The Art of Zoom-Out

This page is just for the joy of zooming-out.

It's a curiously curated collection of images, words, symbols, humour, metaphors, sounds, feelings, thoughts, imaginings, and other perspectives. No particular order. No particular point. Dip in anywhere.

“Inkblot Universe” Zoom-Out

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"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour." – William Blake, from Auguries of Innocence, 1803

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"The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye. The story of love is hello and goodbye – until we meet again." – Jimi Hendrix, 1970

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"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." – D.H. Lawrence, Self-Pity

"I wish I loved the Human Race; I wish I loved its silly face; I wish I loved the way it walks; I wish I loved the way it talks; and when I'm introduced to one, I wish I thought 'What Jolly Fun!'" – Sir Walter Raleigh, Wishes of an Elderly Man, 1914

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The Blue Marble

The photograph that literally caused the whole world to zoom-out – the story behind it, and what happened next, gets a page of its own – read it here.

"Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; but now I know it." – John Gay, My Own Epitaph, c.1720

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Pale Blue Dot

Voyager 1's last photograph home, and Carl Sagan's reflections on it, get a page of their own – read it here.

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"What are days for? Days are where we live." – Philip Larkin, from Days, 1953

"I have suffered a great many misfortunes in my life, most of which never happened." – often attributed to Mark Twain

"In this short Life that only lasts an hour, how much – how little – is within our power." – Emily Dickinson

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Bill Hicks – "It's Just a Ride"

Already has a page of its own too – read it here.

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"People are not disturbed by events but by the view they hold about them." – Epictetus, Stoic philosopher, AD 55–135

"Nobody heard him, the dead man, but still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought, and not waving but drowning." – Stevie Smith, from Not Waving but Drowning, 1957

George Carlin on Saving the Planet

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"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday, christened on Tuesday, married on Wednesday, took ill on Thursday, grew worse on Friday, died on Saturday, buried on Sunday. That was the end of Solomon Grundy." – English nursery rhyme, Anon

"Other people are not put on this earth to be mechanisms for you to achieve your ends. Think about this until it really sinks in." – Srikumar S. Rao, Happiness at Work

The Skip – James Fenton

A reading of James Fenton's poem The Skip – Fenton is an English poet, journalist, and former Oxford Professor of Poetry.

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The Time Machine – H.G. Wells

The Time Machine is H.G. Wells' foundational 1895 science-fiction novel, credited with popularising the very idea of time travel via a vehicle built for the purpose – Wells coined the term "time machine" itself. It's been adapted into films, television, and comics ever since, and has quietly shaped almost every time-travel story that followed it.

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Cosmic soup did come from a tin,
A tiny, teeny, tiny tin.
And before that tin, there was no tin,
No tin, no tin, nothin'.
So before that tin, there was nothin' to put IT in.
In fact, there was nothing to put nothing in either.
For nothing was not even ether.
And the ether was not nothing either.
So there was a time for the tin,
But no time before tin.
For the time that we're in,
Did come from the tin that we're in.
Well does all this matter?
Well it's why we're matter!
And if you don't like soup,
There's toast to look forward to!

– Rob Aston, Cosmic Soup, Sheffield, 4 November 2007 (written at 3:50am, straight from a dream – unedited)

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Oceans new beat oceans past.
Across the seas of moments lost.
Walk with me in the here and now.
Discover the golden life in the cold rock.
Cliffs above us at once may fall.
The ground beneath our feet.
Will beat a hasty retreat.
But this day will last forever.
Lovers transcend the sands end.

– Rob Aston, Sandsend, written on Sandsend beach, North Yorkshire, 29 August 2009

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Art of the Underground

Three of Rob's own sketch-style photographs from the London Underground, 2017.