“Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.” ~ Katherine Anne Porter
My mind is comfortable with order and simple meaningful compositions but there is a part of me which exaltates the wonders, energy and unease of chaos.
I was subconciously trying to put this relationship in some sort of context the other day when I made the photo of the tree in front of the large city building. I wasn’t keenly aware of “the why” at the time and only later came to understand what my subconcious was trying to tell me.
Quotes by Henry Adams concerning chaos and order come to mind also.
“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.”
“Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.”
We who enjoy nature photography know that often making a good photo is about reducing the “noise” or chaos using any number of photographic “tricks” – making out main subject obvious. Yet often it is the softened chaotic bokeh in the background giving “voice” to our focused subjects.
It seems we need to be accepting of a certain amount of chaos in our photography and no doubt our lives. Change and chaos often go together and both can give birth/insight to creativity and new opportunities, a goal of most photographers – to be creative.
Right there with you Earl. I must admit chaos creates a real discomfort within me, so the ordered life is one I seem to lean into. I do the best I can to being simplicity into my photography as can be found in my images of trees. I suppose people will have different definitions of chaos. This image to me is chaos while the one you posted yesterday is serene. Yet to others it may be the opposite.
While living in the east I was amazed at the entangled branches of the forests. It always made me wonder how the early pioneers were able to make their way through these briars.
Like you, I strive to be orderly in my daily life. But I don’t find it easy or even natural and I think my work reflects that. I find this image to be full of tension and calming at the same time.
When I look at this image, I do see the chaos, but also see the light on the other side, the possibilities to clarify, untangle, simplify. A good post and nice food for thought, Earl.
Definitely a structured chaos that you have here, Earl! Dark and light are nicely iuxtaposed, both in terms of their assignment to different subject matter as to different layers in the image, and the strong shapes form a support for the twiggly entwinement in the back. I like that – it’s a bit like the normal chaos in a family ;)
Oh great – another “Twig Photographer”!
Seriously, I don’t think true chaos can be found in anything that professes to be Art. It’s like mathematics – it may look chaotic and disorderly, but in reality it is not. You just have to find the patterns. If you can’t find them, then you’re not looking. As Markus says, there is much structure in this image. And it’s good.
I think it refreshing to make the brambles a good subject just because of their density and lack of principal place of focus or emphasis. Very well done. And lots of food for thought.
Sometimes I wonder if chaos is ultimately defined by our own limitations on our view. Sure close in this may look that way, back away and it is likely part of a larger natural order. I don’t know how much we can “force” ourselves to be accepting. It seems like we have a natural gravitation towards simplicity.
@All…I dropped the ball replying to each of you on this post. Sorry and thanks for the comments.