Natural Harmony

“Touch grass,” they say, and boy, how I would love to do just that. Unfortunately, having spent dozens of hours in front of the computer already, and my many unsubmitted coursework assignments beg to differ. It’s sometimes hard for us engineers and scientists and all other kinds of students, to remember to take a deep breath in, have a peaceful stroll in the park and take in the beautiful colours, shapes, sounds and smells of nature.

As a complete departure from the rather stale photographic landscape that emerged from “Game Theory,” this week I present four variegated interpretations of “Natural Harmony” since it was a truly impossible task to narrow down the several submissions to a single winner. Rather than doing so, I tried to identify a different hue of meaning in each of the photographs and select those that I believe showcase the creativity, imagination, and of course technical ability, of Imperial photographers. Let me tell you, it was a daunting task to compare and judge.

But before getting to the pictures, I would like to discuss a book I’ve been reading titled Ethics by Benedict de Spinoza, possibly the first Western philosopher to discuss and propose God to be a natural, all-encompassing, necessary, and sort of moral-lacking substance. Through a series of unrigorous propositions, Spinoza sets out to prove that God, or Nature as he also calls it, is everything and permeates existence, as existence itself is simply an effect of God. This is perhaps the first form of Western modern pantheism, where all is one and all is connected. The first spiritualist, you may say. And while we can discuss the validity and moral implications, just as Spinoza does in the later chapters of his book, I prefer to simply let this notion sink in and inspire something artistic to emerge from inside of us, or better yet, to flow from our natural surroundings into our mind and, of course, into our cameras.

A different interpretation of harmony is offered by Cyrus Chen with the photo titled Whispers of Nara, which I think offers an interpretation of the harmony between a living being and a human environment. I adore the picture’s composition, and the deer appears completely at peace with the surrounding manmade structures – stone lanterns often found at shrines and temples in Japan. We are led to reflect on the role that we have in nature as builders, engineers, and architects, and the objects we leave behind for other animals and plants to find.

Interestingly, one more iteration of natural harmony can be found in the interaction between natural elements and manufactured structures and vehicles. Stories of Ice I by Yizi Guo shows a fishing boat on a very still body of water, perhaps the ocean. From the lighting conditions, I would guess this was taken at dawn, and while the sun slowly rises from its slumber, the world is calm and nature appears friendly with its feisty inhabitants. This picture reminds me of the fragility of humanity compared to the strength and sometimes the violence of nature. Earthquakes and hurricanes may be able to completely annihilate us, but Stories of Ice shows the harmonious side, the gentle sun, the tingling breeze. Dopamine, Whispers of Nara, and Stories of Ice all demonstrate some sort of human interaction with nature, and while it is true that these fully encapsulate the idea of this theme, there is one final permutation left: the harmony of nature with itself.

Sometimes photography doesn’t require patience, framing, portraiture, or expensive equipment, it simply insists on us existing and being in the moment. Because when we let things happen, that's when we can capture the natural harmony around us, without making those entities a means towards our selfish ends. That's what's so incredibly simple and yet supremely stunning about exhibitions such as the National History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of The Year: location, luck, and some technical knowledge can immortalise natural harmony in a way that just couldn't ever happen artificially. A beautiful wildlife picture is a one-in-a-billion occurrence, of which we see hundreds every day, that truly satisfies and tickles our humanity. I'm not timid in saying that Yiheng Siow might have captured one of such rare moments. Birds flying high truly communicates the feeling of awe in such a potent way that it is hard not to be immediately entranced by the picture. There is a sort of tranquillity that floods my mind when looking at the photo, something that has only happened to me in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains. For a second, I'm lost in the beautiful sky and I feel as though I am one with nature. The epitome of natural harmony, and nothing more.

A final warning, as also Spinoza adamantly reminds us, is not to confuse the natural order, or in this case, the natural harmony of these pictures with proposing some sort of intrinsic morality - there is no judgment on "good", "bad", "righteous", or "evil" in nature - because what is shown is simply the pure essence of things: existence as the state of being alive and in the world. Once again, as photographers, we find ourselves in a position of omniscient record-keeping, and with our cameras we can eternalise the harmony of nature by simply pressing the shutter.