Figure 1 – The ribbon as world-line, IPhone photograph. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I took the IPhone photograph of a ribbon of Figure 1 a while back, and my thought at the time was of a very simple geometric pattern. That is to say, I thought of it as a picture of a ribbon. But the constraints of taking the Image brought in all the extraneous background objects. When I “did up” the image, I realized that the extraneous was, for good or bad, part of the composition and I wasn’t really sure which way the scale tipped. Having achieved a pleasing dynamic range in pure black and white,it has been sitting on my computer for a week or so. Finally, I have decided that there is some merit to it. You can agree or disagree. I decided in the end that some of the background images particularly the pedestals added geometric merit. The combination of ribbon and pedestals creates a sense of cascade without, I hope, being too contrived and dramatic, I see a metaphor of the ribbon as world-line (there’s Minkowski again) guiding the eye, in this case, through complexity.