Artistic Wormhole

Canon PowerShot G9

ƒ/4

18.89 mm

1/1,250

a beautiful mathematical construct…

a reminder that we perceive beauty in the emergent patterns derived from simple iterative algorithms (shells, organic growth, life, culture, evolution)

The Wentletrap shell takes its name from a “spiral staircase” in German-Dutch, and it reminds me of the architecture of Gaudi

76 responses to “Artistic Wormhole”

Eddi van W.

Nov 17, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Hallo, ich bin der Administrator der Gruppe Creative Commons- Free Pictures, und wir würden uns freuen, wenn Du dies zu unserer Gruppe hinzufügen würdest.

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fair chance

Jan 21, 2009 at 9:33 pm

Thanks for sharing!

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Rolf Noe

Mar 25, 2009 at 6:32 am

Hi, I’m an admin for a group called TRANSCENDING, and we’d love to have this added to the group!

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iTail ~ 5.6 Million Views ~ Thanks to all.

Jun 15, 2009 at 3:49 am

Great shot !! Have a terrific week!

You are my winner!
Please add this photo to
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mywinners/

Reply
Laura Galley

Jun 15, 2009 at 4:58 am

Definitely a winner!!!
You deserve another one.
Found in http://www.flickr.com/groups/mywinners/
Excellent focus and colors!

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Kalsa (m.a.mondini)

Jun 15, 2009 at 5:53 am

—
Seen in the group"MY WINNERS (INVITATION ONLY!) Post 1 Comment 2 SWEEPER RUNNING" (?)
—————-

Definitely a winner!!!
You deserve another one.
Found in http://www.flickr.com/groups/mywinners/
commented with SICI (2009-05-23)

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perseverando

Jun 15, 2009 at 7:08 am

I’ve never seen this shell before – sculptural!

Definitely a winner!!!
You deserve another one.
Found in http://www.flickr.com/groups/mywinners/

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The Loud 1

Jun 15, 2009 at 10:47 am

Yeah, a real inspiration of nature’s maths and pure geometry

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wjpostma

Jun 16, 2009 at 4:25 pm

great photo!

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jurvetson

Aug 1, 2009 at 5:35 pm

thanks y’all.

This photo was just chosen as a featured picture
on Wikimedia Commons

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Tita il Geco

Aug 11, 2009 at 6:57 am

Fantastic

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michal.manas

Sep 23, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Epitonium scalare

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profuse interest

Apr 1, 2010 at 6:57 am

GREAT IMAGE!…Thanks for sharing it under a Creative Common License!…

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bakerpuzzlemaker

Apr 19, 2010 at 5:30 am

This awesome image is being featured in the Spiral Shapes in Nature and More webpage gallery – a simple group of spiral shaped images to consider and enjoy.

Thanks for sharing your amazing photo through Creative Commons.

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RuthArt

Jun 19, 2010 at 8:17 pm

my attempt at using this shell, thank you for sharing.

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Max Short

Jun 20, 2010 at 2:38 pm

I have used your great immage here, thans a lot

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ihave3kids

Jun 22, 2010 at 7:26 pm

Thank you!

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acire111

Jun 23, 2010 at 1:31 am

Thank you for the lovely shell,in Holland we called it a ‘Wenteltrap’ something like a spiral staircase 🙂

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jaci XIII

Jun 24, 2010 at 1:41 am

Thanks you!

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ihave3kids

Aug 5, 2010 at 6:59 am

Thank you for your shell!

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Shandchem

Jul 21, 2011 at 9:31 am

A most beautiful image natural architecture! Many thanks for the background info on the name!

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sakura2blossoms

Aug 25, 2011 at 7:10 am

Amazing portrayal of an ordinary seashell, isn’t nature amazing?

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biotron

Feb 5, 2012 at 11:52 am

Just read snippets of Sarah Hoare’s Poems on Conchology and Botany in Richard Hamblyn’s The Invention of Clouds and thought of you / this.

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Specklet

Jul 2, 2012 at 10:30 pm

Neat discussion about the varices, guys.

Just wanted to add that this type of shell is called a open planispiral: a flat spiral where the coils don’t touch each other.

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jurvetson

Jan 4, 2013 at 7:04 pm

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/specklet] – thanks!

P.S. a related link from fB (which reminded me of Dawkins’ Unweaving the Rainbow) Feynman’s Ode to a Flower:

"I have a friend who’s an artist and has sometimes taken a view which I don’t agree with very well. He’ll hold up a flower and say “look how beautiful it is,” and I’ll agree. Then he says “I as an artist can see how beautiful this is but you as a scientist take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing,” and I think that he’s kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe…

I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it’s not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there’s also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts."

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jurvetson

Jan 5, 2013 at 6:01 pm

Feynman seems pretty lucid in that quote. Are you thinking of some other comments from him? I have not read him as extensively as I would. Have his books and DVD of his lectures on my shelf…

Einstein – more thorough because he left some Spinoza-like musings out there in cryptic form? So anyone can project their personal beliefs on some select quotes from Einstein? =)

another sweet one from that spot

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Artistic Wormhole

76 responses to “Artistic Wormhole”

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