Saturday, October 18, 2014
Purely for the entries...
Yes, so I enter contests online once in awhile for places I feel are reputable and for things I want. Call me greedy, shallow, etc. But, especially in this case, I figure if they're giving it away free, and its something I want and can use... might as well right? Plus, I kinda like the quote.
So, there you go. Like it or not, I get 50 bonus entries for a Canon 5D Mark III for this. Awesome camera body, and I will put it to good use.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Art - Rules = God?
So, the above "equation" may not fit in to any mathematical discipline. And it probably isn't ideal in terms of doctrine. To be honest, the idea isn't that this process is true, but more about it being the flow of this post.
It all starts with a picture one of my friends on Facebook posted the other day. He posted an awesome picture of the hood ornament of an old car. I really enjoyed the picture, but I also enjoyed the text that accompanied it. He wrote "Never take a picture with the sun in front of you . . . except when you take a picture with the sun in front of you."
Now, for those that aren't photographers, there's a reason for this. As a general rule, pictures that are taken with the sun in front of you are hard to get to turn out right. The success rate is generally low. Essentially this idea has become a rule.
And rules are pervasive throughout photography. And not only photography but also just about every other kind of art. My Grandmother was a painter, and she often talked about the rules she learned in her painting classes.
But, the way I look at it, rules and art when combined are an oxymoron. Art isn't supposed to be about rules. Art isn't supposed to be confined. Art is about inspiration. Art is about freedom. Art is about creativity. Placing rules on creativity, limits creativity and ultimately eliminates creativity. It becomes about following the rules and fitting in to a mold. So art becomes limited to the rules. If a piece of art does not fall within the rules, is it deemed invalid? Does it cease to exist as art?
We're very much a people who like to be able to define things. We like to be able to classify something definitively. The helps us to understand things and to bring order to our little world of chaos. I think it helps us to feel better about things because we can then feel in control of it. It is much easier to say what is art and what isn't if we have rules to follow. It puts it in to a neat little box that we can understand and store away.
And this is where the God piece comes in. Not because God is without rules. No, God has rules for us (heard of the Ten Commandments?), and they are good rules.
The thing is we try and make rules for God. We try and define Him through what our small, feeble minds can comprehend of Him. We try and take the mystery, the awe and the unknown out of God.
We do this for the same reason we try and apply rules to art. Because if we can define God, we can fit God in to one of our neat little boxes that help us to understand the world. If we define God, we can be in control and therefore aren't left to what we perceive as the "wild whims" of the Creator.
But God doesn't fit in to the rules we create for Him. We can't surround God with rules and fit Him within our understanding. The best we can do is to live with the tension that He is more than we can understand. That He is greater than our rules. Because guess what, even He does not fall within our rules, God still exists.
It all starts with a picture one of my friends on Facebook posted the other day. He posted an awesome picture of the hood ornament of an old car. I really enjoyed the picture, but I also enjoyed the text that accompanied it. He wrote "Never take a picture with the sun in front of you . . . except when you take a picture with the sun in front of you."
Now, for those that aren't photographers, there's a reason for this. As a general rule, pictures that are taken with the sun in front of you are hard to get to turn out right. The success rate is generally low. Essentially this idea has become a rule.
And rules are pervasive throughout photography. And not only photography but also just about every other kind of art. My Grandmother was a painter, and she often talked about the rules she learned in her painting classes.
But, the way I look at it, rules and art when combined are an oxymoron. Art isn't supposed to be about rules. Art isn't supposed to be confined. Art is about inspiration. Art is about freedom. Art is about creativity. Placing rules on creativity, limits creativity and ultimately eliminates creativity. It becomes about following the rules and fitting in to a mold. So art becomes limited to the rules. If a piece of art does not fall within the rules, is it deemed invalid? Does it cease to exist as art?
We're very much a people who like to be able to define things. We like to be able to classify something definitively. The helps us to understand things and to bring order to our little world of chaos. I think it helps us to feel better about things because we can then feel in control of it. It is much easier to say what is art and what isn't if we have rules to follow. It puts it in to a neat little box that we can understand and store away.
And this is where the God piece comes in. Not because God is without rules. No, God has rules for us (heard of the Ten Commandments?), and they are good rules.
The thing is we try and make rules for God. We try and define Him through what our small, feeble minds can comprehend of Him. We try and take the mystery, the awe and the unknown out of God.
We do this for the same reason we try and apply rules to art. Because if we can define God, we can fit God in to one of our neat little boxes that help us to understand the world. If we define God, we can be in control and therefore aren't left to what we perceive as the "wild whims" of the Creator.
But God doesn't fit in to the rules we create for Him. We can't surround God with rules and fit Him within our understanding. The best we can do is to live with the tension that He is more than we can understand. That He is greater than our rules. Because guess what, even He does not fall within our rules, God still exists.
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