Passage of Time

"The very expression ‘the perception of time’ invites objection. Insofar as time is something different from events, we do not perceive time as such, but changes or events intime. But, arguably, we do not perceive events only, but also their temporal relations" (Le Poidevin, Robin).


"It is humbling, after all, to realize how insignificant we really are. Yes, we have the gall to change our planet, and threaten all living beings on its fragile surface. But, still, in the grand scheme of things, we’re a grain of sand in a vast and beautiful ocean. We’re totally irrelevant. I find this to be oddly reassuring and calming" (blogs.discovermagazine.com).


Tomaschoff, Gideon, Stuart Reid, Odon Wagner, Rafael Wagner, and Laura Peturson.Passage of Time: Gideon Tomaschoff. Toronto, 2006. Print.


One of my earlier posts was about time. This post is a bit different from the ideas I had last semester. I was more interested in photographing immediate changes in environments, over a short period of time. Like photographing trees or grass as the wind is blowing. Now I'm thinking more about the passage of time, over many, many years. When I think about that, I think back to the ghost towns and abandoned buildings I photographed while traveling cross-country. We've been talking too, about how my images suggest a passage of time and places where people once settled, only to leave. Traveling and passing through places momentarily is what I have been thinking about a lot. There's something sad and bittersweet about these places. They are places where families may have convened and businesses flourished. It's interesting to me, to think about those people and how their lives have changed since they left the place I'm photographing.