Then if something smaller comes to be, it will come from something larger before, which became smaller?Â
That is so, he said.
And the weaker comes to be from the stronger, and the swifter from the slower?
Certainly.
Further, if something worse comes to be, does it not come from the better, and the juster from the more unjust?
Of course.
So we have sufficiently established that all things come to be in this way, opposites from opposites?
Certainly.
(Plato, Phaedo 71a)Â
I’ve just added a second photo essay to the ‘Features’ section of the site titled ‘Permanence’. Here’s the first paragraph:
 Recently I’ve found myself making pictures in the local cemetery. My main subject is the way that nature asserts itself over the gravestones, our permanent memorials. This has me thinking about how photography is related to these monuments to the dead and how it affects what I photograph.
I had an interesting experience the other evening. Sherrie’s dad took us out on his fishing boat to go see a dead whale that was floating a short distance from the Sandford wharf. Now, I’ve seen a few whales washed up on shore so I was prepared for the smell but it was a completely different experience seeing one floating in the water. I felt more like an intruder in some ways. When a whale is on the beach, it is like a foreign object thrust into our world. For us to go see it on the water reversed the roles. I felt like an observer given a glimpse of a different world. With the pictures I took I tried tried to capture a sense of this.
Over at Photojunkie.ca, Rannie Turingan, Canadian photoblogger extraordinaire, has undertaken a big portrait project called “My Toronto Includes . . .“. His goal is to “explore images of a diverse range of people from the city in various places around Toronto.” It reminds me of some of the documentary work of a lot of American photographers from last century. To me it has some FSA in it. Check it out. If you happen to live in Toronto, consider participating.
I like poppies more and more all the time. I like the way that they’re always different sizes, colours, and textures. I like the fact that some keep coming up one at a time in a spot where my wife can’t remember planting any, one appearing after the last one has faded away. I like that huge ones come up, uninvited, in the cracks in my grandmother’s walkway. They are, for me, an example of the way that Beauty can burst unexpectedly upon us.
We went to ‘The Churn’ for a walk today. It’s this incredible narrow U that is worn into the rocks at the shore near a friend’s house. When tide is up the waves rush into either channel and then meet together at the back of the U, sending water spraying up into the air. It’s really dramatic if the conditions are right. Apparently they used to take busloads of tourists there to see it. Only when the tide is at its lowest around the full moon you can climb down into it. It’s such a contrast from when it is churning. It is so peaceful.
Things that are caught mid-fall have the grace of their falling frozen. Any moment you expect the web to break and the fall will continue. A brief reprieve from the spiral.
Here’s another picture from yesterday. It’s two photos combined. One of them is a more traditional straight shot and the other is blurry because I panned the camera to mimic the shape of the fern while I was taking the picture. I’m fairly happy with the result.
I went for a walk this morning around some of the trails at The Shire. Even though we’ve been going out there for a few months I hadn’t taken the time to wander around their 165 acres. I came back from my walk both at peace and excited about the vastness of life. Walks in the woods usually put me in that state of mind but this morning was probably a potent mix of the beauty of the place, my walking alone, and taking pictures as I went. Everything is so verdant and lush right now. I picked a handful of blackberries and blueberries (does that make bruiseberries?) to bring back and share. I also brought back this picture to share.
