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Paradolia: a philosophy These images were created from photographs taken by me over the last few years. My goal is to allow nature to 'speak' using a visual language that can be understood by anyone. Many people will be familiar with feelings of something 'greater than themselves' when looking at nature. Some feel happy with the thought that they are seeing God's creation or that a particular flower or tree is simply a beautiful thing. Other people can sense the divine essence of something and catch a glimpse of the 'spirit' of a tree or flower. My own personal belief is that everything around us is alive and vibrant, even if we are sometimes unaware of it. From an early age I have been aware of a sense of 'other' - that we are just a tiny part of a very large and complex universe. I have also always seen form and pattern in most things I see in life and was amazed to find, in particular, faces in wood grain, carpets, etc. This phenomenon is known as pareidolia and occurs because our brains are 'wired' from birth to latch onto our mother's face and, thereafter, it is easy for the human brain to associate certain patterns of light and shade with a human face or figure. This is the more rational approach - personally I feel comfortable with the thought that these seemingly 'random' patterns allow glimpses of spirits, faeries and the like. It is with this thought that I tried to find ways to enhance the appearance of these forms in my photographs of nature. Starting with a digital photograph each image is layered several, or many, times using a computer. This process builds images of increasing complexity and renders the original scene less obvious. At this point the image displays an inherent symmetry and form, I simply enhance the colours to allow the full beauty of this form to emerge. None of the original images have been edited or altered, I just layer the images until I see what 'message' is trying to emerge. Thereafter I try not to alter the resulting image too much but, in some cases, I have deliberately 'pushed' the colours to generate a result which I feel helps communicate what I see as the image's message. Many of the images have revealing quite startling images of faces, figures, animal forms, etc. The titles mostly speak directly from the image, that is they seem so obvious to me they required no thought, whilst others I have titled to provoke particular thoughts and emotions. I hope that you like them and that they convey and provoke a sense of wonder at the world around us.
I am currently preparing to make these images available for purchase as limited-edition prints. Please contact me if you would like further information: Jonathan Cope T:0208 429 1074 M: 07747 018518 Info@soundforhealth.com My other website about the healing uses of sound: www.soundforhealth.com | ||
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