Z is for Zero
Ice bubbles, Sterling Heights, Michigan #IC-9410
As my final entry in the A-to-Z Challenge, a countdown that started at the beginning of April, the word zero seems appropriate to finish it off. It can be a word of finality, or an absolute start from nothing. A beginning and an ending.
I started the A to Z because I wanted to try it as an energizer to my posts. It was a bit of an experiment. I don’t photograph every day, nor do I write everyday, and this had me doing a bit of both, if only to review my archives photographs to fit a letter theme. At times it was challenging for sure.
I read some tips from other A-to-Z participants and there were many suggestions of pre-writing your posts ahead of time, to lessen some of the pressure. I didn’t listen to that advice, and took a more serendipitous approach. There were times I did wish I had some pre-written material to fall back on, but took other approaches to writing content with wordplay or just inspirational quotes. At times I was fortunate to pick words related to my passions and concerns about the environment. Sometimes photographs alone were enough to represent the letter and word of choice. I made this up as I went along.
When it comes to photography, ‘zero‘ plays some roles in a few different ways. Zero can represent pure, absolute blackness, like the RGB value of 0,0,0. It can represent the purest, blackest of ink, something many fine art printers strive towards in acheiving the best dynamic range possible in their prints. While some may consider absolute blackness akin to ‘nothingness,’ it is far from it, and does lend a very tangible characteristic to great photographs. Some things are often defined in contrast to no things.
Sunset – Denali National Park, Alaska
In writing and in photography there is, of course, zero chance of accomplishing anything if you don’t try. And that isn’t even good enough for Yoda… “…do, there is no try.” I am certain there are times when the photographs aren’t the best and the writing isn’t the best, but I do throw it at a wall and see what sticks.
Endangered Sister Island Rock Iguana (Cyclura nubila caymanensis), Image #RE-9593, Little Cayman Island, Caribbean
Zero can be quite painful when it comes to the environment and wildlife. Zero tends to have a finality to it – as in zero population…extinction. There is a wonderful essay I came across recently by Bryan Pfeiffer in Aeon magazine about how “We need a chronic passion for nature, not a passing storm.” This gives a painfully clear statement on zero with regards to extinction and our current attitudes towards wildlife. Yoda’s wisdom holds strong here too.
I want to thank those that visited to follow along this month. I appreciate your comments, feedback, likes, shares, etc. A special welcome to the new AtoZ followers. I hope you came away learning something new perhaps to make this distraction in your day worthwhile. If you missed a few letters, feel free to explore the other posts from the month of April 2016.
Thanks folks and see you in the woods… 3, 2, 1….
Mark
Congratulations for making it through, Mark, and in fine style. That was a lot work, a lot of thought. Regarding the word try: I had a 9th grade math teacher who was a former Marine drill sergeant and he used to say that “try” was a quitter’s word. Either you will or you won’t and that’s it. “Try” just gives you an excuse to quit. He used to be PITA, but some years down the road after leaving his classroom, he became my favorite teacher for many reasons. 🙂
Thanks Paul. Sounds like that 9th grade teacher and Yoda had a bit in common.
Well done series, Mark. Glad you took it on. Each of those little projects adds to our skills and our craft. One good thing college did for me was to hold me accountable to accomplish each of those little projects professors called homework. We wouldn’t have graduated if we hadn’t.
I am with you on the environment and wildlife topic. I am actually reading the Popes encyclical and finding it touching me differently than I expected. The letter does not name names but is addressed to the world. He is focus is having each of us make a zero impact on this “home we all share.” And, by “we” he is including all of live.
I’m a bit disappointed you did not include an image with yellow. 🙂
Thank you Monte.
I think maybe we need these self tasked homework assignments now and then. It certainly helped me break out of a pattern of just not posting much. I’ll see how it sticks.
For yellow, there is another post for that. 🙂
Fabulous! I really appreciate your wonderful photography and essays, especially considering that you’ve written them daily. I definitely wrote mine ahead of time. ~blush~ It’s a good thing, though, considering that my Internet access has been so sporadic. I’m glad to have found this today. Be well. And congratulations on meeting the challenge!
Thank you Darla
An absolutely wonderful series Mark, with truly inspirational images. It was a pleasure to follow along. Thanks for taking this challenge and treating us all!
And thank you for following along Howard