In the mid 19th Century, Oliver Wendell Holmes penned his well-known poem about the chambered Nautilus’ life cycle metaphorically comparing it to our own. The spiral shape of the Nautilus shell suggests that it can keep growing forever. There is no design for a “final” chamber. The creature must keep building new chambers as long as it lives. It cannot go back to the previous ones; they no longer fit. It cannot stay in its present space or it will die. It has no choice but to move on. Similarly, our lives are in a constant state of change. As the Nautilus, we can not stay where we are and we can not go back. We must grow and move on to our next, larger chamber or chapter.
About this image. Lately, I have been experimenting with and enjoying making new work from existing photos. Using Photoshop, I am able to stack photos up in layers and essentially erase the unwanted portions of each. “The Chambered Nautilus” consists of three of my photos: the Nautilus shell I photographed in my studio, the beach scene was taken at Cat Island in the Bahamas, and the pelicans were shot on Upper Captiva Island in Southwest Florida. Additional textures and shapes were added to give an overall impressionistic feel. Would love to know what you think.