Random
Tire track in oils, Austin, Texas
Why is form beautiful? Because, I think, it helps us meet our worst fear, the suspicion
that life may be chaos and that therefore our suffering is without meaning.
Robert Adams
The photoblog syndication site, VFXY Photos, proposes a different theme each week and invites submissions. This week’s theme is “Random” which VFXY defines as: Randomness is a lack of order, purpose, cause, or predictability. A random process is a repeating process whose outcomes follow no describable deterministic pattern, but follow a probability distribution.
Strictly speaking, the tire track in this image is at least partially deterministic, but the pattern of color it makes though the oil slick, water and cracks is not. Throw in a couple of leaves and a solo red petal and you have a combination of formless and form that, for me, meets Robert Adams’ criteria for beauty and hope while acknowledging that chaos is a fundamental attribute of our universe.
You can see all the submissions to the current VFXY theme at /photos.vfxy.com/themes/.
