Jim Richardson

Patterns - Of Our Workings

Without intention. Without plans. Like bees in a hive, humans create patterns on the land from their labors and toils, from their gatherings and their solitudes, from calculations and mere necessity. Without design great order emerges, from mundane tasks subtle grace arises. No blueprint is necessary. But the beauty is no less a miracle for the lack of a plan or a planner. 

Wheat harvest in Kansas.

Farming in Washington.

Sailboats at low tide, Edinburgh.

Whisky casks on Islay, Scotland.

Westray, Orkney, Scotland.

Sandhills ranchers, Nebraska.

Sheep sale, Lairg, Scotland.

Stone fence, Flint Hills, Kansas.

All images ©Jim Richardson

Patterns - Of Our Living

Chaos seems to rule our daily lives. The blizzard of problems, events, meetings, small triumphs, frustrations, chance encounters, dreaded confrontations, long-for moments of loving and bliss –– all of it overwhelms us and we are often left wondering what it all means. But from one step removed, just a few thousand feet in the air, the patterns are revealed. Somehow, in each little step of life, we make something larger, something more permanent that we intended, and something more orderly that we knew.

It is worth considering and it may even be comforting, if only for a few moments.

Chicago as the clouds drifted in from the lake.

Stromness in Orkney, Scotland, a very old whaling village in the North Sea.

 

The abandoned village on Hirta, St. Kilda, Scotland.

Central Park in New York City.

 

 

Hill fort and farms in the Aran Islands, Ireland.

 

A lone church on Egilsay, Orkney, Scotland.

All images ©Jim Richardson