Blur, blur, nothing

• Manja Maksimovič

I may call myself Mexcessive, but I take it to heart that “the Less-on of Less is the greatest lesson humanity has yet to learn,” and clap to the Nothing Manifesto.

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I came across it by there-is-no-such-thing-as-coincidence: The Nothing Manifesto in which George Tsakraklides beautifully rounds up the state of our lives and this world, and proposes the International Nothing Day. And I propose that you go there and read it in full. And clap.

After that, as if by (non)chance, I kept bumping into quotes and cartoons about nothing, which I can now add into this post.

Children find everything in nothing, men find nothing in everything.

~ Giacomo Leopardi

Ever since, I’ve been waiting for a photo challenge to come up with the theme nothing, but – nothing. I know, too nihilistic for some, but this post will hopefully show that there is nothing bad about nothing.

This is very important – to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you’re gonna lose everything. … And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That’s why they’re all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.

~ Charles Bukowski

The next time you catch yourself doing nothing, make a mental toast to yourself and dedicate your nothing to every too much that ever was. Then name the day Personal Nothing Day since only one International Nothing Day won’t cut it.

In fact, one International Nothing Day is how it begins.

Until there is only one International Non-Nothing Day.

I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

~ Tom Waits

Here is where I morph into the theme of blur that Patrick proposes for his Pic and a Word challenge. I wrote:

Blur, nothing

You think you have something
but
blur, blur, nothing.

But if it’s a blur
then it’s not a nothing.

It may be the most
you’ll ever get.

When the blur blurs into nothing,
no thing is safe from sharpness.

And finally, this is what I mean, in photos: I strive for something and get the blur. Just for a taste – I’ve got many many many more where these came from.

  • The tree (which is the same age as me) is nicely in focus, it’s just that the point of the shot was the burek in front which my sister made. Yes, that blotch.
  • That rather elusive castle of your dreams. (In fact, Capalbio on the hill.)
  • I was sooo mad to see what happened to all my photos from this series. For some reason the focus was not there. Now she needs to return so that we can repeat the shoot.
  • Rock’n’roll blur. Larkin Poe in concert in Bled, Slovenia, this summer.
  • The dark blur of the elevator. But that’s Amore going down from the Vinarium tower in Lendava, Slovenia. You can see four countries from up there (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria).
  • Owl 1 : camera 0.

In response to Patrick Jennings’ Pic and a Word Challenge #211: Blur

31 thoughts on “Blur, blur, nothing”

  3. That’s a great quote, ” children find everything in nothing and men find nothing in everything”.

    Front focus, back focus…sigh. My macro lens likes to left side of center focus! 🤷🏻‍♀️

    I love your thoughts on your images and my two favorites are the castle, and the person looking down that you want to re-do!

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    Reply

    1. Thank you, Deborah! 🙂 I fear that my point-and-shoot is developing an illness of some sort regarding auto-focusing. It’s not as good as it used to be. Not so terrible because I’m getting a new camera for my upcoming big birthday. 😉 (Well, you know, in May. I’m still choosing. I’ll make a post about this early next year and gather suggestions.)

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      Reply

      1. I’m looking at the new Nikon z6 for my birthday. As much as you use your camera it wouldn’t surprise me if you burn out your AF motor. I’ve burned out two- One was my oldest birding lens, then the camera’s AF motor that I used the lens on. I had the lens AF replaced, but not the camera. It’s a bookend now.😚 I find the lenses hold more value over time than cameras do.

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      2. I have yet to own a camera with a detachable lens. 🙂 I need to choose something handy and not too complicated for me. In the point-and-shoot no-fuss range, just an upgrade with better zoom. Still need to study a lot.

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  4. Hi MMM,

    When I was younger I decided that the two most important words in the world were, “nothing matters”. Two meanings: yeah, there is not one fucking thing in this world that really matters and the other meaning is that the absence of everything really does matter. Physicists have always been intrigued by the concept of “nothing” and have had some success in showing that even in those vacuums formerly termed as “nothing”, they found electromagnetic waves. They are tending toward the idea that nothing is something. I’m working on something: reality is caused by nothing, time is a language, gravity is the story, and energy is the critic, constantly passing judgement. Anyway, good luck to you. Thanks. Duke

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    Reply

    1. Uuu, this is good stuff, the last lines. Energy is the critic. Thanks, Duke. I remembered another quote reading your comment: “Never mind mind, essence is not essential and matter doesn’t matter.” It’s from memory, who knows where from. All good to you!

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      Reply
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