Forgotten beauty (7th of May 2010)

How much is our sense of beauty conditioned by earthly shapes and effects, i.e. by that which we constantly see around us and more-or-less unconsciously filter-out of "that which is important, worthy of noting"? Do we see "the everyday" at all? Of course, brain and mind had to develop through evolution so to filter "the everyday" (the usual, the common) and concentrate on the unusual situations that are potentially lifethreatening. In Problem of the observer there is one passage on that subject and I cite it below:

It is incredible how much of the beauty of nature we "filter" due to the construction of our brains and minds. Perhaps we would have gone crazy if we would perceive it all the time. But, exactly because of the tendency of the mind to get used to certain visual excitations and to "filter" them from that point on, a foul genre is developing in art, media, science, economy, human relations... whose basic task is to shock no matter the price. And that attracts attention. Even if it is about unseen stupidities, horrors and profanities, it has a certain chance to attract attention if we haven't seen it before. But, in time, the mind gets used to that also. At least, I am fed up with all that. And, as a kind of a protest, here are pieces of beauty that we filter. Clouds. I photographed them mostly in Zagreb, Opatija, Sinj and Orebić (all in Croatia) in the period from March to May this year.

Is there anything more beautiful than clouds? For a start, clouds are almost immaterial, they are scattered light (of course, the light is scattered on the drops of water that constitute the cloud, but the drops themselves cannot be seen directly). How many clouds we have filtered-out? How much beauty we have forgotten in all our days? And cloud is a miracle... Cloud is not only a cloud, its look depends on an entangled combination of distribution of water in it and the position of the sun. That is why the same cloud will look completely differently in the morning and in the evening. That is in fact not the same cloud, because the sun is not the same. And that is why more clouds follow...

What sorts of colors... Clouds are white, grey, dark-grey on the border with black, navy blue, lower parts are red, pink, orange or yellow when the sun is low. There are also violet and magenta clouds. I don't know enough names of colors to describe it. But, I'll try to steal them. I will try to simulate the scattering of light on a distribution of water in the atmosphere. And that is what this post is about.

The image that opened this story shows the sunset or sunrise and the sky thoroughly covered by clouds. The sea. The sun si scattered on the clouds and on water. Orange, grey, dull-blue. And below is one murky column of simulated clouds that cover the sky and the sun. The storm is comming.

How inferior are my clouds to the ones "from the real world" can be seen on the images below. That doesn't mean that I cannot make better clouds ... (in fact, those from Igniting the clouds post were not bad at all) It means only that I am for now quitting experimenting anymore.

Here is another of my images (below). The situation is similar as on the image from the beginning, one can only see larger portion of the horison.

The post ends with repeated reminding on the beauty that passes and that we don't even notice anymore. Koyaanisqatsi.

Just when I wanted to post this, surfing through Wikipedia's page on clouds, I found out about Cloud appreciation society. A piece of their manifesto states: "Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.". There are obviously people that think about clouds exactly the same as I do. On their pages there are many clouds to enjoy. So enjoy.

Last updated on 7th of May 2010.