A different sort of tranquility

Sure….it’s the last day of the month and seems a bit late for posting another image for our group’s September subject; tranquility. It had been my intent to have more than one submission for this month, but as time passed I found my mind unsuccessfully stretching to find something that felt appropriate, but different, for me.

There was much in the way of thoughts that would have yielded images that were probably too easily categorized as traditional for such a subject and I found myself dejected that I couldn’t develop a plan that would lead to results. However, sometimes it is best to simply clear one’s mind and let the idea come to them, which is precisely what happened.

I was sitting in my chair in the television room (the west wing of the manor), playing around on the Internet, while my daughter busied herself with her latest toy: a new Sony Playstation 3 with game (Sword of Heaven). While the sounds of the game played out over the television speakers, it was amazing how quiet had become the daughter while she put the full force and weight of her mental faculties to the task of making her way through the game.

And while one may not think of the jarring sounds of battle playing out across one’s speakers would yield a moment of tranquility, it was certainly more relaxing and tranquil than the usual onslaught of daughter-induced insanity throughout the house.

Tranquility is where you can find it.

Tranquility

When I announced this month’s theme, I knew what I wanted and after playing around with the idea and taking, I don’t know how many photo’s, this is the result. It is a little different to what I originally wanted but you know what it’s like when you play around, things happen and you adjust accordingly.

tam on tranquility

All month I’ve been trying to decide what to do for our theme. Yesterday, while at my great uncle’s farm, true tranquility manifested itself. Not only was I tranquil, so were my girls.

mike’s “Tranquility”

As soon as Darren announced this month’s theme as “Tranquility” several different ideas occurred to me, along with a couple of possible approaches. Indeed, I quite relished the idea of getting stuck into it.

A strong contender was to go the obvious route with some sort of landscape or “rustic scene” type shot.
But I fairly rapidly rejected that on the basis that it is so obvious… and that I’ve already done loads of shots of that type that could easily qualify.
And that really wouldn’t have been in the spirit of the project, now would it? So something a bit different, a bit more challenging was called for.
Consequently I decided to go the route of what I suppose could be called a sort of studio shot… if I had a studio to shoot it in!
In other words, a “set piece”, indoors, using props and lighting effects. Essentially, the sort of photography I actually don’t like or enjoy doing.

Fortunately it turned out that what I had in mind didn’t require me to obtain quite as many “props” as I’d initially thought… basically just a couple of suitable light sources and some background material. Just as well really cos I’m being especially careful with the dosh at the mo’!

Anyway, having assembled everything I began to be filled with deep reservations, beginning to suspect that what I’d end up with wouldn’t in the least match what I was visualising.
All of which proved to be needless concern for, “come the day”, the only thing that really let me down was the lens, introducing some unwanted fringing that I could really have done without. Minimised the aberration as much as possible in Lightroom, and I’m now determinedly engaged in the happy task of persuading myself that the residual is a feature rather than a flaw! Heh heh.

The end result of the session is a shot that’s loosely based on a chalk drawing I did back in the early 90’s, the essential difference being that in the drawing I’d used a joss stick whereas for the present pic I’ve used an incense cone.

So, what does “Tranquility” mean to me?

Well, I’ve always perceived it to be a mental and emotional state, best summed up perhaps by terms such as inner quiet, contentment, placidity, maybe even serenity, certainly a quality of peacefulness and acceptance. An absence of turmoil.
But not necessarily inactivity. For along with this “inner quiet” I also see an awareness, maybe even an alertness, and an ability to respond, to react.
Which distinguishes it from similar states that, without such alertness, are more closely somnolent, trance-like… at the very least states of rest.

Water, still pools and lakes, also suggest tranquility to me. Also perhaps something static, calm, set amidst motion or turbulence.

So there you have it folks… my take on this month’s theme.

Tranquility, Part I

This is a cicada. Or, I should say, was a cicada. Now he lays upon our drive waiting for the elements of nature to have their way with his remains. A dead cicada may seem like an odd subject for our September 2008 group project theme of tranquility, but in his death, and the death of all the remaining cicadas, comes tranquility. At least it does in my world. (please note that I have nothing against the cicada – it’s a fine insect with a proud heritage)

Growing up in Florida cicadas were a way of life throughout much of the year. Cicadas love tropical climates and Florida has ‘tropical’ in large quantities. During the summer it was the song of the cicadas that I most equated with the insufferable heat and humidity of Florida summers. And Florida springs. And Florida falls. Hearing their songs today creates less painful reminiscences as I have put some miles between myself and that festering oven called Florida, but their rather noisy presence here, in Ohio, is a constant audible reminder that summer and its hot, sticky weather are here. As they inevitably come to pass, a sense of peace, quiet and tranquility will return to my world and fall will be here shortly.

While I will miss their summer time siren song I will not miss what they and their buzzy sound means: hot and sticky.

Tranquility – The Vale of Health.

I have a VERY high boredom threshold. The state of tranquility is wonderful. Never more so than after a stressful day in London. Even in that throbbing capital city it is possible to hop on the tube to the district of Hampstead, then beating a hasty retreat from the main thoroughfare of Heath Street and seeking out Hampstead Heath itself. Even though this green “lung” of London is the recreation ground of hundreds of thousands who live within a short distance of it the place offers that rarest of ingredients in capital cities…..tranquility!