Tags
complexity theory, deep ecology, edge of chaos, emergence, Ephemeral, Mist, Nature, photography, Photography. thermodynamics, thermodynamics
I’ve long been drawn to photos of fog and mist. Part of it is the feel for the ephemeral and mysterious, things half formed, half hidden. Emerging from a soft nebulous background but not fully formed.
Things caught in a state of transition, in the midst of becoming what is or could be. Or slowly dissolving back into mere mist or shadow, what was or could have been.
Some of my fascination has to do with the contrast between the softness and starkness of the images, how things are reduced to their elemental forms the way black and white photos will do.
All but the starkest, darkest trunks and branches revealed while the fog swallows the rest. All that’s left is the essential, the finely sculpted, restrained and elegant.
Bare branches naked and exposed, live wires lifted in soft white hands
I think photos of mist and fog speak to me because they ring true. They reveal in stark and dreamy notes how ephemeral it all is, this life we live, the forms and forces of nature. All in flux, in constant motion, emerging and dissolving over and over, without end.
The first law of thermodynamics, so they say, states how energy changes from one form to another, but never disappears.
The new fourth law proposed by some scientists is still uncertain, but moving toward the emergent, a law of motion where things are constantly pushed to the edge of chaos and the brink of “perpetual novelty,” an immense field of endless potentiality.
I see that too in these photos.
At noon in full summer, in the bright sunshine, with all our leaves shimmering, richly detailed, brimming lushly, dripping with color, we hold life firmly in hand, our hearts aching with joy, with the pure bliss of being, and we think we will last forever.
But when the day is in transition, at dawn or dusk, emerging from darkness or drifting toward it, when mist or fog hides all but the faint essential lines of life, we see a starker and at the same time softer reality. But just as beautiful, and just as enduring.
For what could be more constant and eternal than the fleeting?
Or that which emerges, fragile and half-formed, from the fertile wombs of earth and stars, seas and seeds, dreams and desires and the lusts of ages that brought us all to the brink of being.
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Beautiful photos, beautiful writing…thanks Deborah! 🙂
Thank you sweet lady.
I like your description above about how fog reduces things to their basic shapes — photographing frost and snow forms in winter intrigues me in the same way. I’ve also had the fun/weird experience of walking my dog through fog so dense that I can’t see my home, though it be only yards away. That makes for a great sense of isolation, but also of being aware of being in THIS particular location at THIS particular moment. Thanks for reminding me of this feeling!
I’ve never walked through fog that thick–it must have been a weird sensation. I’ll have to try it sometime.
I couldn’t have described better my feelings towards mist and fog…
The second image is breathtaking!
Thank you! I agree about the second photo. I’m in debt to Creative Commons and photographers like this one that license their photos for sharing
‘ how things are reduced to their elemental forms’ – couldn’t agree with this more. There is something about wandering through a landscape socked in by fog. Visibility is low, its eerily quite, and your forced to focus on only those things directly in front of you.
Great post, enjoyed reading it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment.
All those photos are very artistic.
Thank you. A couple are mine, the rest I borrowed from Creative Commons shareware–so grateful to photographers who allow their work to be used by others. You can hover over the photographs to find out where they came from.
Wasn’t a ‘follower’ in 2012 so missed this…these images take me to a special peaceful place of being. Perfect for me right now.