admin(2017 photography series)
While people tend to oversee things outside their usual field of view, I often try looking up and down to spot interesting compositions. I’m also especially on the hunt for interesting textures.
Here is the first pair:
In part two of my new photography series called Heaven and Earth we can see a piece of heaven as seen from the entrance hall of the Martin Gropius building in Berlin as well as an old truck tyre lying in the riverbed of the river Rhine near my hometown Bonn.
Sometimes our point of view is restricted by conflicting opinions. We make use of our egos to define ourselves. But essentially we are just living out one facet of the infinite views of the big picture.
Stairway to Heaven / Highway to Hell
The Kybalion, a book based upon ancient Hermeticism, discusses seven principles or axioms of life. One of them is The Principle of Correspondence, which…
… embodies the idea that there is always a correspondence between the laws of phenomena of the various „planes“ of being and life. As above, so below; as below, so above.
You may (or may not) see the following photography pair in this spirit:
This somehow reminds me of the backmasking claims in the song „Stairway to Heaven“ by Led Zeppelin.
The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song („If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now…“) when played backward, was purported to contain the Satanic references „Here’s to my sweet Satan“ and „I sing because I live with Satan.“
But what about Highway to Hell?
The song refers to the Hebrew name of God, „Yahweh“, when played backwards: „As above, so below; as below, so above.“
The next pair of photographies reminded me of the myth of Icarus.
Often depicted in art, Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus‘ father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea’s dampness would not clog his wings or the sun’s heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun, when the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea.
Left: Installation at a church in Kassel during the last documenta art-exhibition (2012).
Right: A sign at a junction box in Mallorca, Spain (shot 2016).
„Pride goes before a fall“
Here is a painting showing Icarus and his father Daedalus for comparison:
Neither flying too high, nor too low is an art, which is difficultly to master. Obviously it’s essential to find the fine line in between.
„If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.“
The proverb: „All cats are grey in the dark„ is attributed to Benjamin Franklin, explaining why to take an older woman to bed (and from todays view that really sounds offensive).
It means that in the dark, physical appearance is unimportant.
But how can you decide then, whether the wood is glowing or burning? You’d need your other senses, like the sense of smell.
You might be easily tricked to believe what your eyes see and you often won’t be able to decide if it’s the tree of life or the hellfire you’re facing.
When in doubt, try listening to your gut instincts and your heart.
A blast from the past
First constructed between 1896 and 1898 the so called „Old Rhinebridge“, had been the worlds largest arch bridge of it’s time. Two month before the end of world war II (in march 1945) the bridge had been blown up by the the armed forces of the Third Reich to make it more difficult for the allied troops to conquer the territories lying east of the river.
After the war was over, the bridge had been rebuild on their old piers (in 1949) and had been called „New Rhinebridge“ then. At 2nd of december 1963, just 10 days after the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, it had been renamed to „Kennedy-Bridge“.
Left: „Kennedy-bridge“ crossing the river Rhine in Bonn.
Right: „Gus Fring“ after having his face blown off by Walt’s bomb at TV-series „Breaking Bad“.
„Blown away“
Gustavo „Gus“ Fring is a fictional character in „Breaking Bad“ and „Better Call Saul“, played by actor Giancarlo Esposito, who is named after the former german soccer International Torsten Frings. His death scene in „Breaking Bad“ has blown away the fans of the series, who compared his face to that of Harvey Dent „Two-Face“ as seen in the film „The Dark Knight“.
Moments before dying, Gus manages to calmly adjust his tie even after having half his face blown off. Esposito saw it as an important gesture of „when a person goes to what they’ve always done“, in order „to be complete in his leaving this world.“
Building bridges
I’m really undecided how to bridge this two images, but for me it looks like Gus stays right under the Kennedy-bridge and while the heaven above the bridge really looks peaceful to me, the hell is just around the corner.
John of Nepomuk
John of Nepomuk is…
… a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning.
Left: John of Nepomuk in Bonn Beuel photographed by me.
Right: Razor ribbon fence, from Vero Vig on pixabay.
Nepomuk
is the only saint besides Maria that is shown with a halo of stars.
To the left you can see how he looks from the front.
His halo of stars somehow reminded me of the razor ribbon fence, that is supposed to protect human beings from eachother these days.
It’s actually the first time, that I used a public-domain image in a part of my photography series.
