Pug mark on an unusual canvas

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Ganesh H Shankar
Pug mark on an unusual canvas
Leopard pug mark on sand on a rock covered with soda ash. Please note, Chrome as a browser will not handle the subtle colors. Safari/Firefox will help. Please view this in full window.

I just returned from a fruitful photography trip to the Kutch region in the Gujarat state of India. My focus mainly was to make some images of sedimentary and volcanic rock formations found at various locations within the large district of Kutch. It was an eye opening experience. Nature offered (as always) more than what I could chew.

Here is the link to a series of rock formation images I made at Kutch. I am cut pasting my notes from the page on the series. I may post a few more images from the series in coming days.

Is 'beauty' is in the eye of a beholder? Probably only partially true. Let us assume if sixty people out of hundred think an object in Nature is 'beautiful' (in their own way) then that object is 'beautiful' (whatever that means). I think it is possible and fair.

If there is a generality in the concept of 'beauty' then what is its source? I am sure Nature (or forces of Nature) would not distinguish between a human, an elephant and a virus. We probably know the concept of 'beauty' transcends a human species. A peahen selects a most 'beautiful' peacock to continue its progeny and so are other life forms in Nature.

While the intricate curves, circular and spherical patterns has its roots in gravitational force of Nature, while chemistry/physics can explain sources of all those beautiful colors and patterns on the rocks, the end product of all this leaves us in awe inspiring feeling of 'beauty'.

Did then Nature condition our sense of aesthetics to what it has designed? However, we also have a word called 'ugly' in our dictionary! How do we build a bridge between laws of Nature to our abstract perception of what we call 'beauty'?

While I have seen many forms and shapes of beautiful boulders, like boulders of Hampi, the sculptures carved by Nature in Kutch are very special. Probably salinity and chemical reactions along with flow of wind and water over millions of years has created very intricate designs on these stones. We see very minute carving on stones having dimension of a few centimeters of length and width if not less. This has created mindbogglingly beautiful work of art!

While many things here look similar other objects that we can readily relate to, for example, shapes resembling footstep, eyes, nose, tortoise, carved statues etc., for me the real beauty is wondering about fundamental connection between forces of Nature and the concept of beauty itself. Nature did not create these forms and shapes for humans alone. I enjoy this abstract beauty as much as I enjoy the physical visual beauty of all these I photographed.

Why think about all these philosophy? Why can't I just enjoy the external physical beauty and move on to the next 'beautiful' image? I honestly think I would miss an opportunity to ponder over the larger beauty of the Nature. More assuring is this quote:

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought. - Albert Einstein
Fri Jan 26, 2024 2:15 pm
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Ganesh H. Shankar
Wishing you best light,

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Fine Art Nature Photography


Ganesh H Shankar  Joined CNP On 24 Apr 2008    Total Image posts 973    -   Total Image Comments 7913    -   Image Post to Comment Ratio 1:8    -   Image Comment Density 38     -     Total Forum Posts 956

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Commentby Rajkumar on Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:27 am

Various timelines have left their foot print in the frame like a clock of not 24hrs but millions of years with a "seconds" needle too !!

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Art is about what is inside rather than what is outside

Commentby Ganesh H Shankar on Sun Jan 28, 2024 8:31 am

Yes, Raj. By "seconds needle" you probably mean the faster intricate carvings that happen due to chemical reactions?

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Ganesh H. Shankar
Wishing you best light,

Image
Fine Art Nature Photography

Commentby Shankar Kiragi on Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:39 pm

This series of rock formations and patterns (ever changing) is an example of nature and it's elements (living and non-living) making mark or timestamps silently. Beautifully captured and brining visual treat from the field to the screen.

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Cheers, Shankar Kiragi

Commentby Rajkumar on Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:41 pm

Further thinking of it I am now imagining a collection of clocks. Every day a new clock is added and starts ticking on its own lifecycle. The first clock was added many million years ago. All the clocks are there for us to see they hide behind one another we only need to un-see !!!!!

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Art is about what is inside rather than what is outside

Commentby jayesh joshi on Wed Jan 31, 2024 12:20 pm

The best artistic series from this region of Kutch.

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