Collage #1
Strip Mining
Collage #2
Time
Collage #3
Humans in Nature
When I saw this week's template photo in the LMAC Collage Contest (#182), many ideas came to mind.
LMAC Template Photo, by @shaka
As you can see, the picture is rich with potential. I came up with three interpretations. These are not necessarily related.
Making the collages was the best part of the last two days. We've been selling the house (as I've mentioned before) and looking for another. Such a headache. Escaping into @shaka's picture was a pleasure. I don't compete in the contest. I just make collages because it's fun.
Collage #2: Time
When I try to think of an overarching theme that helps define the 20th century, time comes to mind. Our concept of time changed with Einstein's Theory of Relativity. A simple formula, E = mc², shook up what many thought was a certain universe with fixed rules about time.
Length Contraction Due to Relativistic Speed
MikeRun. Used underCreative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
It is not only cosmologists who entertain themselves with questions about time and its relationship to the universe. Artists have also been fascinated by the subject.
In 1943 Jorge Louis Borges (from Argentina) wrote a story called the Secret Miracle (El milagro secreto) in which a man about to be executed is granted a reprieve of sorts. As he waits for the bullets from a firing squad to hit him, time stands still for him and he is able, in his mind, to finish a masterpiece he has been writing.
In my collage, everything stands still, except the sand in the hourglass, which moves backwards and forwards. It is believed (according to the Big Bang Theory) that the arrow of time moves only forward. But do we know? In this age of uncertainty some entertain another possibility.
Collage #1: Strip Mining
As most of my regular readers know, my earliest childhood years were spent in a rural environment. One of my favorite places was a grassy hill I could see from my bedroom window. I'd cross a swiftly running book, climb the hill, and relax in the tall grass.
It never occurred to me that someone owned the hill. It was just there, part of my life. But then, one morning, I woke to the sound of heavy machinery. There were men on the hill and excavation machines. The men were digging up the ground. They were leveling my hill and in very short order, the hill had disappeared.
Strip Mining for Coal, 1974
EPA. Public domain. This picture reminds me of what happened to my hill. Although, my hill was very small and pretty much erased once they had dug it up. Years later, a mobile home park was established where the hill used to be. This happened long after I moved away.
I understand that the owner of the hill, my neighbor, sold the gravel in the ground to miners. What was left, when the men had taken what they wanted, was scarred earth. That's what I saw from my bedroom window.
Collage #3
The last couple of years I've been spending a lot of time at the seashore. One local community has a lively pier and at the same time wildlife thriving nearby.
Coast of East Greenland
Hannes Grobe. Used under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5 license.. Here we see a human habitation structure, icebergs, the rough coast, a boat out at sea and and an animal skull (Muskox)in the foreground.
Can we live at peace with our environment? I hope so. My collage attempts to show just such a scene.
I had to change the order in which I listed my collages in this blog. At least two other collagists (@quantumg and @bayuismal) focused on the theme of time, also. There is something about the template photo that suggests this theme to the three of us. So, I selected another collage to be my lead in the post, although Time is my favorite.
Only one of my collages has movement this week, Time. Even in that everything stands still except the sand in the hourglass.
I thank, as I usually do, contributors to the LMAC Gallery of Images, LIL. Without these contributions my collages would look very different:
Collage #2
- Bird sculpture
@hernleon74
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/4712
Well
@muelli
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/8259Broom head
@yaziris
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7638
Collage #1
- Rusty building
@redheadpei
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/7524
Workman drilling
@seckorama
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/14460Workman walking
@seckorama
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/14457
A also thank these contributor from Pixaby:
Head
1195798
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/escultura-bronce-la-escucha-2275202/Construction pit
ELG21 (Pixabay)
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/canteras-de-marmol-macael-andaluc%C3%ADa-7748773/
Also, one image has been used that I contributed to LIL:
- Construction vehicle
@agmoore
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/6259
Collage #3
I should call this @borjan's collage because so many great images were taken from his LIL contributions.
Grasshopper
https://www.lmac.gallery/lil-gallery-image/3729
I contributed two images from LIL for this collage
You can see that LIL, the LMAC Image Library, was an essential part of my collage-creating process. Anyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from it. Learn about the procedure here.
LMAC is back in competitive mode, and the community is buzzing with creative activity. Be sure to check back on the community feed to see the exciting collages come in. Better yet, join us. Make a collage. As @shaka has often said, everyone is an artist.
Thank you for reading. Peace and health to all.