekt „Secret Garden“ im Sommer 2025 anlässlich der Salzburger Festspiele auf dem Residenzplatz der Stadt. In Deutschland hat er Großskulpturen in Bonn-Bad Godesberg („Laurelle am Bahnhof“, 2024), Frankfurt am Main („Body of Knowledge“, 2010) und Potsdam („Gläserne Seele“, 2000) realisiert. Er ist einer der bedeutendsten universellen Künstler unserer Zeit.
Die Ausstellung im Museum Küppersmühle präsentiert eine große Skulptur im Eingangsbereich des Hauses – „Flora“, 2021 – sowie eine spektakuläre Installation im Siloraum – „Invisible Anna“, 2018: ein großer, transparenter Kopf aus Edelstahlstäben, dessen erhabene Ausstrahlung den Raum beherrscht.
In acht weiteren Räumen wird die formale und inhaltliche Bandbreite der Werke von Jaume Plensa mit Arbeiten aus verschiedensten Materialien anschaulich. Der Künstler arbeitet mit Marmor, Alabaster, Kunststoff, Bronze- und Eisenguss sowie Stahl in verschiedenen Maßstäben.
Anlässlich der Ausstellung erscheint eine außergewöhnliche Publikation im Großformat mit Ausstellungsansichten, einem Interview von Walter Smerling mit dem Künstler und einem Essay von Clemens Setz.
Plensas Werke sind rätselhaft und inspirierend zugleich. Sie laden zur Kontemplation über uns selbst, über Schönheit und Erhabenheit ein. Der Schriftsteller Clemens Setz schliesst seinen Essay für die Publikation zu dieser Ausstellung mit einer konzisen Beobachtung:
„Vor ihnen stehend, bleiben wir allein mit uns selbst, und das nicht eingeschüchtert oder unerfüllt, sondern beschenkt und eigentümlich erhöht.“
Das von Herzog - de Meuron entworfene Museum lässt diese Kuration zu, da die ehemalige Mühle mehrere zusammengefasste Silos hat, die das architekturbüro zu einem hohen Raum als Bindeglied zwischen den Museumsteilen in voller Höhe nach unten öffnete.
Die Skulptur steckt ihren Kopf somit in die Silos wo vielleicht früher verschiedene Getreidesorten/Lebensmittel/"Rohstoffe" gelagert gelagert wurden, um auf die besten Wetten im Derivatenhandel zu warten.
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