Love for Great Basin Bristlecone Pines

I just posted one of my favorite visual/written sequences on Great Basin Bristlecone Pines from writer, photographer and nature-lover David Malinsky in the ICE (International Community for Ecopsychology) blog.

Here is a gallery of some other favorites from his keen eye (open this post and then click the images – twice – to see them full size):

And here are some clues from David on to how to look at them:

1. The images really serve best as a “one at a time” experience, even if they are part of a sequence. They are meant to both hint at something particular, yet at the same time to be naturally vague, and allow for exploration (the “natural” part matters because it means movements beyond the confines of how the human imagination might present something, so that in most of the images there is not a hint of a beginning or end, only a movement). That exploration needs to be untimed, so that the viewer can allow the image to unfold across their own imagination. So if it is to be slide show it must be self-directed, and not automatic. Ideally there would not be a hint of a “next” that is coming up, because that can serve as an unnecessary distraction to the current image. That will be a delicate work around, but the attempt will be to have the viewer one-on-one with both a concept and an image, for as long as they need to be.

2. Part of what will need to be established as an introduction is that these images are not quick splashes across Nature’s canvas, but instead long, slow and purposeful movements across time, which should alert the mind of the viewer to notions of thoughtfulness. There are decades in the making of many of the patterns, hundreds of years for some, and perhaps into the thousands. Many of the curves in the paths are reactions to adversity, so instilling those notions of time is important. Ideally, if developed properly it slows the senses of the viewer, allows them to be suspended in a spiritual weightlessness, and can change to scope of how a problem of their own is being viewed (the magic bell we are trying to ring). There are a lot of possibilities in terms of presenting this time element, like a close-up that expresses slowness of movement, and makes the faded area ancient.

PROBOSCIDEA – The Emotional Lives of Elephants

by Mary A. Hernandez

2015 Proboscidea Image1After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Hamish John Appleby is working on the publication of his book, Proboscidea – the Emotional Lives of Elephants.  This 190-page book will be sent to eligible Kickstarter funders in March 2016, according to the crowdfunding site.  Thereafter, the picturesque book will be available through the main website at www.proboscidea.org.

Proboscidea – The Emotional Lives of Elephants focuses on Asian elephants whose numbers, Appleby noted, are considered “critically endangered” at roughly 25,000-40,000 individuals.  In comparison, the larger African elephant, whose valued tusks leave it greatly vulnerable to ivory poachers, are 470,000 in number (World Wildlife Fund, n.d.).

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Tomato Therapy, renamed “Studies of the Frog Tomato Relationship”

(“See, these red round things are MINE”)
from Robert Greenways’ Corona Farm in Port Townsend, Washington

frog-n-tomatoes“Applied Ecopsychology” (also known as “tomato therapy”)

Moved by a Mountain, Reviewed

front cover mbamMoved by a Mountain: Inspiration from an Alpine View in Alaska
Photographs and Text by Tom Reed, 2013
Soft cover, $21.95
Published by Wild Coast Media

Reviewed by Amy Lenzo

Having visited Alaska for the first time earlier this year, where I was enchanted by the ever-changing vista, I was intrigued by this new book by photographer Tom Reed and its focus on a particular mountain in Alaska’s majestic Kenai Ridge.

I usually “read” photography books like this visually first, and Moved by a Mountain richly rewards such an approach. The images are stunning – beautifully composed monochromatic photo-paintings with a distinctive red-ink chop strategically placed to complement and complete each one.

Tom Reed photography Continue Reading →

The Granite Avatars of Patagonia, Reviewed

granite-book-coverThe Granite Avatars of Patagonia
Photographs and Text by Tom Reed, 2009
Hardback, $49.95
Published by Wild Coast Media

Reviewed by Amy Lenzo

This first book by Tom Reed sets the pattern I saw in his most recent book, Moved by a Mountain: Inspiration from an Alpine View in Alaska (reviewed elsewhere in Gatherings) – exquisite black and white photography set in full-page display with smaller color inserts woven in with the accompanying insightful stream-of-consciousness text. The aesthetic for both books is clean, clear, and extremely beautiful – almost Japanese in its simplicity.

Thom Reed Photography
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Beautiful Omo

A link to this video showcasing the beauty of the Omo people was sent to us by Chitola Utsanami (aka Jorge Conesa-Sevilla)

Sleeping Bear

picture of a black sleeping bearFriends from England were visiting us here on Vancouver Island. On a beautiful crisp, clear Autumn day we took them for a hike on the Holt Creek Trail by the Cowichan River; a great place to enjoy the Fall colours. It was very beautiful but it didn’t smell too great because of the rotting salmon carcasses along the river bank. We encountered one dead salmon on the trail some distance from the river. This was a bit of a mystery. The salmon was too big to have been carried by a bird and it had been bitten but not eaten. The mystery was probably solved a few minutes later when we came upon a very large bear sleeping on a log. He/she was apparently too full to finish the last fish and took a nap while digesting. We did not wake the bear, but photographed it through a zoom lens and then quietly continued along the trail, feeling very fortunate.

John Scull

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John is a volunteer environmental educator and community conservation activist living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. He is a founding member of ICE. Visit www.naturecowichan.net to see what he does or Click Here for links to some of his articles about ecology and ecopsychology.

Palimpsest

photo by Heather Zeng, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Park University
www.park.edu