Why are we attracted to tragedy? Why is it that one cannot look away from a car crash? We as humans are attracted to pain and terror. Greeks had comedies as well as tragedies, where there were no happy endings. But life is the same way as it there aren’t always happy endings. The world is an imperfect place. But without these imperfections, how else would one distinguish what is beautiful? If everything was beautiful, beauty would not exist. It is this fact that raises the question of what beauty really is. Many define beauty as colorful, neat, and smooth, but the truth is beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Society, personal preferences, and life experiences are all factors in what we see as beautiful. One person can see a dog as cute while another finds it ugly. This is where the picturesque came about. Something that is irregular, asymmetric, and “unusual” but yet visual attractive and appealing. Something that wouldn’t normally be deemed beautiful yet is strikingly appealing to the eye. There is something hauntingly beautiful about a lightning storm. It is messy, unpredictable, and to a lot of people terrifying. It isn’t “neat” by any stretch of the imagination but it still is photographed, painted, and put in artwork all the time. The same goes for storms, battles, and destruction of any nature. Artwork doesn’t always depict “beauty” because beauty does not have a clear cut definition. But artwork often does depict something appealing and attractive to the eye even if we are unsure why it is.
When I was a kid I loved to explore. My town of DuPont, WA wasn’t very big but as a small child it was the whole world to me. I lived in the suburbs and all the houses that were around me were very nice and almost identical to each other. There must have been only about ten different house designs total that simply repeated themselves across the town. That being said, although the town was pretty, everything kind of blended together and left it a bit dull. So when I explored, I explored all the trails, forests, and fenced off areas. These are the places that grabbed my attention. One time I hopped a fence and walked along this open field for what seemed like forever and came across an abandoned shack with graffiti all over it. I thought this discovery was incredible! Why did I find the broken down shack so appealing? There is a bunch of beautifully built houses all around my town and I don’t give them a second glance, yet I find a broken down shack in the woods and I find it amazing. It was because the graffiti covered shack was out of the ordinary…it was different! It was unlike anything I had ever seen before and I was drawn to it. It had so much mystery behind it and left me wondering its story. Why was it there? Who does it belong to? The imperfection and mystery behind drew me to it. Experiences like these made me want to explore even more and discover possibly abandoned. Now whenever I see an abandoned building I am instantly drawn to it.
This is the abandoned church in the outskirts of my town. With the grass growing out of the stairs, it reminds me very much of an ancient building.
The passions I have to explore drove me to take this photograph of an abandoned church near my hometown. When I was visiting my hometown, I remembered the old broken down church that lay in the outskirts of town. It was just as I remembered it. Father time was taking its toll on this once active church. I think this photo demonstrates Gilpin’s idea of the picturesque very well. A sense of ruin is present upon looking at this church. Bricks are missing and the whole structure looks like it is generally falling apart. The photo leaves much to the imagination though. It is unclear exactly how old the building is and what the building even is without any prior information. The mystery and ruin surrounding the church is what got me so interested in it. The church shows collapse as well as a rough and broken texture, something that Gilpin thought was essential for creating a picturesque scene. When I took the photo, there was a lot of light in the corners and made it appear to fade out to white. So instead of cropping those corners out, I simply added in a black border to add some contrast and make it the image stand out better. The image gives a feeling reminiscent of ancient Greece or rather the ruins of ancient Greece. The grass and plants growing on the stairs give it a sense of decay and ruin just like that of ancient Greece. Not to mention that the church is made of brick, suggesting that though old, it was a very nice church. The picturesque scene here is prevalent with its representation of ruin and rough texture. A true example of how a crumbling church can still provide a sense of “beauty”.
This is a photo at the secret beach where the shipwreck is. No one knows how it got there and has been the subject of many stories.
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