This week I invite you to visit my portfolio website. I replaced 90% of the images there, dropped some categories and added others. The text elements are the same. The purpose of this site is simply to share my images as widely as possible, so if you like what you see please forward a link to those who appreciate photography.
Here’s the link: My Portfolio Web Site
Here are Linda and me at a restaurant with our grandson Ethan. He’s eight in this picture; now he’s nine. We love being grandparents. Among other things, Linda is his confidant and storyteller and I’m a grownup playmate. Recently I read an article by Rachael Caspari entitled The Evolution of Grandparents (Autumn 2016, Scientific American Special Collectors Edition) that provided some new and surprising information about the significance of grandparents in the development of our species.
She says that “living to an older age had profound effects on population sizes, social interactions and genetics of early modern human groups and may explain why they were more successful than archaic humans, such as the Neandertals.” Examining fossils from three million years ago, she and her colleagues found that individuals of this latter group, with few exceptions, didn’t live beyond 30—the age when archaic people lived long enough to become a grandparent.
Dying young was the rule for millions of years, and over that span of time there was a gradual increase in longevity among many of the groups they studied. Still, it wasn’t until around 30,000 years ago, very late in human evolution, that survivorship soared—among the modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic.
While the researchers haven’t yet discovered the reason why this European group doubled their survivorship ratio compared to other groups—despite their living in much harsher conditions— they found that the increase itself had far-reaching effects. And here’s where the study gets really interesting in terms of our being and having grandparents.
In studying several modern-day hunter-gatherer groups, Kristen Hawkes at the University of Utah, and Hillard Kaplan of the University of New Mexico and others “found that grandparents routinely contribute economic and social resources to their descendants, increasing both the number of offspring their children can have and the survivorship of those children. Grandparents also reinforce complex social connections.”
For example, when grandparents tell their grandchildren stories of deceased relatives, they link them to the family history in a context of what the world was like back then. These and other stories of personal and social challenges successfully met, provide young people a sense of security and continuity. A grandparent can even help a more mature child appreciate that his standing on the shoulders of the past is a privileged position, from which he can reach for his dreams with confidence. Indeed, each new generation stands at the leading edge of human evolution.
Specifically, the author talks about early human elders transmitting information about the environment, teaching grandchildren which plants and snakes were poisonous and where to find water in a drought. While parents were out hunting, gathering or building shelters, the grandparents were educating their children about how to weave a basket or knap a stone blade.
Among her conclusions: “Multigenerational families have more members to hammer home important lessons. Longevity presumably fostered the intergenerational accumulation and transfer of information that encouraged the formation of intricate kinship systems and other social networks… Longevity resulted in increased population size by adding an age group that was not there in the past…Large populations are major drivers of new behaviors…and population density figures importantly in the maintenance of cultural complexity…Larger populations promoted the development of extensive trade networks, complex systems of cooperation, and material expressions of individual and group identity (jewelry, body paint, and so on).” What I take from this is that about 30,000 years ago, the advent of grandparents had a rising and cascading effect, compounding complexity, increasing survival prospects and passing on history, practical information, skills and wisdom in every facet of everyday life, both personal and social.
And significantly, according to Dr. Caspari, “growing population size accelerated the pace of evolution. More people means more mutations and opportunities for advantageous mutations to sweep through populations as their members reproduce. This trend may have had an even more striking effect on recent humans than on Upper Paleolithic ones, compounding the dramatic population growth that accompanied the domestication of plants 10,000 years ago.
The relation between adult survivorship and the emergence of sophisticated new cultural traditions was almost certainly a positive feedback process.. .Longevity became a prerequisite for the complex behaviors that signal modernity.” Indeed, it led to population expansions that had profound cultural and genetic effects ever since.
These findings prompted me to reflect on advances in the many contemporary fields of study and practice that are helping us live longer and healthier lives. On this turn of the evolutionary spiral, where technologies are outpacing our ability to keep pace with them ethically, I wonder if grandparents might have another role to play.
For instance, might we help the younger generation see that their electronic “toys” and tools can have a higher purpose? And can we help them to see that absorption in tools of any kind can be a distraction from what’s really important in constructing a meaningful, happy and contributing life? Thirty-thousand years after the innovation of grand-parents, both in speech and action, we are still offering the incoming generations the great gifts of stories about their ancestors and the wisdom of our experience.
Although Ethan was just being a kid posing for this picture, in the context of this contemplation I imagine him giving us a double “thumbs up” for having us in his life. Would that I could, I’d return the gesture. What a joy and privilege it is to have him in our lives.
Elders play critical roles in human societies around the globe, conveying wisdom and providing social and economic support for the families of their children and larger kin groups.
by Rabindranath Tagore
Light, my light, the world-filling light,
the eye-kissing light,
heart-sweetening light!
Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the center of my life;
the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love;
the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.
The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light.
Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light.
The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling,
and it scatters gems in profusion.
Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling,
and gladness without measure.
The heaven’s river has drowned its banks
and the flood of joy is abroad.
Winners at a Xavier University student-run awards ceremony for best video productions.
Around 4:00 am on Thanksgiving morning I awoke and was thinking about our family tradition of going around the table where everyone said what they were thankful for. My former students came to mind and I realized that they’re all in fine jobs now, most of them with families of their own. Turning back to go to sleep it occurred to me that, for my words of thanksgiving to be authentic they ought to carry through into action. Truly, it’s “by our works that we shall be known.”
So I got up and scribbled a note to that effect. As soon as my head hit the pillow again there came an avalanche of things that I and most of us say we’re grateful for. I offer them here as sort of an after Thanksgiving contemplation. Also it gives me an opportunity to share a few photos of former students so you can see why I give thanks for the privilege of having worked with them.
So for what do we give thanks—and what action would make it genuine?
If plenty — share
If shelter — contribute to those without it
If for a toy or technology — use it harmlessly and to uplift the spirit
If a belief — live it in silence
If health — do what it takes to maintain and improve it
If a relationship — caring, support and empowerment
If love of anyone — expand it to include everyone
If a child — demonstrate love and be a positive role model
If pets or other animals —treat them with respect and provide for their health and well-being
If the work we do — perform it with competence, responsibility, creativity and integrity
If a life of privilege — do something for those less privileged
If for those who serve in the military — let them know they are appreciated
If for a skill or talent — develop it further; use it to uplift and inspire
If position or status — use it wisely and execute it kindly
If simply being together — make the most of it
If a system — care for both the parts and the whole
If freedom — respect the freedom of others
If the use of environmental resources — strive to minimize the footprint and recycle
If power or wealth —make it “power with” rather than “power over”
If peace on earth — make peace where there is conflict and create peace in the home
If silence — be the witness
If simply being alive — do some small thing every day to experience joy and advance purpose
Reviewing my notes I noticed that gratitude and its attendant actions have been nicely summarized in the perennial advice to “walk your talk.” It’s a lot easier to remember on a daily basis.
To be civilized means to live a life that cherishes others and exudes gratitude and joy.
If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.
These wind turbines speak to me of innovation and progress in the field of energy. They also stand as testament to the values of adaptation, ingenuity, determination and collaboration. One of the lessons of systems science applied to social evolution is that once established, a system’s curve of development increases with time until the forces of change cause it to peak and then decline. It’s the typical bell curve. And it applies to all systems, even systems of thought. Everything in the universe rises, peaks and then falls. Or transforms.
Leaders in some systems in the modern era, most obviously those in the arena of commerce, become aware of immanent or existing decline and make an attempt to recreate their enterprises in an effort to begin a new growth cycle. They do it by adapting to changing circumstances in ways that are more sustainable. Adaptation is how and why evolution is an advance in complexity and consciousness.
Whether applied to businesses, social systems or political systems, the process of moving from decline to revitalization is called “evolutionary transformation.” It’s a term and concept I learned when documenting a friend’s consulting firm in Washington D.C.. In videotaping their process and conducting interviews, I observed that a prerequisite for positive change was a shift in the thinking of the leader or the leadership team. They had to be to think more expansively about their organization’s identity, purpose and mission, and relate it directly to human needs and wants. Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Bill Gates are just a few of the contemporary examples of individuals who kept their businesses vital in this way.
The image of the wind turbine evidences transformative thinking that has blossomed world wide. Many leaders in energy industries looked ahead and saw that fossil resources, while plentiful now, are nonetheless finite, expensive to acquire and process and detrimental to the environment. The expansion in their thinking went from short to long term sustainability, and rather than pit themselves in the middle between environmentalists and lobbyists, they elected to move in the direction renewable and clean energies.
At the same time it’s important to note that positive change in social systems can have negative consequences as well. Wars can win territory or consolidate power, but at the cost of many lives. We’re seeing how improved technologies, robotics for example, have resulted in job losses. And less demand for natural resources, notably coal, has devastated communities. Another principle I learned from my interviews was that “crisis precedes transformation.” When a system is in crisis, it’s already in transformative mode. Whether it results in dissolution or increased vitality depends largely on how leaders respond. Little or no responds favors decline. And many systems fail because the response is insufficient, too difficult or radical.
Crisis or breakdown itself can actually be seen as an “evolutionary driver,” providing the impetus to affect a shift toward survival and growth rather than allow the forces of entropy to have their way. Critical to the consciousness of those who lead in the first place is whether or not there’s a desire to make a fresh start. And if so, are they and their employees, members or citizens willing to do what’s necessary in order to move in the more viable direction? Chapter Eleven bankruptcy filings were created specifically to allow time for entities to restructure, often by replacing leaders with those who are willing to take those steps. At times, we hear of employees taking a reduction in salary to keep a company alive.
Driving through the older sections of cities we see abandoned buildings and shops with windows boarded up, trash on the sidewalks and weeds growing through the pavement. As victims to the forces of entropy, they are gone forever—unless and until a future developer sees the potential for something new. But what about the communities that still have some life left in them, areas on the slippery slope of decline with only hope and a prayer that “the good old days” will return? They won’t. They can’t because the conditions that gave rise to them have changed.
On a much larger scale, the process of “globalization” has been seen by many as a threat to national sovereignty. What is the proper response to increasing complexity, consciousness and interconnectedness? Certainly, it’s not to build a wall around itself. That would exclude it from diverse and even vital goods and services. The more viable option is to view it as motivation to innovate and stimulate increased trade.
The positive news for declining communities is that they can rise again—if within them a leader or a collaborative group emerges to provide the will and the way. I think of the factories abandoned due to cheaper and more willing labor abroad, as well as the one product or single resource communities on the descending curve. Waiting and hoping for the government or someone else to restore them to prosperity is akin to the unemployed men we see standing on the street corner letting life pass them by. Governments are not saviors. Their function is to defend and govern, not to create wealth. They can regulate it, of course, but it is people who create wealth.
I think there’s a misperception of identity. Human beings are more than what they do. Mining, manufacturing and production are roles, and they can change. As souls with unlimited potential, when the door closes on one role, we can open another that is on the cusp rather than the tail end of history. And that is good news. Getting back to lessons learned at ESI, positive transformation requires a change of mind, a shift in perception from viewing one’s world as a diminishing circle to seeing change as an opportunity to widen it in a more viable, inclusive and sustainable direction. As we’ve seen and what was much talked about in the recent election, in a global, interdependent economy workers are in direct competition with their counterparts in other countries. Trade deals, tariffs and regulations may temper the employment drain for a while, but it cannot eliminate it. Executives are smart. For many it’s not just about money. It’s also about differences in cultural attitudes, values, work ethics and philosophies. So what are disadvantaged workers to do? Here again, I refer to the strategies of ESI: What it takes for a system or worker experiencing decline is a shift in thinking from helplessness and dependency to confidence and initiative.
In the old paradigm mentality of the industrial revolution, we exchanged time and labor for money, all of which was managed by, well, management. Top down domination. When a man was out of work he had to find another job in his field of expertise and conform to the company rules and culture or starve. In the new paradigm, largely because of communication technologies, a person may not have a “job” but they can usually find “work.” The difference—and the trend—is significant: a job requires one’s presence and conformity to a set of rules, whereas the performance of work provides freedom to activate one’s own intelligence, creativity and skills doing what’s fulfilling and without imposed rules. What began as “freelancing” is now a normal and preferred way of working for millions of people around the world. The great discovery was that, while jobs provided security, income and freedom was fixed by someone else. Work however, had the advantage of greater income potential and freedom to manage one’s work and family life. Of course, as a lifestyle choice it’s not for everyone.
Applying this growing trend in the workplace, the challenge for those who think—or have been told—that they only have one skill and that it’s no longer needed, is a shift in perception: from “I am only good at one thing; I hope things will get better,” to “I am capable of much more; I’m going to develop new skills and make things better.” It’s the difference between surrendering and taking charge. Next for these individuals comes the question of “How?” The first step is the biggest: reaching inside to discover the potentials, talents and skills that have been lying dormant and are yearning to be expressed. In this people need help, and that’s what community development professionals and social workers are hopefully providing, because potentials, once identified and acted upon, bring results. And as the initial seeds of initiative are watered, the gardener finds himself in charge of a garden—both a leader and a model for the community.
An example of this is the Magnolia Market in Waco, Texas, where Chip and Joanne Gains, the hosts of the popular HGTV program “Fixer Upper,” used their construction and design skills to build, one step at a time, a national business with one of their several initiatives being the restoration (transformation) of an old farm-and-seed facility with huge solos, which now attracts tourists to shop, play and eat.
An example of leveraging potentials on a simpler scale is Susan Branch, who through her blog and books has built a worldwide community of appreciators and customers simply by writing about, illustrating and photographing her lifestyle, home and pets.
So this week my appreciation goes to the evolutionary transformers, people assisting others at every level, especially those in need, to help them discover and realize their potentials so their lives and initiatives can once again ascend the curve of prosperity. According to a popular metaphor, by “teaching them how to fish,” these helpers are also contributing to the success of the nation. The good is recognized and replicated. The following quotes are familiar, but they deserve repeating in this context.
You can’t learn less, you can only learn more.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Title: Wind Turbines
Location: Milford, IL
File: 988-B3
Just driving around I happened upon scores of wind turbines. Aside from their monstrous appearance and being much bigger than I’d imagined, I was surprised to observe that their blades kept turning despite the lack of wind on the ground. After shooting these great machines in groups with foregrounds of mostly corn and soybean fields, I managed to find one that I could mostly isolate within the frame. My challenge then was to decide the position of the blades. In this image, after several exposures, I managed to click the shutter just when one of them was in the twelve o’clock position. In Adobe Lightroom, I graded the sky from top to bottom. Otherwise, the blades would have stood against the light sky without much contrast.
This leaf and the ones to follow have “reticulated” veins, meaning they repeatedly branch. I zoomed in on this one to better appreciate the extent of this phenomenon.
“Energy Flow” is an established scientific field that describes and analyzes food chains within ecosystems, involving producers, consumers and decomposers. As one who produces and contemplates photographic images, my interest in leaves included some basic science, but it was their aesthetic qualities moved me to collect and photograph them last week.
As with most of my contemplations, I begin with a consideration of origins. Above, I observe that this red leaf began its life as a tiny bud on a tree limb—a branch among many branches. With the continuous flow of nutrients from the roots, it expanded and produced chlorophyl to become one among the many photosynthesis agents on the tree, all engaged in the process of converting light energy into chemical energy to further fuel the tree and produce oxygen for the atmosphere by consuming carbon dioxide. Continuing the leaf’s lifecycle, it performed this function for a season and as the climate changed it released its chlorophyl and water until it dried and fell to the ground. This, in order to fulfill another essential purpose, the enrichment of the soil so the parent tree could continue to grow. Notice, the roots of the tree also display a branching pattern.
The lifecycle of leaves is a well established metaphor for human life so I skip over that and instead return to the branching feature, observing how chemical energy is distributed along main arteries connected to the tree, then to secondary and tertiary arteries and veins that resemble streets on a city map. The pattern is clear: energy flows from larger to smaller channels. It’s a fanning out phenomenon observable in human and animal systems, highway systems, educational systems, farm irrigation systems, corporate and military hierarchies, food distribution systems, telephone systems, electronic circuit boards, and rivers that flow into deltas. While many rivers invert that order, beginning life as trickles of water from glacier or snow melt, or springs that bubble up from the ground, geological features eventually entrain them to connect with other rivers and streams in a branching pattern. Seen from space, they and erosions in sand and mud all resemble leaf veins.
Cognitively, one such pattern of energy flow is deductive reasoning, where many sub-thoughts derive from a grand thought. President Kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon and a small group of thinkers attracted a larger group of thinkers—and so on until the thoughts of thousands of thinkers made it happen. The diffusion of thought is how dreams become realized.
I also observe the branching pattern in social systems, particularly as a result of the internet where the thought or action of one “influencer” can fan out to millions of people in the course of hours or a day. We say the image or information has gone “viral,” and that’s exactly the right word. Like a virus, it has spread out quickly through the electronic arteries. For me this raises the issue of content. What are the energies that are flowing through the social body? In Grow Or Die: The Unifying Principle of Transformation, George Lockland wrote that “technology is the self-extension that liberates man to use his energy and information to transform our world.”
As technologies come along to speed and extend the reach and capabilities of communication energy—with less effort and at lower costs—we would do well to take a lesson from the leaves. It’s nutrients that maintain and contribute to growth. Socially, these include images and information that’s true, accurate, useful, helpful, inspirational, educational and empowering. To name a few. The negation of these life-sustaining qualities contributes to desiccation, the drying up of our capacity to better relate, find meaning and become responsible stewards of the planet. One of the primary systems designed to foster nutritional thinking and behaviors at all levels in our society is the educational enterprise. Easily, it can be envisioned as a deeply veined leaf on the great tree of life. Positive or negative, the energies we put into it has consequences.
Energy is neither positive nor negative, we alone have the power to choose which it will become.
Love is a sacred reserve of energy, and the very blood stream of spiritual evolution; that is the first discovery we can make from the sense of Earth.
Paying attention is how we use our psychic energy, and how we use our psychic energy determines the kind of self we are cultivating, the kind of person we are learning to be.
Note: Wikipedia provides an abundance of botanical information on the science of leaves.
ABOUT THESE IMAGES
Title: Leaf Veins
File: DC10299 / DC 10300 / DC 10325 / DX 10341
I recently collected several leaves from Spring Grove Cemetery, an optimal source since it has the largest variety of trees in the Greater Cincinnati area. So the leaves would flatten I let them soak in a tray of water for about an hour, and then put them between towels to dry. A couple of day later I photographed them on a light table, varying the length of the exposure, but always keeping the aperture at f16 to maximize depth of field with the closeup lens. In Photoshop I eliminated some distracting holes in all the leaves.
I’m happy to announce the re-publication of the first novel in the trilogy, The Path of the Jaguar. The revised edition of Jaguar Rising has far less Maya vocabulary and I use the contemporary rather than ancient names of their cities. In the course of editing the book it turned out to be shorter—and I think more readable for lay readers.
When I wrote the first edition, I expected the primary audience for the series would be Maya scholars—archaeologists, art historians and anthropologists. I was very wrong! Turns out, very few of these professionals have the time or inclination to read novels of any sort. Most gratifying for me has been the response from people who simply like to read books in the “historical novel” genre. The reviews on Amazon and elsewhere have all been five-star.
The three stories stand alone, but if read in order—Jaguar Rising, Jaguar Wind and Waves and Jaguar Sun—the reader gains a perspective that is only hinted at in each book. That is, “Jaguar” in the titles is used as a metaphor for the soul—spoken of in the text as “ch’ulel,” the Maya word for the soul—which was and is perceived differently in some ways from Western cultures. So the series is, in essence, the path of the soul, each story featuring the same soul, variously male and female, in three incarnations that span the Classic period of Maya civilization, and each plot takes this soul through trials and initiations on his way toward self-realization. The story is not about reincarnation, but I used that idea as a literary device so the story could be written in first person, present tense. I wanted readers to experience the jungle as well as the history, lifestyles, politics, myths and consciousness of the Ancient Maya.
The new edition is available at Amazon.com. Here’s the description on the back cover:
Jaguar Rising: A Novel of the Preclassic Maya is an adventurous coming of age historical novel about a young man who struggles to find his place at a time when charismatic rulers and innovators were building cities and giving form to their ideology in art, architecture and ritual spectacle. By 35 B.C.E., Maya civilization was already flourishing in the jungles of Belize, Mexico and Guatemala.
K’akich Bahlam, “Fire-Eyes Jaguar,” is caught in a tug-of-war. Raised the son of a long distance merchant who was away on expedition for long periods, and being closer to his uncles, he wants to follow them onto the path of builders. On the doorstep to manhood however, he discovers that he has inherited royal blood and that the prophecy given at his birth requires him to prepare for a life of privilege leading to the possibility of ruling. Although they are at odds with one another, both his overbearing father, Thunder-Flute Rabbit, and his spiritual teacher, White Grandfather, guide K’akich toward the throne. They say a man cannot resist his blood; neither can he refuse to walk the path the ancestors laid out for him. Along the way, K’akich discovers that he has the heart of a mural painter.
Encounters with men and women at every level of society combine with altered-state experiences, initiation rites, battles, shamanic rituals and painting commissions to carry him to the inevitable like a canoe on a fast-moving stream. Must he choose the path of his blood or can he follow his heart? Can he choose both? Can he choose at all?
For over a year now I’ve been photographing flowers, plants and weeds in the studio against plain black and white backgrounds. This initiative entitled Reverence For Nature’s Geometry: Flowers, Plants and Weeds In Black and White began with the intention of exhibiting the prints in a gallery setting, allowing me to use my 4×5 view camera and see the images large and framed. I got into a pattern of photographing on most Mondays, processing the film on Tuesdays and making 16×20 prints on Wednesdays.
Through the Fall of 2015 and continuing through the Winter months of 2016, I printed and archivally processed images from three negatives a week. While the quantity was small, the experience of being able to take my time with lighting and printing was wonderful. Black and white photographs—images on photographic paper, including the process of making them—have always fed my soul. Wanting to return to my photographic roots after a dry period, and realizing that I’d been photographing flowers, plants and weeds in black and white since I began using a camera seriously, I initiated this project. The joy it provided continues to this day.
Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.
They are each variations on a single daylily leaf.
This past week I gave myself a birthday present—four days of photographing in the rolling farmlands of Central Ohio. I thought I would share a few of the images, particularly those shot around sunrise.
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Nature’s Fireworks
Happy Fourth of July!
In the process of attempting to find a home for my photographs on the walls of hospitals, nursing homes, hospice centers, physician and dental offices I sought out evidence for what I already knew—that beautiful images can and do contribute to healing. What I found was fascinating and encouraging for serious photographers, amateurs and the public at large. Some of the more pertinent and useful findings are presented here in modified form, enough to demonstrate conclusively that art, and photographs in particular, significantly contribute to health and healing.
My primary source for what follows is A Guide to Evidence-Based Art, by Kathy Hathorn and Upali Nanda.
Research conclusion: “The evidence makes a strong case that art is a critical component of the healthcare environment, which can aid the healing process.” (Harris, McBride, 2002)
These studies and comments are significant for photographers whose intention is, at least in part, to produce images that have the potential for healing—by suggesting subject matter. Laura Landro’s finding that “Visual images positively affects stress, anxiety, fear and pain,” in hospital environments says to me that photographs can convey the same benefits in the home. As Linda and I have, I would encourage readers to select one or two of your most beautiful photographs to enlarge, frame and display in your home. If you don’t think you have some images that are suitable, take your camera to someplace beautiful—or find something or someone beautiful—and create.
References
Coss, R. G. (1990). Picture perception and patient stress: A study of anxiety reduction and postoperative stability. Unpublished paper, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis.
Eisen, S. (2005). Artfully designed pediatric environments. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University.
Harris, P. B., McBride, G., Ross, C., & Curtis, L. (2002). A place to heal: Environmental sources of satisfaction among hospital patients. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 1276–1299.
Heerwagen, J. (1990). The psychological aspects of windows and window design. Paper presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the Environmental Research Design Association, Oklahoma City, OK.
Miller, A. C., Hickman, L. C., & Lemasters, G. K. (1992). A distraction technique for control of burn pain. Journal of Burn Care Rehabilitation, 13(5), 576–580.
Nanda, U. & Hathorn, K. (2006). Current Research on Evidence-based Art Programs. Healthcare Design Conference. November 2-6. Dallas, Texas.
Orians, G. H. (n.d.).The Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts: An evolutionary perspective on aesthetics. Retrieved Jan, 15, 2007 from http://www.apa.org
Reber, R., Schwarz, N., & Winkielman, P. (2004). Processing fluency and aesthetic pleasure: Is beauty in the perceiver’s processing experience? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(4), 364–382.
Ulrich, R. S., Lundén, O., & Eltinge, J. L. (1993). Effects of exposure to nature and abstract pictures on patients recovering from heart surgery. Paper presented at the Thirty-Third Meetings of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Rottach-Egern, Germany. Abstract published in Psychophysiology, 30(Suppl. 1), 7.
Ulrich, R. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 4647, 420–421.
Ulrich, R. S., & Gilpin, L. (2003). Healing arts: Nutrition for the soul. In S. B. Frampton,L. Gilpin, & P. A. Charmel (Eds.), Putting patients first: Designing and practicing patient-centered care (pp. 117–146). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Contemplative Photography 