Category: Research
Research on a particular subject, be it a technology, event, concept, etc.
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Nostalgia
Rooted in a term for homesickness, the definition of nostalgia offered by the OED is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past. As I recently worked my way through a century of family photo albums, few of the images, if any, evoked even the mildest sense of nostalgia. Rather, it was a…
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Landscape: Studium and Punctum
Most photographs will have elements within them that attract the eye. Those that stand out (studium) are often the subject of the image. In contrast, those details easily overlooked are sometimes referred to as punctum. But, to be truly considered punctum, there must be something special, poignant, about the detail.
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Remnants
Things co-exist in both the present and the time of their creation. In doing so they tell us something about both. As a thing ages, its material decays, and eventually reverts back into the soil. Not all at once; some parts out-last the others, remnants of the larger whole. A clue of what once was.…
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Monuments
A monument directly refers to past events. Often it explicitly recalls what happened and when. A monument is both inclusive and exclusive. While it cites an event that is of significance to the builders of the monument, it often expresses one point of view on the matter. By citing one event, it excludes all other…
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Landscapes: Monuments, Buildings, Names and Remnants
The material of any place we visit is a tapestry weaving together the natural and the artificial, the modern and the past. While we walk through these things in the present, they also reference the past or stimulate our own imaginations about what once was. What do they tell us? A monument directly refers to…