The World Wide Panorama

Introduction

The World Wide Panorama event of the first quarter of 2020 is a collection of panoramas with the common theme of “Change”.

Theme Essay: Change

The essay conveys the team’s idea of the event. It is usually published together with the Theme announcement and offers a starting point for the contributing photographers.

CHANGE

by Carsten T. Rees

The Only Thing Constant Is Change.

This proverb is attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesos – c. 535 – c. 475 BC. His very special philosophy earned him the epithet “The Obscure”.

Now, the new theme for the World Wide Panorama Event Q1/2020 is “Change”. This theme has received the most votes in our little survey.

Why “Change”?

It seems that this theme has hit a nerve since we all are experiencing changes all around. The general perception is that these changes are getting both more in number and faster in speed. They occur in science, in politics, in art, in society, in communities and in families (for sure this list is by far not complete).

We humans are always somewhat torn between the two poles Constancy and Change. We sure need a certain amount of constant things around us: in our family, our community and society … otherwise we‘d feel rootless or even haunted. On the other hand a world without change would at least be enormously boring if not even deadly boring.

But one thing is for sure: “One cannot step into the same river twice” as again Heraclitus said to illustrate the constant flow of time and of the water in that river. For sure? The Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951 AD) contradicted Heraclitus by saying “Of course one can step into the same river twice.” Surely, it is the water in the river that changes constantly – but does that make the river change all that fast?

There you go: a bit of philosophy on a new theme!

You have voted. It is now up to you, to bring a panoramic universe of “Change” to the WWP. We are really curious and eager to see your contributions!