Oiseau de Paradis

Take a look at the picture below: it is beautiful.  Being an art major, I am always duly impressed by things that I can't do, by mediums that I could not master.  I never did get the chance to work with stone, or bronze, which was probably a good thing, seeing as how I couldn't even manipulate clay (3d art just isn't my cup of tea).  Look how expressive the angel is: the pose, the folds in the robes, the face.  You can only see a profile in this photograph, but you know it is filled with emotion and feeling.  It is incredible that this amount of detail can be coaxed from such a definite material.  The photograph itself is a piece of art.  This angel may evoke an entirely different interpretation from another angle, but the photographer chose this one, with the beautiful ceiling being another character in the composition.  He chose it for a reason, and the effect it creates is staggering.

(photo collected from beardbriarandrose)