Beyond the Blue Horizon waits a beautiful day.
Many seek their own version of Shangri-La beyond a Lost Horizon.
I expect Steven Pinker would have an interesting explanation for why horizons figure in our cultural memes. Why we invest the limits of our physical vision with our hopes for better days, our yearning for adventure, even our spiritual impulses.
For me, I just know that my eye can as easily be drawn to the far horizon as to the near vista.
Horizons… hmmmm… Yes, I think it’s true that our eyes are drawn to horizons. But not, I suggest, always comfortably. I prefer mountains. I like the sense of not being able to see to the end of infinity, the sense that if I explore up that valley, that side road, that river, I will come to new vistas, new possibilities, maybe even a whole new life. Perhaps the same thing applies to dreams of “beyond the blue horizon,” but mountains make it closer. By the way, you didn’t say anything about horizons bisecting one’s picture. Perhaps there’s another blog coming on the dangers (and wider implications) of bisecting?
Jim T
Jim T – It’s interesting that we think of the unseen vistas/opportunities beyond the horizon when it has a clear demarcation, as opposed to trailing off into obscurity, even though there’s just as much beyond a soft horizon as a hard. As for bisecting, one of the framing choices I find interesting is where to position the horizon. That choice highlights sky or foreground dramatically differently.