wwp@yahoogroups.com:
WATER - the next theme
G. Donald Bain 2005-Jun-03 19:35:00
A few thoughts on our next theme - water. This essay is also now on the
web site. Perhaps it will help inspire some creative thinking and great
images.
Don
===============================
WATER
Water is essential to life, and this is the water planet, the blue
marble of oceans and clouds. 70% of the surface of the earth is covered
with water, and two thirds of a human body is water. We evolved with
water and have built our world around water.
Water as a theme for VR photography is almost too broad - most
landscapes and city scenes will probably include it in some form. The
challenge is to feature water, to somehow focus the viewers' attention
on the unique characteristics of water and its significance in the
scene.
Water has some amazing properties. It is usually an incompressible
liquid, relatively heavy, transparent, without taste or smell. Yet it
transforms to a solid or a gas with a few degrees change in
temperature, releasing or capturing energy as it does so. We live with
water in all three states.
Weather and climate are largely manifestations of water in its various
states - snow, ice, rain, and water vapor. We notice this and comment
on it daily - rain or shine, snow, clouds, humidity. As the climate
changes through the 21st century humankind will have to adapt to
changes in the water regime - it will be drier many places, wetter in
some. Sea level will rise and threaten coastal areas, including many
major cities.
Water is so important that many of the world's greatest works of
engineering revolve around it. Canals have been built to harness water
for transport, bridges so we can cross water from land to land, ships
so we can travel over the seas and submarines to go beneath the
surface. Great cities have huge systems for importing high quality
water from far away. Some of the world's richest agricultural land is
dependent on irrigation water from deep wells or aqueducts. Fresh water
is impounded by dams large and small, sea-water is excluded from the
lowlands by systems of dikes. We make electricity from falling water
and the surging of the tides, as well as the expansion of steam
superheated by fossil fuel or nuclear fission.
Water has been the subject of much invention: ice machines and espresso
makers, kidney dialysis, the water closet (toilet), humidifiers and
dehumidifiers, the whistling kettle, steam heat, lawn sprinklers, fire
hoses, whirlpool baths and the automated car-wash. Fuel cells offer
great hope for pollution-free energy, combining hydrogen and oxygen to
make water, releasing energy in the process.
We spend vast amounts of effort and energy treating water. First, it is
purified to drinking standards then treated with chlorine and sometimes
fluoride. Eventually the same water as sewage is filtered and broken
down organically to be safely released (or not). Inadequate water
treatment remains a problem in many parts of the world.
Recreation is often synonymous with water: a vacation at the lake or
the beach, a trip by cruise ship or canal-boat, hot springs, swimming
pools, ice rinks, water slides, sailboats, powerboats, houseboats. We
flock to famous waterfalls such as Niagara and Yosemite. We visit
aquariums and learn to scuba dive so we can experience life within the
water.
Water mixes well and holds other chemicals in solution. We use it daily
in alcoholic beverages, carbonated drinks, herbal infusions such as tea
and coffee, the weak saline solution that protects our eyes, the strong
saline solution that fills the oceans, the complex mixture of solutes
and cells that constitutes blood, water with surfactants (soap), water
with solvents. We ship water with unique mineral traces around the
world - Perrier water is served at restaurants in Tahiti, nearly
antipodal to its source.
Water gains in importance with both scarcity and superabundance. Life
in the desert centers around availability of water, from the remote
water-hole to densely settled oases. The roots of civilization are tied
to exotic rivers (those that flow from wet areas through dry areas) in
Mesopotamia and Egypt. But settlements have been washed away by floods,
and in the next century some low lying countries in the Indian and
Pacific Oceans may completely disappear as sea level rises.
Architects create fountains and reflecting pools, gardeners utilize
water in ponds and streams. Fountains alone could be used to
characterize world cultures and environments. From the Taj Mahal to
Kyoto, the Alhambra to Versailles, neighborhood parks to Las Vegas,
water is a major element in the built environment. In the dry streambed
of a Zen garden water is implicit, we supply it mentally.
Finally, consider the absolutely most basic visual elements - water and
light. Water as vapor and droplets makes clouds and rainbows. Liquid
water can transmit like glass, reflect like a mirror, filter light to
become green or blue. Solid water can be snow crystals, clear ice, or
the blue ice of glaciers. Capturing the intrinsic beauty of water
itself might be the greatest photographic challenge of all.