The Dubai Chronicles

Sunday, August 06, 2006

c h a r b y d i s . t r a p

shutter speed: 1/60 secs, aperture: f/4.5, iso: 200, focal length: 40mm, wb: auto, af-s nikkor 18-70mm dx, kaiser 67mm uv filter, tripod mount, manual focus, flash fired using nikon sb-800

charybdis, or kharybdis ("sucker down"), is a sea monster, daughter of poseidon and gaia, who swallows huge amounts of water three times a day and then belches them back out again. she takes form as a whirlpool and devours anything within range. she lays on one side of a narrow channel of water.

on the other side of the strait was scylla, another sea-monster. the two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range of each other, so close that sailors attempting to avoid charybdis will pass too close to scylla and vice versa. the phrase between scylla and charybdis has come to mean being in a state where one is between two dangers and moving away from one will cause you to be in danger from the other. between Scylla and Charybdis is the origin of the phrase "between the rock and the whirlpool" (the rock upon which scylla dwelt and the whirlpool of charybdis) and may be the genesis of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place".

the argonauts were able to avoid both dangers because they were guided by thetis, one of the nereids. according to homer's oddysey, odysseus was not so fortunate; he chose to risk Scylla at the cost of some of his crew rather than lose the whole ship to charybdis.

traditionally, the location of charybdis has been associated with the strait of messina off the coast of sicily, opposite the rock called scylla. the whirlpool there is caused by the meeting of currents, but is seldom dangerous. recently scholars have looked again at the location and suggested this association was a misidentification and that a more likely origin for the story could be found close by cape skilla in north west greece.

charybdis was originally a sea-nymph who flooded land to enlarge her father's underwater kingdom, until zeus turned her into a monster.

source: wikipedia

this was another experiment of water action. i setup the washing machine and filled it with water 3/4 full in order to be deep and have an effect of whirpool. i mounted the tripod near the side with a slight angle (70-80 degrees) from the top. since the tub is white, i poured a few amounts of fabric conditioner to have colors (azure) and little amounts of dirt to eliminate few bubbles. i turned on the timer for ten minutes to routinely spin and able to focus more near the "mouth" area. after a few shots and picked the best, i edited the image fit for dark mood thru photoshop.

more "greek mythology" themes to come...

What other people think:

<< Back to main page