Murmur

A small black bird, the European Starling is known for flocking in astonishing numbers, occasionally totaling over one million individual birds in one flock.  Not only are starling flocks large, but they expand, contract, and spiral in breathtaking unison, without any apparent leader.  In his series Murmur, photographer Richard Barnes has captured the spectacular aerial displays of the thousands upon thousands of starlings that gather annually in Rome, Italy.  Barnes' beautiful grainy black and white photographs call attention to a slew of issues involving science while achieving powerful emotional impact.

At first look, Barnes' photographs appear to be swirling clouds of gritty smoke or dark leaves.  On closer inspection (by viewing the photos large), one can see that the tiny objects are in fact the shapes of birds.  Barnes has done a wonderful job capturing many scales of starling flocks in a single frame, overlaying the seemingly sporadic patterns of closer birds with the tight clusters of birds further in the distance.  The perplexing shapes of the formations turn out to be the result of decisions made by living organisms rather than just scattered objects in the wind.  Barnes makes excellent use of film grain in many of his photos, allowing the sizes and contrast of the bird shapes to approach the size and appearance of the film grain.  The result is a sea of dark splotches, some are birds, and some are grains of background tone.  Where do the organisms begin, and the particles end?

The flocking Barnes has recorded in Murmur are stunning examples of emergent behavior in complex systems.   A hot topic in science, computer engineering, and design, emergence describes the behavior of complex systems and structures that arise out of simple rules or interactions.  Some scientists believe that starlings flock in order to avoid predators, but the reasons for their peculiar and breathtaking style is still unknown.   This fact makes Barnes' beautiful photographs appear even more dark and ominous.

This month's issue of Seed Magazine profiles Murmur, and displays several two-page spreads of the photos.  Picking up this copy (May/June 2008) is well work it.  Also read Jonathon Rosenthal's illuminating article about Barnes and starlings from the New York Times. 

All photos are from Barnes' website.

Comments

[Web Development Surrey]

Nice post,
Sometimes they make the most beautiful constolations,
Thanks for writing about it