{"id":3403,"date":"2018-10-31T08:43:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T12:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=3403"},"modified":"2018-10-31T08:43:40","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T12:43:40","slug":"first-catch-your-beech-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=3403","title":{"rendered":"first, catch your beech tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A technical exercise in transformations, starting with a photograph of a Mount Auburn Cemetery beech tree:<center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/43376693200\/\" title=\"7x18MtAuburnbeech11\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1943\/43376693200_080dc6bbc1_z.jpg\" width=\"428\" height=\"640\" alt=\"7x18MtAuburnbeech11\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><br \/>\nIt occurred to me to wonder how the image would be changed with a simple black-to-white inversion, easily accomplished in GIMP (with some cropping, to clarify the image). The result seems to emphasize the <b>form<\/b> that first attracted me to make the original image:<br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/44922758114\/in\/dateposted-family\/\" title=\"inverted beech\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1910\/44922758114_7e65035e2a_z.jpg\" width=\"512\" height=\"640\" alt=\"inverted beech\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><br \/>\nCreatures manifest, if one is open to such things, but in this case I decided to work further with the abstract forms via a mirror image and vertical flip:<br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/45647907021\/in\/dateposted-family\/\" title=\"inverted beechx2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1912\/45647907021_b932406ba7_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" alt=\"inverted beechx2\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><br \/>\nI can read this version in several ways, imagining for instance the head-on view of a duck in flight in heavy weather, or a wrathful English judge in full-bottomed wig about to deliver a death sentence (the black cap on his head&#8230;), though you may be excused if you see neither of those figures.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe next thought was to make a 4x tessellation, which produces an image of a vajra (Sanskrit) or dorje (Tibetan), understood by Mahayana Buddhism as representing a diamond or thunderbolt.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A diamond is spotlessly pure and indestructible. The Sanskrit word means &#8220;unbreakable or impregnable, being durable and eternal&#8221;. As such, the word vajra sometimes signifies the lighting-bolt power of enlightenment and the absolute, indestructible reality of shunyata, &#8220;emptiness.&#8221;<br \/>(see more at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/vajra-or-dorje-449881\">thoughtco.com<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/44923023564\/in\/dateposted-family\/\" title=\"invbeechx4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1914\/44923023564_ffeefc905e_z.jpg\" width=\"512\" height=\"640\" alt=\"invbeechx4\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/center><br \/>\n&#8230;and that led to wondering what would happen if the image was inverted again, back to its original black-is-black configuration:<br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/31775652318\/in\/dateposted-family\/\" title=\"inverted beechx4inv\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1947\/31775652318_6170481222_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"555\" alt=\"inverted beechx4inv\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><br \/>\nThe last two images are also reminiscent of illustrations of magnetic fields, as seen with bar magnets and iron filings.<\/p>\n<p>\nSo what, or where, does all this flipping get us? Certainly a long way from the original beech tree, and (if we choose to go there) deep into representation of the mysteries of cosmic forces. Each transformation is a flight of fancy, an excursion into <i>what if&#8230;<\/i>, a disclosure of possibility, and an alternative reading of the implications and thus the <i>meaning<\/i> of the antecedent image. Form Finds Form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A technical exercise in transformations, starting with a photograph of a Mount Auburn Cemetery beech tree: It occurred to me to wonder how the image would be changed with a simple black-to-white inversion, easily accomplished in GIMP (with some cropping, to clarify the image). The result seems to emphasize the form that first attracted me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-images","category-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3404,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3403\/revisions\/3404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}