Varied textures
Dimensions of perception
Lived experience
The intentional act of seeing shapes our aesthetic experience, imbuing the image with meaning and significance.
“The aesthetic experience is not a purely intellectual or spiritual affair, but a bodily and sensory one.” – Mikel Dufrenne
Curve of the land
Solitary trees
Life force
The image, in its entirety, becomes a metaphor for the human condition, a testament to the enduring power of beauty in the face of adversity.
“Art is intuition, and intuition is lyrical expression.” – Benedetto Crocea
Intricate patterns
Carved by
Tides and currents
A fleeting, ever-changing sand landscape is a sacred geometry etched by the invisible hand of nature.
“The world is a dreamlike reflection of the mind.” – Sogyal Rinpoche
Aesthetic experience
Fundamental aspect
Inquiry discovery process
A quiet-contemplative but dynamic-landscape scene is shaped by the forces of nature in a constant interplay of creation and destruction.
“The aesthetic experience is a mode of living, not a mere accessory to life.” – John Dewey
Radiation
Wavelength
Separation
The observable appearance and behavior of water is atypical compared to most encountered substances. In support of Gestalt psychology, the physical and chemical properties of the water compound are extraordinarily complicated, while the molecules of water are simple in structure.
“What I view life like is about energy. Everything is about energy – everything. We physically are little units of electrical energy, and we vibrate and project electromagnetic thought.” – John Trudell
Dramatic sky
Lush greenery
Serene water
The aesthetic experience of the landscape is a complex phenomenon that involves both perception and valuation.
“Beauty is not merely a property of things, but a relation between things and our souls.” – Max Scheler
Crown glass
Flint glass
Achromatic doublet
This early-spring image was captured with a classic single element lens, convex on one side and concave on the other. Invented in 1804 by William Hyde Wollaston as a lens for eyeglasses, he adapted it as a camera obscura lens in 1812. Later the design was used by Niépce and Daguerre in their early photographic cameras.
“I have captured the light and arrested its flight. The sun itself shall draw my pictures.” – Louis Daguerre
Elements of
A lived experience
Of the world
As a primal element, water is a substance that precedes and yet is essential to our being.
“The world is not a collection of things, but a unity of horizons.” – Alphonso Lingis
Ocean waves
Churn of foam
Wet sand
Moving beyond the notion of a static world.
“There is no becoming which is not a becoming of something, and this something is the nexus, the actual entity.” – Alfred North Whitehead
Sand drift
Dune grass
Physics interaction
Jockey’s Ridge State Park includes the tallest active sand dune system in the eastern United States.
“The senses are the beginning of knowledge. For the soul knows nothing naturally except through the senses.” – Thomas Aquinas