Oct

Space Explorations Push Our Frontiers

by Meredith Mullins on October 25, 2012

Blue Angel with vapor cloud occurring right before breaking the sound barrier, illustrating photographic space explorations

Vapor cloud forming behind a Blue Angel as it breaks the sound barrier
© Heather Rainbow

Don’t Give Up the Dream of Discovery

Space has been on my mind lately (outer space, that is).

First, there was the farewell to the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Next, Felix Baumgartner made a freefall from space.

And then Heather Rainbow’s lens captured a Blue Angel at the point of breaking the sound barrier.

All of these space explorations inspire me to keep the dream of discovery alive.

Farewell to Endeavour

Thousands of people crowded the streets of Los Angeles to catch a glimpse of the slow rolling parade and to pay tribute as the Endeavour was retired to the California Science Center.

The lumbering spacecraft, an icon of America’s space explorations, rumbled past fast food drive-ins, car washes, and project housing.
Trees and phone lines had to be cleared so it could travel the 12 miles (three days!) to its final resting place.
“Shuttle Crossing” signs were planted along the streets.

The journey was surreal—a spacecraft that had explored the great frontiers now looked more like a character in a slow motion O.J. Simpson car chase.

But it was an Oh I see moment, nonetheless. This craft took humans out into the universe, time and time again. You could almost hear John F. Kennedy’s voice: we choose to go to the moon “not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” We (America) had a dream, and our dream came true.

To relive the farewell parade of the Endeavour, go to Matthew Givot’s amazing time lapse video.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

Freefall from Space

Next, there was the record-breaking freefall of Felix Baumgartner from the edge of space. For Felix, his “one giant step” from the stratosphere was the Oh, I see moment of a lifetime.

He stepped into a nine-minute journey to earth, traveled 128,100 feet, and is the first human to have broken the sound barrier . . . without a plane.
He fell at nearly 833 mph (the typical skydiver falls at 120 mph).
In the end, he knew he was just a tiny piece of a much larger puzzle. “When you are standing at the top of the world, you become so humble. It’s not about breaking records anymore.”

The Right Moment in Time (and Space)

Sometimes, the space frontiers come knocking (or sonic booming) at our own backdoor, and we can have an Oh, I see moment away from the media headlines. For photographer Heather Rainbow, that moment came during the Blue Angels performance over San Francisco and she captured it in an instant.

How ready do you have to be to catch that moment when an aircraft is about to break the sound barrier—when the pressure around the plane forms a vapor cloud in anticipation of the sonic boom? You just click the shutter and hope that “the force is with you.”

All these events make me say OIC in awe. Can you see sound? Can you hear the silence of outer space? Can you touch history? Can you still marvel at the wonders of the universe with all your senses?

Yes! Let the dream of discovery live on.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

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Discoveries/The World's Photography

Oct

How a Paris Mime Made Me See Things Differently

by Meredith Mullins on October 18, 2012

eyes of Paris mime seeing things differently

Eyes of a Paris mime
© Meredith Mullins

Street Sweeper or Zen Master?

Street Sweeper. Silent Statue. Performance Artist. Zen Master. The character poised on the Pont St Louis (a “bridge with a view” across the Seine in Paris) could be any or all of these. He stands suspended in mid-sweep, as the flowing crowd passes around him.

Some bridgegoers glance at the silver sweeper and smile at the surprising oddity of it all. Some stop for a moment and stare, waiting for a sign that he is real, a twitch of his little finger or a silver blink. Yet, he remains frozen in time.

Paris Mime as Silent Statue

Every day, Robert Gheorghe comes to work. He’s a normal guy. A Romanian in Paris, trying to make a living, just like most people. For his job, though, he stops in the park behind Notre Dame, changes to his “work” clothes, covers himself in silver paint, and strikes a pose on the bridge. He doesn’t move. In fact, he can stand perfectly still for 40 minutes.

Paris mime sweeping street, causing the writer to see things differently

There are certain skills required for the art of being still.

Stage actors use shallow breathing and meditation techniques.
Buddhists use mantras and focused concentration on the now, finding peace beneath the clutter.
Martial arts practitioners use kamae (postures) to control their entire body (including mental “posture”) where countervailing forces help the body to stay still.

Things to Do While Frozen

Robert uses his own form of kamae.

He thinks of gentle lapping water or cello music . . . or he passes the time by watching people’s shoes (all so different!) in his limited range of vision.
He also creates featurette films on the gray pavement within his gaze.
He replays memorable conversations, practices one of his five languages in his head, dreams of traveling to other countries, or imagines himself with his older brother’s job (at the other end of the bridge) blowing giant bubbles and entertaining children.

He longs for a time when he is not in a frozen state. “A statue can’t communicate,” he says. “I want to get to know the people passing by, but I must remain still . . . and silent.”

Oh, I See—Things Are More Than What They Seem

Diving into deeper layers and going beyond an immediate response can almost always give you an Oh, I see moment. I had one the day I looked at Robert and realized that things are more than what they seem.

Head of Paris mime who made the writer see things differently

As I walked across the bridge most days, I saw Robert as a curious “statue” with an amazing command of inner and outer silence.

But, one day, after talking with this silver sweeper, I learned that he sees himself differently, and I began to see him differently, too.

He may be the only thing on the bridge that doesn’t move, but he is not a statue . . . and he really doesn’t want to be silent.

He wants to get to know the people who are wondering about him . . . and marveling at his performance. He wants to see beyond the shoes.