1407 - Infinite And Unforseen

Carinthia is a small country, at 9,535.97 km² (3,681.9 sq mi) its size is between that of Delaware and Connecticut. And still, I will never be able to see all of it.

Yesterday we explored a valley up in the mountains towards Salzburg, drove through it on a small road, and in some random places where it was possible to stop the car, I took some images. We had started out late, but even if I had had plenty of time, it would have been impossible to climb down every slope, to explore every small waterfall, to try every perspective.

And even if: there are different weather conditions, different seasons, there is winter’s barrenness, spring’s fresh foliage, summer’s lush opulence and fall’s decline. It’s an infinite variety, impossible to be experienced in its entirety. And that without even mentioning macro photography 🙂

There are many places I haven’t seen and most of them I will never see. The “Big Picture” blog of the Boston Globe just had a series of 34 images called “Russia in color, a century ago”. Those images, taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944), are from places as diverse as the Caucasus, the Ural, Siberia or Samarkand in Uzbekistan. If you haven’t seen them, go for them. They were made in a special color process at a time when color film photography was not even invented.

These are images from a time, that we “remember” in black and white, and the color gives them an unexpected presence. Again, look at them, you’ll enjoy it.

But then, this is not the point of today’s post. I mentioned it only, because the very thought of Russia made me despair. I could have all the time of my life (which I have not) and all the money in the world (which I have neither), and I would not be able to wholly experience my small home country. Even thinking about the size of Russia makes me dizzy 😄

No, it does not depress me. It’s just the way it is, life is. It’s all about choices, and we have to live with it, that most of them are made for us. It’s a random life in a random world, and we only believe we are in control. We are not, but we always have the option to accept and enjoy it, going among the wonders of this world with eyes wide open.

The Song of the Day is “Infinite And Unforseen” from k.d. lang’s 1995 album “All You Can Eat”. I did not find a video, and after I uploaded one to YouTube, I knew why: “This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”. Yeah, sure, I’d also hate some free advertising 🙄