Sam Santoro

For my concentration, I chose to focus on the 4 elements of matter; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I’ve always been fascinated by these 4 core elements and their history. They have been portrayed in cartoons such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Frozen II, but I wanted to show the elements in the real world.

The ancient Greeks believed that everything was made up of the 4 elements. This theory was the basis for science for two thousand years, and was even supported by Aristotle. The elements were believed to be pure, but never appeared in that state on Earth; everything was made up of some mixture of the elements. Although this idea has been proven false, there is a resemblance of the elements in the states of matter. Earth is solid, water is liquid, air is gas, and fire is plasma.

I wanted to show the beauty of these elements through my photographs. For Earth, I focused on rocks, wood, leaves, and dirt, which all occur naturally on Earth. For Water, I wanted to show the movement and ripples that give life to the water. For Fire, I wanted to highlight the beautiful orange-yellow color of the flames. Since I took the photos at night, I think the color of the flames and embers came through nicely. Lastly, I tried to portray Air through wind and clouds. This was the hardest element to photograph, as air is not visible. Overall, I wanted to show the beauty of the elements of matter.

I enjoyed taking photos for this project, as it gave me the opportunity to explore some of the simple wonders of our world. As these elements can be often overlooked, I enjoyed being able to show their beauty up close. I hope that my work will inspire others to go out and explore Earth more. The elements are all around us, all we have to do is look.