Image courtesy NASA
The crescent Earth rises above the lunar horizon in this spectacular photograph taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during the final lunar landing mission.
Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a U.S. human space flight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. The mission was launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, and concluded on December 19. It remains both the most recent manned moon landing and manned flight beyond low Earth orbit.
We are headed back to the moon. New technology and a different approach to take-offs and landing will help us establish a base of the moon for interplanetary flight. In October, we are going to slam a capsule into the moon to see if there is water on there. If so, fuel could be created there and the moon could become a campsite and launch pad.
If you want to keep up with these things, sign up for news feeds from NASA, just like me.
The thing that has been on my mind since seeing this terrific image is the thing that is most striking about photography, calligraphy and life. It is sometimes hard for me to convey to my students about the power of negative space in a photograph, a letter or in life.
There is the necessity of letting the meaning of our work and intention being clear. This is a picture of the moon and in the background is the earth. The eye can see that and the brain easily wraps itself around that.
But look at the blackness that is the major part of the image. It is just a small slice of the extent of the open universe. The universe is not empty, by any means. It is full of particles, energies and stuff beyond stuff we have not yet discovered or defined. We are joined to all of it.
But here are two visible points: moon and earth. We are observing a photograph taken years ago and the photographer was an astronaut inside a metal can with an artificial atmosphere and his camera was a Hasselblad modified by a technician at Kodak who would retire to Cary, NC and would wind up in one of my calligraphy classes. I would explain to this engineer that it is not just ink on paper that makes letters but the space within and between the elements of the letters and words that give them energy and life. Small universe!
In universal terms, the distance from the earth to the moon is a hop. To the Apollo 13 astronauts, their failed trip was almost too long. Their vehicle broke and they nearly perished.
Letters need their space. Leading and kerning are mechanical adjustments to help letters satisfy the eye. Some people have a natural gift for seeing this and their hand lettering shows this gift in ink and colors.
One of these days, someone with some sense of the esthetic will climb Raleigh’s water towers and shorten the bottoms of the “L” in each rendering. This will bring the “E” closer and the word will look right, for a change. Maybe. I dream.
Give the letters their breath and they will show their life.
All this energy pulls and pushes us from and toward something.
Our exploring nature needs to go and it also wants to get home for show and tell and rest and sometimes for profit.
Nurture propels us to new heights and greater depths. These are more wonderful if there is a companionship for mutual encouragement, sharing of talents and pooling resources.
The space between will vary, but the union will never break.
© Tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com
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