ideal seeing

Astronomers sometimes use this phrase to describe skies that are most clear for their work. The atmosphere doesn't obscure the view and accurate observations may be made.

One can explore pages of a book that draws their attention, in this instance using the same tools as those employed in previous examples. Subjectivity influences how they are used, what adjustments are made. The data is really in the page though, and in that fact, a certain objectivity exists.

unheimlich

This term refers to the uncanny, that widely known but hard to describe feeling of strangeness and alienation. Heidegger characterized it as though feeling Not at Home, also the name of my project of photographs made at night. A selection of them are part of the 62nd Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, open until October 4, 2009 and on display at the Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave., Rochester, NY. They and others from the project may be seen at davidmount.org.

discovery

Enhancing the visual sense with specialized tools is not new. Telescopes and microscopes have long been employed for this task. Part of the physical realm, they extend the range of what's visible to reveal what had been hidden, and perhaps novel truths. Newer means to this end include modeling and image processing, reasonable constructs of the digital realm. As with the earlier equipment, their use is an opportunity to view what can be seen in no other way, and to imagine oneself as an explorer witnessing a scene for the first time ever.

The active recipient surveys the digital realm using tools natural to that sphere. Found in this case is text that illuminates itself: a prose recast in a way not dreamt of by the original author.