Snapshot of a World in an Abandoned Planter by Chipka
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
It rains a lot, here: there are weeks when the sky remains cloud-cloaked and the sun is little more than a cold, hazy smear.
In ancient days, before the Grand Diaspora, Human dreams cast Venus in the role of the swampy paradise of a world—far cry from it's reality of sulfuric acid clouds and greenhouse gases in such prodigious quantity that equatorial temperatures are hot enough to melt lead.
The swamp-dreams of Venus died: some say with the Soviet Venera probe, now dead and corroded beneath the caustic skies of Earth's sister world. Others name subtler, more social causes.
At any rate, Humans knew nothing of swamp planets (beyond the lurid cinematic fantasies of the twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty second centuries) until probes broke heliopause at Tau Ceti.
Now, half a decade after Cetus-1 photographed the anomaly of a rocky, earth-type world , Owen Michaels watches raw feed from orbit at Tau Ceti-2.
According to the guys in Planetology, Tau Ceti-2 should not exist.
It is a younger world than the age of its parent sun implies. It is rich in metals, rare elsewhere in the system. It is rich in life as Humans would recognize it. Green things blanket the surface. Small things—like fleshy centipedes—amble through moss forests, while the mosses themselves, spew bulbous fruits skyward, on tethers of cellulose. Life here is familiar in its configuration and strange in its absent similarities to anything else in-system.
There are mysteries here:
--a planet that should not exist.
--life too similar to that derived from Earth's native environments.
These are the mysteries that Owen and the others have been commissioned to solve, and as Owen sits in quiet watch of probe-data spilling across his screens, he feels the overwhelming weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
I must learn something, he thinks, for the tens of billions who seek the answers I'm being paid to uncover...
But even as he seeks to learn what he can (even as the entire team labors for this common cause) Tau Ceti-2 maintains its silence, revealing only the features of its face.
But nothing of its origin.
***
I couldn't resist this little vignette. I'd discovered this budding moss in a planter left out over the winter, in a moist, shady spot in Prague. Ah, but Prague is moist, even in the driest of times, and so moss flourishes here. I captured this growth as best I could, not wishing to disturb the moss itself. As a result, I've had to do a bit of post work. I darkened the background, just a hint, to get rid of the distracting, rather ugly inside wall of the planter. Everything else, I left alone.
As always, thank you for viewing and reading and commenting, and I hope that you enjoy this post!
Comments (30)
Wonderful!
Gorgeous capture Chip with splendid colors and light!
Splendid Capture!
Excellent photography and capture, very nicely done...
This is beautiful Chip, love the colors, it looks so alive....excellent quality...I'm going to miss you and your work so much...Hugz, Love you my friend!
Superb image my friend....
Hmmmmmmm... let's see. Terraforming, and we discover Earth was also terraformed? A rogue chronaton field has caused a time displacement? Moss is intelligent and left Earth centuries before we did? Oooooooohh. Maybe there are tiny intelligent beings who live in the moss, and THEY left Earth, taking their symbiotic dwellings with them! Ahem. Yes. Well. A wonderful image, my friend! I love what you've done with the background. It's something I've been known to do myself, so I heartily approve! :)
Absolutely fantastic! Darkening the background worked brilliantly. Much subtlty and elegance. Astounding how well computers capture the Natural, isn't it? Ah, so, computers are only natural, as so are we. A beauty! Great writing, as well. Thoughtful work. Just the way I love it.
A stunning image, I've never seen anything quite like those little pods on the stems...excellent capture, and another intriguing story...:)
You have created a world on a little spot of green. Beautiful photo and scene. CC
EXCELLENT MACRO & DETAIL DEAR FRIEND :)
I'm going to be VERY careful around the moss at MY house, it could be something I'd never thought about~~~ absolutely amazing foto, Chip, you couldn't have possibly caught this any better, it's a stunning macro!!
little flags... sent up to attract attention. That's what it seems like to me. Great shot.
strangely enough i was looking at a planter yesterday with moss and the likes growing in it and was going to take a few shots, but i got sidetracked :o)..excellent capture mick
A GREAT shot. Almost mysterious in it's appearance, with those green thingys bright like small pods, on the verge of take off.
Your imagination knows no bounds- excellent shot and story!
Superb shot of a private world!! I love it.
Excellent image Chip and the light is just perfect. Fascinating story - I agree with Marilyn - will look at moss with different eyes from now on!! xx
Worlds within worlds...who knew :o) ...love the intro and awesome capture Chip !....once again, your words are entrancing ! ~ Hugs ~
Very beautiful green shot!! wonderful lights, fantastic !!
How beautiful and intriguing these are. They are almost alien in their appearance. Wonderful capture, Chip.
A beautiful capture, Chip. I love the light here. Hugs. Diane. xx
Wow how very interesting, and the image is fabulous a really superb shot! hugs Jane xx
It's like little periscopes sent out to scope the terrain. Wonderful shot!
lovely lighting on this moss, looks almost like alien antennas
Perfect..love it a lot..
Great shot, unusual composition ... Congrats!
Wonderful capture so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wonderful image. Love the composition!
Impressionnants détails, superbe lumière, perfect shot!!!