New directions – remote sensing
In planetary sciences, the term Remote Sensing refers to the use of imaging in a variety of spectra to detect details that might otherwise remain undetected. Remote sensing always involves gathering information without making physical contact with the subject.
One might use color or black and white imagery, infrared or ultraviolet wavelengths, as well as radar and other means in order to glean information about a planet, celestial body or even the earth itself.
Recently I started a new musical series based on the wonders of space. In thinking of a title for the series I was brought back to the idea that our knowledge of such far flung locations comes largely through Remote Sensing techniques, and so I decided to go with that title.
It was an area of particular interest to me as a geology student at the University of Arizona, and I felt honored to have studied remote sensing with a man who had been among the first to map Arizona from horseback in the 1930s, and who had gone on to become an expert in air and space born remote sensing techniques.
While my own interest in the topic had to do with its practical application in uncovering the secrets of the moon, Dr. Morrison taught me that it could uncover far more right here on earth, and that one could then go out and see what caused an anomaly when such things were encountered in the various forms of multispectral photography we were working with.
And so my Remote Sensing series draws on those experiences, on the sense of space and distance, on the wonder of being able to more fully imagine what is going on in the universe, and a bit on the technical capabilities needed to make such observations.
The audio work Nebula is an example from that emerging series. Scored for prepared piano and strings, it imagines the rumbling collisions and luminous glows of these gas cloud features far off in space.
It is my view of the universe around me, melding science and imagination.
The concept of remote sensing is also finding its way into some of my art photography projects. I am using Photoshop to alter the color and contrast, superimpose multiple images and create something that looks more akin to images created through remote sensing than to those of the standard camera work by which these images originated.
Again, my multiple artform work converges around similar concepts.