mdcarma Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 I see a pigeon arm/wing pit, but then I'm not Catholic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 "The entire Universe is a holy site...though one wouldn't know it by observing us earthlings..." I think I'm going to go throw up in the throne in my holy bathroom. We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 If everything's holy, then nothing is. It's sort of like the grade school self esteem movement: if everyone is Special, then, really, nobody is. Why trot out a word like "holy," and apply it equally to churches and Ebola? The universe simply IS. A stack of stones arranged like a church is only as noble, or holy, or dignified as what you do with it and in it. And since that takes people, and people's definitions of what "holy" is supposed to even mean - to them - it sort of negates the notion of holiness being somehow bound up in the mortar and the steel and the glass and the stone that's been labeled as a church (when the same materials could also be used to build ... a photograpy studio!). <br><br> Our brains share - with many other animals - the ability to perform very high speed pattern recognition. This is especially useful in spotting predartors and prey. Hense the wide variety of animals and insects that have evolved fake faces in their markings (say, butterflies) designed to give the viewer (a rival, or a predator) pause. We're able to pick out a face in a crowd of faces, or a face barely seen in a lot of other visual noise, because millions of years of evolution has rewarded that skill. Improvements in tribal social nuances, hunting, and evading predators based on that talent are all reinforced through more succesful reproduction... and thus strengthening of that low-level cognitive skill in the gene pool. <br><br> The problem? Picking out faces is done so automatically by our brains that the mechanisms doing the work are sometimes fooled (as mentioned above ... by tree bark, shadows, rust stains on the wall, etc). Combine this tendency with some people's life-long investment in gambling that supernatural things are actually natural... and you get Virgin Mary appearances on burnt toast, malformed potatos, etc. <br><br> I earn myself a lot of social discomfort in some circles by being so blunt about this, but I'd hope that in a venue populated by thoughtful observers, recorders, and manipulators of light ... that there'd be less - here on photo.net - than the demographically typical attribution of a feather pattern to magic powers. Alas, I should know better. Even here, we get the occasional - apparently sincere - inquiry about photographs of "spirit orbs" (flash-lit dust particles) and the like. I'm not hopeful that we'll be free of that (any more than we'll be free from people trying to sauce up their love life with ground-up rhinocerous horn, or folks who were REALLY sure we had ourselves a Bigfoot photo the other day, etc) for a long time. Too much mysticism takes hold of too many people too early in their lives, and it just never gets a good shaking out. So, sorry if I've lost any recently acquired friends just now, but some of that stuff just has to be said once in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Don't apologize, Matt. You probably noticed that a lot of it has already been said in various ways right in this thread. You are not alone in your thoughts. We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordonjb Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 " We are all looking for a sign. We are all looking for devine help " I'm not looking for either .... however I am still looking for a pair of sunglasses that I haven't seen since I got back from vacation in February. Unlike divine help and signs from God, those sunglasses actually are around here somewhere but I'm dammed if I can locate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Gordon, The best way to find those sunglasses is to go out and buy a new pair. I guarantee they will show up the next day! We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtlawyer Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Actually, it's not the VM. In fact, it's not even a pigeon. It's the Archangel Michael. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summitar Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 I think it is an image of a pedophile priest being flown to a well deserved hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norma Desmond Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Matt-- While there are religious crazies on both sides of the aisle, I'm sorry but there is no moral equivalency here in what the fundamentalist right tries to do and the power it has versus what the few religious nuts on the left do. As we fight against the repeal of gay marriage led by the religious right here in California, as we try to hold onto a woman's right to choose by the skin of our high-court-teeth, as we fight the onslaught against secular freedom by those who insist on prayer in school, as we end eight years of a president who believes he talks to God and runs his incompetent administration in a manner similar to the way the hierarchy of the church monitored its pedophile priests, it's hard for me to see the rantings of Rev. Wright or the silliness of the DNC protesters you mention in at all a similar or serious light. I get really weary of the argument that both sides are wacky. That's just a way of avoiding the truth. Which is that one side is really taking this country down . . . almost as if intentionally. We didn't need dialogue. We had faces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john schroeder Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Looks like Elvis to me. It's amazing how the brain can see patterns in random shapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorriman Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 As a catholic I particularly dislike these kind of 'signs'. Perhaps it's just me, but to my believers eyes there is nothing to be seen: and that comes from the fervour of an admirer of Thomas de Torquemeda. Even if the Virgin Mary were plainly visible, moles and freckles as sharp as by an FD 55/1.2 aspherical with miraculously perfect bokeh (not otherwise possible with his lens) the picture could so easily be dismissed as a fraud. The disbeliever would still not believe, and justly. These kinds of idiotic signs are in any case incompatible with the nature of faith, and they make Catholicism appear to be a religion of superstition and fools. Any true religion must also be that of the simple, and the unlearned, but not of foolishness: the OP is the kind of person who, in my opinion, is most likely to not have genuine faith, or else be at high risk of apostasy. I met a chap who became a catholic on the basis of a supposed picture of the Virgin Mary that to my eyes appeared to be the kind of oof background you get in macro bug pics: there was just nothing there but nice bokeh. Even this nonsensical pigeon has got more going for it. God have mercy on him: he needs it. But then again I haven't read the whole of this thread: perhaps the OP has revealed it all to be a (stupid) joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin Barkdoll Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 After nestling under the pigeon's wing she was deposited in our garden. You can even see the pigeon (ok, duck) flying away after dropping her off.<div></div> Test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photobiscuits Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Holy Crap Edwin that is AMAZING you garden is truly blessed!<br> Good onya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordonjb Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 Edwin; One of those pigeons... err ... ducks, looks surprising similar to a giant bumble bee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leroy_Photography Posted August 24, 2008 Share Posted August 24, 2008 It is remarkable, Mark. It kind of resembles a person. I don't see a woman in a veil, though, it looks like someone with a beard. I agree that our minds often matrix what we see into what is familiar to us. That being said, let me just add that I hope you're not offended by any of the rantings on here discarding your find merely because it resembles a religious icon. Not everyone is a believer or choses to place their faith in God--choosing instead to believe that those who do are stupid or mislead. Don't let that put you off. I appreciate your sharing it because I've never seen anything like that in a photograph. I have seen the occasional potato chip shaped like Elvis, the sweet potato shaped like Abraham Lincoln, and the toast with the face of Jesus. It's interesting and I appreciate you sharing it, regardless of whether it's religious icon or a secular one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I was obligated to review my own dove photos a bit more carefully. Imagine my surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourthst Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Hmmm. How is it everyone knows what Jesus, The Virgin Mary, et al looked like but me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Yeh, same with Zoroaster. Every image I see of him bears an uncanny resemblance to Jesus, only with way more chin whiskerage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 As usual, Lex, you have inspired me to explore my vast collection of pigeon-related photographs in a quest for the devine, or at least for the inexplicable. Eureka! Man, the things you notice when you start looking closely.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrygilroy Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Hence the expression "wing and a prayer" - don't get into a flap about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 <div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenPapai Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 " We are all looking for a sign. We are all looking for devine help " Yes we ALL are aren't we? LOL. Didn't Devine coach Notre Dame and the GB Packers? What will be the exact day (and price?) of the 5D upgrade announcement by Canon -- tomorrow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Your Bird-Fu is strong, young Jenkins. You have won this battle, but we shall meet again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike dixon Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 I kept getting pictures of the same hideous face when I was photographing mirrors, so I try not to photograph mirrors anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leroy_Photography Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 LOL! I give affectionate homage to the bird-fu masters, Lex and Matt. :-0) What a terrific way to start to day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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