The Great Sculptor

It worked on the primordial energy fields, bit by bit, to form all that we see around the Universe today. Like an alchemist, it first transformed energy fields into particles. The particles are fused into elements to create stars, nebulae, galaxies and us, the sentient beings on this moist rock. The alchemist then worked as a sculptor to chisel out beauty, the very notion of which it also formed within our neural chemistry. It is Time, the great sculptor, is continuing to transform and sculpt nature in front of our eyes at a scale that our brain was not evolved to fully comprehend. We can perceive the sorcerer’s work only after millennia are passed over its creations. Never have I felt Time’s work more intensely than while standing in a sea of magically sculpted red rocks of Northern Arizona during a recent trip. This page captures some of my experiences of Time’s work there.

Canyons of red rocks were formed the same way as the Grand Canyon was formed
Golden hour in Sedona
Golden hour in Sedona
An eight million year old sculpture
An eight million year old sculpture
The other rock: a quarter million miles away
The other rock: a quarter million miles away
Chiseled with human neurochemistry
Chiseled with human neurochemistry
Oak Creek is the chisel for carving Oak Creek Canyon and much of Sedona’s rock systems
Spray of gold just before our star’s departure
Spray of gold just before our star’s departure
Drama of shadow on red, orange, and yellow
Drama of shadow on red, orange, and yellow
The creek down below the Oak Creek Canyon
The creek down below the Oak Creek Canyon
Chiseled with a meteor that almost came with a purpose
Grand Canyon with its color and grandeur, and the mighty Colorado river in its cradle
Grand Canyon with its color and grandeur, and the mighty Colorado river in its cradle
This mountain did not rise; layers of rock were carved by a river to form the mountain range
This mountain did not rise; layers of rock were carved by a river to form the mountain range
Final freedom: Turkey vulture soaring in the updraft of the valley
Final freedom: Turkey vulture soaring in the updraft of the valley
Ego is the first victim of nature's stoicism
Ego is the first victim of nature's stoicism
Meditative participation of the departed
Meditative participation of the departed
The river is still working for Time to deepen the canyon
The river is still working for Time to deepen the canyon
Thousands of feet deep gorges were carved over millennia
Thousands of feet deep gorges were carved over millennia
Gold plating of the red rocks during sunset
Gold plating of the red rocks during sunset
Here shadows have grandeur of their own
Here shadows have grandeur of their own
Temple that celebrates eternity of change
Temple that celebrates eternity of change
As the sun goes down, the drama of shadow and color over the rock and the horizon
The river at work in Glen Canyon
The river at work in Glen Canyon
Carved about 1000 feet down below from the canyon rim
Carved about 1000 feet down below from the canyon rim
Water color of water: shot from about a mile far and 1000 feet above
Water color of water: shot from about a mile far and 1000 feet above
Mermaid's Rock
Mermaid's Rock
Persistence of life
Persistence of life
Waltzing with the shadow
Waltzing with the shadow
The turkey vulture and its shadow on rock were shot from the canyon rim
The turkey vulture and its shadow on rock were shot from the canyon rim

You may also like

Perspective Anthropomorphization
2020
While wandering through the woods and wetlands and lake shores, I often think about how the other creatures would view what I am witnessing. When a beautiful moment in nature makes us, the humans, merge into it, how does it appear to the birds, squirrels, serpents, insects, and their likes. Even if our science would understand the neurochemistry of their brain during those moments, we may never know the experiential parts of it. These thoughts often lead me to anthropomorphize their perspectives by orienting the camera in angles that are close to their viewpoints. Sometimes, the perspective in an old footage can also appear to be anthropomorphized, when looked through the filter of those thoughts. This page captures a few instances of such perspectives.
Comet's Gift
2019
Over four billion years, our rock's geology transformed its gift from the comets into limitless oceans with waves of surreal beauty. Seeing a wave's ephemerality and its vigor to embrace everything in its way always reminds me of uninhibited expressions of intense human emotions. Yet, those waves are oblivious to our presence and existed every moment since water was gifted to the planet. The videos in this page were aerially shot along the Pacific coasts of the United States.
Cross-species Morality and an Empathy Conundrum
2021
Subir Biswas, Michigan, USA, (6th April, 2021)
Flying out of Self
2020
There come moments when physical constraints of existence are dissolved by cortical simulations of reality, we call imagination and desire. Like the desire to fly over a swan river. The shot on this page was an unexpected gift during a late-winter hike by the river Huron.
Green Sages
2019
They came long before we did. Learnt how to feed the world by capturing energy from photons. And all that while enchanting us with their magical friendship with the butterflies and birds and the blue sky with pelican-white cloud. The images on this page are about those Green Sages.
The Rock
2019
An 8000 mile wide rock is hurtling through space at 19 miles per second. The rock endured over 4 billion years of geo-chemical unthinkable, and accidentally produced our experiential abstractions like the fragrance of a Jasmine, pain of losing a sister, or the exhilaration of touching a newborn. We, the rock-dwellers, are indescribably fortunate to be able to experience that bio-chemical process, we call life, on this moist rock! Images on this page are about that rock we call home.
Raw Visuals
2019
Judgments and searching for patterns in sensory experiences are how human mind evolved. Yet, mindfulness in many contemplative traditions values raw sensory experience without judgments and classifications, which are inherently subjective and arguably distracting! Images on this page are not categorized and left without captions for promoting raw visual experience.
Whims of the Cortex
2019
Over millions of years, neurons teamed up and formed the cortex of our brain. Cortex allows abstract thinking and unnatural yet fully natural actions like contemplating the cortex itself. Eventually, human cortex "highjacked" evolution form the planet! The images on this page are about whims of that cortex.
Opacarophilia
2021
The word opacare in Latin means dusk. That makes Opacarophilia the addiction to sunset. The addiction started for me since when I was a child. I remember spending many late afternoons staring at our setting orange-yellow star over a concrete laden horizon from the roof of my childhood home in Kolkata. It was not until recently that I learnt the word Opacarophilia, and started noticing it in me. Especially while looking at the sun setting over mighty Lake Michigan through various camera lenses on and above ground. Every sunset is unique in its colors, and the emotions it evokes before, during, and after the sun goes below the horizon. As my addiction deepens, a sunset appears less and less about an end. Rather, it projects a cortical bonanza of experiential windfall in our fleeting existence in the midst of eternity. I learnt to see a sunset also as a moment of renewal just about 8000 miles east on the planet. This page contains a few sunset footages out of countless that I was able to record over the years.
Stunning Moments
2019
After thirteen billion years since coming into existence, and going through many stellar cycles, the particles in our cosmos create those completely random, yet stunningly beautiful moments. They are always there. They just wait for us to be awake and to be witnessed! The images on this page are a few that I chanced upon!
↑Back to Top