The Bicyclist's Guide to the Universe

The Bicyclist's Guide to the Universe,,,,,,/,/,/,/,/,/,,,,,,,,,,

beautiful setup Jack. Funny how when i see solid work, the buzz I get is intense and instantaneous, and this is that sort of  frame, rich with grace and a hint of transcendence --- grace and transcendence --- a rare thing in the neighborhood!

and since i needed a bit of cosmic guidance, just about now, the timing is also right and proper. Thank you sensei.

My first thought when I saw the Thumbnail was that it looked like an odd Dreamcatcher . Perhaps it is an Alien Dreamcatcher.....but then I see the shadow of the 'bike' perhaps ET needs to call home via the Dreamcatcher??

The Guide the cyclist needs to read is laid out on the wall.  It's written in a language the cyclist may not understand.  Indeed, those of us seeing evidence of the cyclist's presence in this scene also may not understand it.  To be able to do so, we need to revert to another language, this one musical.  No, it's not then music of the spheres.  It's a line from "The Sound of Silence."

 

"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls; and whispered in the sounds of silence."

Just amazing! :)

A Polynesian navigational chart under a starry sky, bicycle ready to go--it's so completely right that it boggles the earthbound mind. So boggled, in fact, that I'm perfectly comfortable with the fact that up and down are undefinable in this particular universe. Which I suppose actually makes sense from the point of view of the universe. All we need is a towel and we're good to go.

The resemblance of the cracks to a dreamcatcher (Gail) or a Polynesian chart (Leslie) is interesting.  It also reminds me of the map of the universe in Time Bandits, or of a supernova remnant.

Leslie, up and down may not be as applicable as in and out.  Bucky Fuller preferred in and out, which gives one a perhaps more accurate perspective.  Will you be celebrating Towel Day in May?

Jack, I love the theme of radiating (or converging) lines, and the variation in scale.  The wheel spokes are mimicked in the converging lines between the tiles, and also in a distorted way in the cracks.  The shadow of the basket is sort of a hybrid tiling pattern and spoke pattern.  All in all, an intriguing photo of lines and nodes and arcs.

What Carlos said! This is gripping, puzzling, and funny at the same time. Thanks--I needed that! (Which are you reading lately: Sarte or Camus? Or perhaps for absurdity the NY Times?)  

Hi it does no t looks a map at all, it looks like a part of a broken wall......and t he bike are just stending there... It looks like a fuuny joke of yours>?.....

Thanks a lot for your comments on this picture.

 

Drew - I respect your creativity and the way you see things so a visit from you is always appreciated.

 

Carlos - Grace and transcendence, two of my favorite words. I'm always interested which of my pictures appeal to you and am gratified that you like this one. The road may sometimes be lost - or so we might think - but the journey continues.

 

Gail - Thanks. There is a kind of an alien vibe going on here but not a threatening one. More one that attempts to clarify even if it's beyond our understanding at the present. (I'm a visitor to my own pictures as well as their author and have my own interpretations though not necessarily the "right" ones.)

 

Michael - We have our own language, understanding and secret handshake, those of us from that generation (though I may be a little ahead of you). I wonder how many of the younger members have any idea what you're talking about.

 

Tatjana - Thanks as always. Still waiting for some new stuff from you

 

 

Leslie - As usual you zeroed in on the central thing that gave rise to the theme which is the curiously cracked wall. I spent six years in Hawaii so I know about Polynesians and their sea charts by which they navigated from island to island. It is just another way of knowing, a type of knowledge that we tend to dismiss all too readily in this day of questionable rationality with our reliance on supposedly demonstrable facts and statistics of which we have little real understanding (and now we have a new category, "alternative facts"). That was certainly the detail that keyed the story or at least my interpretation. This is not an explicit picture. It presents elements in a kind of do it yourself story kit. I just hope the assemblage of things is interesting enough to involve the viewer in the act of creation.

 

Mark - Thanks for your insightful comments on the picture. I think pictures that intrigue me never are the ones that just sit there and wait for your admiration but ones that stir your imagination and are open to multiple interpretations. I actually wonder sometimes how much the power of our intent effects the internal harmony of a picture above and beyond the simple act of composition.

 

Dan - As always I welcome a visit from you. Things are becoming more bizarre by the moment and in some strange way the absurdity of current events may be an unsuspected boon that stirs us out of our individual torpor and opens up new ways of seeing the world beyond the very limited vision of the two camps that seem intent on annihilating each other.

 

Pnina - Hi, how are you. You're too seldom a visitor here nowadays. Nice to see you posting some new work. As for the cracked wall, of course it's a map though one that I've yet to figure out how to read - nothing new there .

 

 

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Thrown aback! Mesmerized, shocked (in a most positive, happy way) by this striking, nay, masterful composition...."mark of the house". The "symmetry" between the basket and the shattered pavement is obvious enough, but as with all of your photos, the thing goes way beyond. There is some kind of utter perfection in the pavement even when it is obviously less than that, but the perfection is achieved by the many contrasting aspects of your unique, special, "quirky" (and by that I stick to the Dictionary: "a peculiar trait") POV. You push the viewer of the cliff with your compelling Photography (capital P), that is, your photo immediately places the viewer atop a deep ravine, immediately feeling the vertigo in the pit of the stomach. The more one looks at it, the depth hypnotizes, draws and challenges the decision to keep seeing it, and suddenly, it draws you in, like the inescapable gravity a Black Hole produces. So, do I need to say anything more? It is a question I pose to myself, because when flying through the abyss one cane hardly utter a word, but what comes out are all gutural sounds of awe and wonder. Cheer, good friend, and my best regards.

DG

a spider web spokes a tangled web we weave.. very Hitchcock

This should not work, but it does - and it is SO good. I am taking this in the way an apprentice studies the master`s work.