Old Film

Some time ago, I purchased a batch of really old slide film. The prints it produces are really wild. Sometimes the colors are so wacked out that I don't know what to do with them. Last night I discovered a way of post processing the shots that turns out pretty cool.



The shot was taken in NY on the Brooklyn Bridge. The slide film was initially Cross Processed and turned out with an extremely green tint. Kind of appealing in itself, but it just didn't do it for me. So last night I tried converting to B/W. I like the old photo look it gives.

Here's another from that same batch of film. This time I like the colors.

Fractals in Nature: Self Similarity and Karma

It wasn't until the last quarter of the 20th century that the scientific establishment began to understand the meaning of nature's fractal forms. This understanding is owed in part to Benoit Mandelbrot's solution to some age old mathematical monsters that defied the traditional geometric conventions. While I myself do not attempt understand the feedback loop equations that bring us the iconic fractal plots, the beauty of its understanding is not lost. Beauty in itself is not the only point of this exercise fortunately. I would like to plot a path to the harmony between our mind; its patterns and how nature can help us understand the relationship of a part to its whole.

Prototype and Production



What if nature was one unified mind made up of its myriad of individual parts, which together constitute the whole of consciousness? As parts, we identify with our own seperate consciousness as the singular source of understanding in our lives. This seperateness is simply the side effect of being apart. In the picture Prototype, the ice does not know its similar heritage to the leaf, Production Model. While we may see the visual similarities, the ego reels at the concept of nature emulating itself in two seemingly dissimilar forms of mater.

Understanding the fractal Nature

A pillar of fractal theory is the concept of Self Similarity. The concept of natural (and manmade!) forms being all fractal at all levels is quickly sinking into many fields of scientific inquiry. The repetition of patterns, expressed in the generated plots of feedback loop equations is the key to understanding Nature. As we see in this set of pictures, tips of tree branches are self similar in its repeated patterns. Notice the same in the tree as a whole in its companion photograph.


Furthermore, we can clearly recognize the similarity between the two very different trees when viewed side by side. Surely by design! Surely Nature has arrived here after millennia of trial and error by reason. Only the fittest survive. A Miracle?

We view the whole, by examining the details

While this concept is seemingly paradoxical, Nature provides a visual touchstone with which the ego can affix itself for unfolding. Life itself is fractal; Thoughts are fractal in structure, theme, and concept. How many times in your life have you seen repeated themes in seemingly disparate situations? Do you glance at the clock only to find it reads a particular time more often than others? We arrive at many day to day solutions to problems by drawing on knowledge of the past, or other problems.

Karma also can be conceptualized from afar through the lens of fractal theory. Repeated patterns, thoughts, actions, themes in our life, these are but one phase of karma. Fractal repetition from the unattended thought, to the wide overview of one's life can be understood by examining any part of the whole. I will not dwell here; I will leave you the reader, the part, to unfold our unified mystery. View the mountain and its blanket of trees, the rock and its accompanying shrubs.

A shadow's mystery revealed in our veins



There are a number known ways to enlightenment of the mind. I spent some time with a shaman who espoused the concept of "Every action, every thought, every feeling a prayer." Using our fractal code and what we learned about thoughts previously, we might see how we can unlock these patterns through examination. We will use the working definition of prayer here to be: Examination through meditation, which gives rise the deep feeling of love that can only be felt when we accept we are but a part of the whole. Our true heart is given freedom as we rejoin the whole through this symbiotic relationship.

Fear and shame are the fractal shadow pattern outline of meaning and joy.

The innate human need for unity, community, kindred spirit has given rise to the concept of religion. This need is fulfilled when the ego realizes that by examining itself, accepting itself for the beautiful part of a whole it is. All thoughts are part of a whole, larger picture, linked by its neighbors. Indeed we are not parts, but connected to a whole, whose image is mirrored in our own thought-shape.













How can I understand this better?

New thoughts and concepts are always hard to fully grasp for all of us. The fractal nature of thought dictates that we must see continued repetition for the mind to understand the genetic helix of a concept. Nature has been at this for a while; you will never be able to grasp it all. . I'm sure some of what I talked about seemed obtuse to say the least. If in fact, you are intrigued by some of the concepts I talk about in this article, I encourage you to do a little research on fractal concepts and current theory. There is some really exciting work going on, Explore!

Dark Matter: The Begining

The inaugural post. While I can't say this blog thing will take hold of me, I'll give it a go. What's it all about? Musings I guess. Lots of photography I'm sure.

What do I mean by Dark Matter? In the past science had the Ether, which Webster defines as:

1a: the rarefied element formerly believed to fill the upper regions of space b: the upper regions of space : heavens
2a: also ae·ther : a medium that in the wave theory of light permeates all space and transmits transverse waves

A concept widely accepted during the pre-atomic age. We have since gotten a hold of ourselves and promptly forgot about Ether. Yet fifty years later, only to resurrect and rename this substance to do something more modern: Dark Matter. Which Wikipedia defines as:

In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter that does not interact with the electromagnetic force, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. According to present observations of structures larger than galaxies, as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter and dark energy account for the vast majority of the mass in the observable universe. The observed phenomena which imply the presence of dark matter include the rotational speeds of galaxies, orbital velocities of galaxies in clusters, gravitational lensing of background objects by galaxy clusters such as the Bullet cluster, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Dark matter also plays a central role in structure formation and galaxy evolution, and has measurable effects on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background. All these lines of evidence suggest that galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole contain far more matter than that which interacts with electromagnetic radiation: the remainder is called the "dark matter component."

How human a thing, to recycle a concept with a new name! Truly, what is more exciting that there being some substance in our universe that can only be described, as yet not captured, but we KNOW it must be there? The tendency of science to have faith in our observations, or physical senses is a biological necessity for all beings. This reliance is the reason for our sentience, our evolution of finer physical senses has allowed us to rise and self reflect. Oh how I pursue you DARK MATTER!

Between the shadows of understanding, Dark Matter