The World Wide Panorama

Introduction

The World Wide Panorama event of the first quarter of 2022 is a collection of panoramas with the common theme of “Shape”.

Theme Essay: Shape

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.

Shape

Photography & Uploading: January 1 – March 31, 2022

by Ken A Butt

A Google search and Oxford Languages lists two distinct definition groups as a ‘noun’ or ‘verb’. The top listings for the former include: “the external form, contours, or outline of someone or something” and “a geometric figure such as a square, triangle, or rectangle”. The latter is “give a particular shape or form to - "most caves are shaped by the flow of water through limestone". This would indeed make a great segue into the thought streams of our caving members.

Of course, the word doesn’t end there. As a noun we can describe shape as a form, appearance, configuration, formation, structure, figure, build, physique, body, contours, lines, outline, silhouette, profile, design, format, cut, pattern, mold and others to be sure. As verb, we can also use the words form, fashion, make, create, mold, model, cast, frame, sculpt, block, carve, cut, hew, whittle and more.

There are so many ways to think of how shape is a part of our daily life; the structures that we live in and those that preserve forms of the past. We create shapes to express both memories of the past and shape our feelings in the present. Think of how the shaping of the past has shaped and still shaping our world, both physically and metaphorically.

Let’s continue this project and work on the shape of the WWP in years to come.