''The Art Of Mathematics'' #1

Within mathematics there lies great beauty. This is the first image tobe placed in this folder, but I will be relocating several others heresoon.

I sincerely hope that you will find pleasure, beauty and inspirationin these images.

Beautiful abstract. Not sure exactly how you did this, but the result is excellent!

Pleasure? no

Beauty? of course, yes.

Inspired? by what? a complex formula? no

You look at these fractals on your computer. You explore the mathematical landscape and hit "print screen" and if you're daring you crop and colorize in PS... pretty much what we do with a camera and the natural landscape in front of us. I see the parallel, but somehow still can't embrace it.

Sorry, Dave, don't get this as a personal attack, but I just think these "snapshots" of a fractal landscape, however beautiful and inspiring, do not belong on photo.net.

Of course, there are plenty of these images already, and people are still "WOWED" by them, so why not follow the trend, right?

End of my rant, now if you'll excuse me I'll go back in my cage ;-)

I appreciate your honest and candid critique. Your view is shared by many, most of whom are too insecure, or something, to speak out as you have done.

I see things a little differently, as you have observed...

For me this is much more than a `snapshot' of a fractal. For one it is quite removed from the source image and required about 20 minutes with the editing tools.

In that context it is a way of exploring the vast range of effects available with ease in the `digital dark/light room' and helps visualize that which could be applied to a more conventional image.

During my ~50 years in photography I have used nearly every sort of camera from box cameras through view cameras to a homemade cryogenic cooled-emulsion astro-camera. I have photographed a very wide range of subjects both in and out of a studio setting. Now I am exploring the area outside the box of convention. BUT... I am still Painting With Light!

Also many of my abstracts are based on, or incorporate a conventional photograph. However, as you have noted, I am a non-conformist at heart. I explore what an image could be beyond what it already is. It keeps me, and my mind, very active, which I hope will head-off the onset of Alzheimer's in the ensuing years... ;-))

Thank you for your honesty... it is a rarity in this day-and-age.

Fair enough. I appreciate your honest reply. I see - indeed - that you're into digital alterations and digital art. I appreciate the creativity, but maybe because I am a scientist I have read/seen too much about fractals... I am just not getting as excited as other people :)

Thanks Sacha.

I too have read much about fractals and their applications. In my past work I used fractal techniques for bacterial video identification, high-speed scanning of text and signal classification and a variety of other applications. Now I find fractal images useful as a base for other images, sometimes close to the original but often far removed.

I might also note, in my own defense, that it has rained nearly every day for the past three months here on Mindanao in the Philippines. When conditions are less than optimal for getting out-and-about with a camera I turn to my computer for a creative outlet. For me, art and science are entangled.