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The Empty Universe
The Empty Universe
daisydavid


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Art of 2011 (Advanced Editing VII*)
Collection: Challenges
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
Date: Jun 15, 2011
Aperture: f/9
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/8
Galleries: Abstract, Still Life
Date Uploaded: Mar 3, 2012

 I created this photograph from a work I constructed, by myself, for me, in a private studio which I demolished 4 months later.

C S Lewis examined reductionism in “The Empty Universe”:

At the outset the universe appears packed with will, intelligence, life and positive qualities; every tree is a nymph and every planet a god. Man himself is akin to the gods. The advance of knowledge gradually empties this rich and genial universe: first of its gods, then of its colours, smells, sounds and tastes, finally of solidity itself as solidity was originally imagined. As these items are taken from the world, they are transferred to the subjective side of the account: classified as our sensations, thoughts, images or emotions. The Subject becomes gorged, inflated, at the expense of the Object.....
We start with a view which contains a good deal of truth, though in confused or exaggerated form. Objections are then suggested and we withdraw it. But [then] we discover that we have emptied the baby out with the bathwater and that the original view must have contained certain truths for lack of which we are now entangled in absurdities. So here. In emptying out the dryads and the gods (which, admittedly, “would not do” just as they stood) we appear to have thrown out the whole universe, ourselves included.

[Mar. 16th, 2012 11:00:27 PM]

see //dangerousidea2.blogspot.com.au/2007/08/this-is-passage-from-c.html

Statistics
Place: 217 out of 241
Avg (all users): 4.9000
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 5.0330
Avg (non-participants): 4.5897
Views since voting: 1212
Views during voting: 289
Votes: 130
Comments: 15
Favorites: 3 (view)

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AuthorThread
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
 01/20/2016 02:09:43 PM
Your post in the Art 2015 thread led me to your profile. Never saw this one before. Reminds me of Keith Haring - perhaps combined with Marcel Duchamp =)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED
 10/06/2013 12:29:58 PM
Reliving the darkness of my Existentialist chasm....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Ricoh GR III
Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC
 04/25/2012 10:54:43 PM
ah, C S Lewis's men with empty chests... now you've got me going. now to the blog.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus E-10
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
 03/28/2012 08:50:05 AM
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5DS R
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
 03/24/2012 06:55:51 AM
Thank you Paul, and everyone else, the combined effort means there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. And so it should for the love of art, but I'm not drinking the hemlock!.
Canon Canon 1d x Mark II
Sigma 85mm f/1.4 FG HSM Art
 03/24/2012 06:46:19 AM
Congrats on the bling John, a thought provoking image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Olympus PEN-F
Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M.Zuiko
03/24/2012 02:54:46 AM
Inevitably undervalued. A community of digital camera anoraks is hardly the place for something as adventurous and considered as this. I came to realise that my initial instinct to try to separate the photography from the art was not only futile, it was also absurd. I was tapping my foot to entirely the wrong beat. You have taken Magritte beyond his own reach, but maybe that's because you were born a bit later.

Thanks for shaking that tree.

I think I'm done with giving these things out now, but I had this one still about the shop, so I'd like you to have it ...


Message edited by author 2012-03-24 03:09:01.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 03/23/2012 09:03:28 PM
brilliant. this wasn't judged as a complete work of art from construction to photography. I'm very impressed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-80D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM
 03/23/2012 10:50:57 AM
Well done, on its face, and in light of the tremendous back-story.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony Alpha a55
Sony DT 50mm f/1.8 SAM
 03/23/2012 10:44:59 AM
Good work. You should be pleased with how misunderstood this was. I know I would be, if it was mine. Glad you took a photo of it before you demolished it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Ricoh GR III
Fujifilm XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR
 03/22/2012 07:48:59 AM
This was judged harshly but looking at your voting breakdown it didn't get an unusual number of 1 and 2 votes. I thought it was an interesting idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Canon EOS-7D Mark II
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
 03/17/2012 07:18:34 PM
Interesting shot. Very different. Artistic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 03/16/2012 11:29:10 PM
this could definitely hand in a coffee shop
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D7000
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED
 03/15/2012 11:37:28 AM
I don't quite get the empty universe title...this looks like an 'at home' target practice outline.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Ricoh GR III
Fujifilm XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR
 03/15/2012 09:14:53 AM
Nice find.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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