Interior // Exterior
For the discussion this week about the beautiful, picturesque, and sublime, I chose a handful of photos of undesigned landscapes that speak to me about one of these three categories. Below is the one I talked about in our class discussion.
I have been thinking about the picturesque in terms of moving through the landscape, but also as this thing that can speak to that as a picture. The time element is lost in the frame, but there is still a relationship between the composition of a photo and the moments that spaces create at the human scale when moving through it. A photo can easily communicate the feeling of enclosure by being composed as if the enclosing area is framing the open area. Below is a photo of the view from within the mountain gateway, looking out.
Still, I wonder what it is that makes us to eager to capture moments that are so experiential as photos. It does save the memory, but at the same time, every time I see an incredible sunset, even if it is just on my commute or in an ordinary setting, I am compelled to take a photo that does not at all capture the feeling of being there. Beauty has all these experiential layers that need to be peeled back and explored.
Growing up, when my family would go to restaurants I would run ahead to be seated so I could get the seat with my back to the wall. Years later I learned I wasn’t just picky about this, but everyone wanted to sit in a corner or against a wall looking outward. I love spaces with frames, nooks, and viewports like this. I also have a habit of scrunching up my legs, sitting like a squirrel in tight spaces all the time, which in a way I attribute to this affinity for small little spots. I guess there is a nest-feeling to little sanctuary spaces or even a womb. It’s kind of behavior described by the Cancer sign, a little crab very sensitive and collecting items in its home for the feeling of safety and security. Somehow I have managed to reference three different animals in this string of thoughts.