tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87923491366229902692024-03-27T02:38:01.049-04:00What I SawChris Bonneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08000537083398732641noreply@blogger.comBlogger832125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-68857653127273519822014-07-14T05:30:00.000-04:002014-07-14T05:30:01.609-04:00The Octopus' Garden
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-U_3b9-bCt1XKclFDgjQsquCNMIOV8bHG4LuR7JUCM3IOe49sWAzgHWkP78Qk_yEoFC1-6G5DiGXq0ic3-vidIXPpcosjCsJ2e8-je0OPVzfwvJk_qFAHy_mjHIC4y9bC6wmdBH8SyZU/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+(detail).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-U_3b9-bCt1XKclFDgjQsquCNMIOV8bHG4LuR7JUCM3IOe49sWAzgHWkP78Qk_yEoFC1-6G5DiGXq0ic3-vidIXPpcosjCsJ2e8-je0OPVzfwvJk_qFAHy_mjHIC4y9bC6wmdBH8SyZU/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+(detail).jpg" height="227" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>At the Lake Bottom (detail)</i>, 2014</span></span></span></div>
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</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to
see larger.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span>I'd
like to be under the sea<br />
In an octopus's garden in the shade<br />
He'd let us in, knows where we've been<br />
In his octopus's garden in the shade</span></i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Beatles lovers will recall these
lyrics from Ringo Starr’s <i>The Octopus’s
Garden.</i> Grammar apparently is <i>not </i>Ringo’s
strong card, but maybe the additional s after a plural possessive is one of
those British things. In any event, I borrow them here because they’re the
first thing I thought of when I saw the view above. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">[You might want to click on these images to see them larger.] </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A few weeks ago I happened to
find myself in Keystone Heights, Florida, a small town in North Central Florida
that appears to have had nothing major going on for it but a location among a
variety of spring fed lakes.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the biggest of these, formerly
covering nearly 650 acres, is Lake Brooklyn. Local lore has it that the lake’s
named for the many Northerners who came down and settled around its shores.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I say <i>formerly </i>because over the last sixty years Lake Brooklyn has been
emptying. Most of pristine white sand beaches are well above and hundreds of
feet away from the nearest water. The man resting his feet in the scene above
would have in days past been fifteen feet or so under water. Now the deepest
place he can find in the lake isn’t even deep enough to submerge his beach
chair.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeTr6eNpzSFnnUO7ABPPu-E0TGG-MiGWIXqZADWDeLby5PbLYgxoRnGxhPbgwlf6KVo6WgrXmRVkgz6ub3j_3v1x0TaNBCjO4hFyUCePK5eYVLyRFiNzDREUDaVefOGKeeFEt_RSvAPBR/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+Pano+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeTr6eNpzSFnnUO7ABPPu-E0TGG-MiGWIXqZADWDeLby5PbLYgxoRnGxhPbgwlf6KVo6WgrXmRVkgz6ub3j_3v1x0TaNBCjO4hFyUCePK5eYVLyRFiNzDREUDaVefOGKeeFEt_RSvAPBR/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+Pano+3.jpg" height="83" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>At the Lake Bottom (full view)</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hydrological analyses blame evaporation,
diminished rainfall and Florida’s famously porous limestone foundation for the
lake’s demise. Locals, on the other hand, believe Lake Brooklyn was the victim
of progress and politics; namely, that a state water commission diverted water
from the aquifer that fed Lake Brooklyn to industrial users and to the booming
Orlando/Kissimmee metropolitan area to the south.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9j0nHv3IrYVqjh6gbTDcMMN1Yrc3tCNwAqxMxTpg8qc2v4DL49mpvJC-nGrnbZtXeKh8L6W6FCzuNugAGfysmR2zbgY_7ZifWPkb3YeYPacBjR8knJq4A6jZJbcyfRZPpZcPkd-X-bw9D/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+069.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9j0nHv3IrYVqjh6gbTDcMMN1Yrc3tCNwAqxMxTpg8qc2v4DL49mpvJC-nGrnbZtXeKh8L6W6FCzuNugAGfysmR2zbgY_7ZifWPkb3YeYPacBjR8knJq4A6jZJbcyfRZPpZcPkd-X-bw9D/s1600/Lake+Brooklyn+069.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
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</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Save Our Lakes, </i>2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If this sounds like something
out of <i>Chinatown, </i>it’s because that’s
how some people in Keystone Heights talk about it. When a local resident
burning some trash in the former lakebed saw me taking pictures, he was so convinced
I was a state employee that he ran indoors to get a gun with which to threaten
me. We eventually got things cleared up, but that gives you an idea of the
intensity of feelings about the lake. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span> </span></span></span></div>
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</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-27053623922973756562014-06-16T05:30:00.000-04:002014-06-16T05:30:02.300-04:00Interrupting the Divine
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6yZuheoTqNzkaywyQ7qkampuHfpYfUqx8WZbcKEXEZr5OCWVD6Oc3KYPSd6avmH8ZUWjjyt4vtmAyjJnJzXJArIhbUS2ZP9x-PCMyAezSlxzK2jkmVE4wbp3lc0mWSI44LJb12odagAG6/s1600/4-30-13+013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6yZuheoTqNzkaywyQ7qkampuHfpYfUqx8WZbcKEXEZr5OCWVD6Oc3KYPSd6avmH8ZUWjjyt4vtmAyjJnJzXJArIhbUS2ZP9x-PCMyAezSlxzK2jkmVE4wbp3lc0mWSI44LJb12odagAG6/s1600/4-30-13+013.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Pond</i>, 2013</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I should stipulate that I don’t
have a problem with frogs, squirrels, raccoons, birds, muskrats, rabbits, turtles
and snakes that live in our yard, although I’m sure most of them would agree
that we’ll get along better as long as we do so out of each others’ sight.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nature’s been having something
of a folly in our neighborhood lately. Some of it’s nothing short of majestic,
as when a bald eagle lands in a tree in your front yard. Some of it’s a little
scary, like when a coyote shows up at the light cast from a neighbor’s fire
pit. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My concerns are more mundane.
Takes the foxes, for example. The first ten years we were here it was a major
event if we saw one. Now they show up most every day. Coming home from a dinner
out one night last summer we came upon a half dozen or so fox kittens
frolicking in the street, their mother standing guard at the corner to make
sure no one ran them over. Just the other morning while we were sitting at the
breakfast table we watched a fox pounce on a squirrel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJn55G9RgdJegctBa7jgMuRag5AUuUC5rfcUV6wGoitsG8uzZgVUWmp_4v3NyRUsh8rczOPuf_vrgpCAA0C2pL8WOdwA4uotoiWFOtsMIOWcqZXbfYaBT1o7njL1lsZgT-BG3XRXpai7VT/s1600/Foxes.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJn55G9RgdJegctBa7jgMuRag5AUuUC5rfcUV6wGoitsG8uzZgVUWmp_4v3NyRUsh8rczOPuf_vrgpCAA0C2pL8WOdwA4uotoiWFOtsMIOWcqZXbfYaBT1o7njL1lsZgT-BG3XRXpai7VT/s1600/Foxes.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Little Foxes</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Twice in the last several summers
I’ve had to rescue the frogs that live in the little pond in our back yard from
snakes. Both times I arrived on the scene just as the snake had attacked the
frog. Both times the frog emerged alive and went on to croak another day. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The most recent slaying was last
week. I came upon a young otherwise harmless water snake trying to swallow a
frog about five times as large as his mouth. It was a classic standoff. The
snake, which would have normally slithered into the bushes upon sensing my
approach, was fully exposed and wouldn’t move lest he lose the frog. The frog
didn’t have much say. His head was in the snake’s mouth. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I gave the snake a chance to let
the frog go. But if you know snakes, you know there’s no talking to them. He
wouldn’t let go. I had a shovel. The snake became history. Like the earlier
encounter, as soon as I severed the snake’s neck, his mouth went slack, the
frog jumped out and, shaking himself off, hopped away.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was telling this story last
week to a friend who is very religious. He sat quietly for a moment and then
said, “So how’s that going, interrupting the Divine and all?” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Well, I thought, I saved the
life of a frog. All things considered, I value any creature that helps keep the
mosquito population under control more than I value a snake. (If the snake
would work on some of the voles in the garden I might be willing to change his
status.) And if we’re going to be all biblical about it, isn’t the snake the
metaphor for all things evil? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That didn’t satisfy my friend.
And I suppose I did interfere with the natural food chain and kill a creature
that otherwise posed no harm to me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For now, though, I’m still
siding with the frog.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-84262826286968203732014-05-19T05:30:00.000-04:002014-05-19T05:30:02.297-04:00At The Castle
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2m900K8ia9ne18vaKPito05ARh6qs_Al1sNdBjxCz4x3sD3yU7nDJW4Wbv5cCDXbBD6phBYliNBKDzRXMBr767EoXQAiFLZPx8PT68jFn-bVicTpIl4Y4PQtlI00zaZpq16JeakFNBdw/s1600/Tarrytown+006+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ2m900K8ia9ne18vaKPito05ARh6qs_Al1sNdBjxCz4x3sD3yU7nDJW4Wbv5cCDXbBD6phBYliNBKDzRXMBr767EoXQAiFLZPx8PT68jFn-bVicTpIl4Y4PQtlI00zaZpq16JeakFNBdw/s1600/Tarrytown+006+BW.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Castle @ Tarrytown 6</i>, 2014</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpop23ymzJnp1lmQKYtLN1SBTKSn15HnT9LKigqBB_gyTGfSx_tTGp_FHFLUd5xSwJ0I5wK2mLiIwnThnUx0vogdOWbMGmGUZ8okFMtf-_muhdXd7oB0LEogNWZNMZazp8nU5S0dCBZda8/s1600/Tarrytown+008+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you were to have a few
thousand bucks to blow in the New York area and wanted to get away from the hustle
and bustle of Manhattan, you could do worse than to fetch up at the <a href="http://www.castlehotelandspa.com/" target="_blank">Castle Resort& Spa</a><span> </span>in Tarrytown, about an hour north of the city.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Castle started out in 1897
as the rural retreat of a respected New York businessman and his family. The
owners entertained lavishly and made additions to the castle—apparently 45
rooms was not enough—as the events they hosted became bigger and more people
were invited to attend them. Over the years the castle passed to different
owners and eventually became the posh hotel and spa of today.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While out looking around Tarrytown
one morning recently, my sister and I happened upon The Castle. It’s actually
hard to miss since it sits atop one of the highest hills in town. We parked the
car and walked around the grounds a bit. At one point we walked into the lobby,
hoping to get a quick glance at whatever grandeur we might be allowed to see.
Two cordial front desk personnel greeted us and welcomed us to look around. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We saw enough to conclude that
we’d probably have to take our second mortgages to stay at a place like this.
And I have to admit it was just a bit creepy to look over our shoulders as we
wandered around and notice that there was just about always a hotel staffer
either trailing us or watching us from a window. (Maybe they’ve learned not to
be trustful of people who arrive in Volkswagens?)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpop23ymzJnp1lmQKYtLN1SBTKSn15HnT9LKigqBB_gyTGfSx_tTGp_FHFLUd5xSwJ0I5wK2mLiIwnThnUx0vogdOWbMGmGUZ8okFMtf-_muhdXd7oB0LEogNWZNMZazp8nU5S0dCBZda8/s1600/Tarrytown+008+BW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpop23ymzJnp1lmQKYtLN1SBTKSn15HnT9LKigqBB_gyTGfSx_tTGp_FHFLUd5xSwJ0I5wK2mLiIwnThnUx0vogdOWbMGmGUZ8okFMtf-_muhdXd7oB0LEogNWZNMZazp8nU5S0dCBZda8/s1600/Tarrytown+008+BW.jpg" height="400" width="265" /> </a></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Castle @ Tarrytown 8</i>, 2014</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span> </span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Castle’s actually a very
nice place, even in my pictures make it look a little foreboding. If it’s
important that you uphold a certain image, they can arrange the rental of a <span>Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley
or Mercedes if you want to explore the local towns. Or, if you’re feeling
especially flush, why not rent a helicopter? Round-trip fares from lower lower
Manhattan start at $1,750 (tips and taxes not included). This may sound high.
But heck, you’ll be in Tarrytown faster than you can say “My hedge fund is
doing better than your hedge fund.” </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-63943201591836408332014-04-14T05:30:00.000-04:002014-04-14T05:30:01.748-04:00Further Self Examination
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVCyVHNGD5XfA4wP7TjiOH1oAalXsfu5UBNxh_hBRmr_sxdVpfY4oNpGnrbo4yL_MGGU7W8UYuUQ_HOjZiPin_ogqYBqqnKuddX4exBi_HjqqDOsJR2DjkuNWqNTsLV3XGaNr4OAOnVM7/s1600/Biannual+Self+Portrait+on+Vanderbilt+Avenue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5ML_9jLpVmTCbbXJd09PdwZ8_rZZ_wvsKGJ1bPZ-CZlHRInngzgvGH5WT3-w-8Hm0UPeOcVzpG-4smuBCzuNtgdCzPBWvpGqKGoQDiDm7JjXNhsBC8sc0YhWq0upeyrrjk3OOu0UKSYV/s1600/Self+portrait+@+16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5ML_9jLpVmTCbbXJd09PdwZ8_rZZ_wvsKGJ1bPZ-CZlHRInngzgvGH5WT3-w-8Hm0UPeOcVzpG-4smuBCzuNtgdCzPBWvpGqKGoQDiDm7JjXNhsBC8sc0YhWq0upeyrrjk3OOu0UKSYV/s1600/Self+portrait+@+16.jpg" height="276" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait @ 16</i>, 1968</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click
on images to see larger)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m afraid you’re going to be
seeing a lot more of me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can blame this on my artist
friend Ellen. In the course of my “week of self-indulgence,” Ellen commented: </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>“</i><span class="uficommentbody"><i><span>You are having fun with this
idea, aren't you? I would be, too. Carry on! You will have quite the collection
before you know it.”</span></i></span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can also blame Ken, a poet
and esteemed professor of poetry. Seeing this series of self-portraits, Ken
recalled Edward Arlington Robinson’s poem <i>Rembrandt
to Rembrandt</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ll confess that I probably
haven’t read anything by Edward Arlington Robinson since high school. But I did
track down and read <i>Rembrandt to Rembrandt</i>,
even the obscure parts about Samson, Apollo’s house and the matter of some
fifty Dutch florins. You can read it <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/233/815.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It opens with these lines:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>And there you are
again, now as you are.</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Observe yourself as
you discern yourself</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>In your credited
ascendency;</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Without your velvet or
your feathers now,</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Commend your new
condition to your fate,</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>And your conviction to
the sieves of time.</i></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> I’ve neither velvet nor
feathers. If I ever did they were probably metaphorical and I probably
squandered them because I didn’t recognize them for what they were. Still, the
encouragement of Ellen and Ken compelled me to go back through my archive of photographs
and discover that my self-portraits aren’t just a recent phenomenon, but
instead date back to my youth. Seen in sequence, they trace an interesting path
of life. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This shouldn’t surprise me. If
you hang around photography long enough, there are any number of themes you’ll pursue.
Some you’ll recognize and some you won’t. The observational photographer will
quietly, and sometimes without even noticing it, make vast series of
photographs around specific themes or ideas and not discover what he’s been
doing until the critical mass of images falls off the edge of his desk (and
that’s no metaphor). </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There’s no magic to my trove of self-portraits.
Some were exercises in artistic curiosity or technical experimentation. Some are
the result of being the designated family photographer, especially the
designated family travel photographer, which means that when you travel you
bring home lots of pictures, but you’re not in any of them. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When this happens, you start
looking for reflective surfaces so that you can document that <i>you were there. </i>I took hundreds of
pictures of Rome when my wife and daughter and I went there years ago. I’m
pretty sure the only visual record of my presence on that trip, though, is a
partial reflection in a silver coffee pot. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVCyVHNGD5XfA4wP7TjiOH1oAalXsfu5UBNxh_hBRmr_sxdVpfY4oNpGnrbo4yL_MGGU7W8UYuUQ_HOjZiPin_ogqYBqqnKuddX4exBi_HjqqDOsJR2DjkuNWqNTsLV3XGaNr4OAOnVM7/s1600/Biannual+Self+Portrait+on+Vanderbilt+Avenue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBVCyVHNGD5XfA4wP7TjiOH1oAalXsfu5UBNxh_hBRmr_sxdVpfY4oNpGnrbo4yL_MGGU7W8UYuUQ_HOjZiPin_ogqYBqqnKuddX4exBi_HjqqDOsJR2DjkuNWqNTsLV3XGaNr4OAOnVM7/s1600/Biannual+Self+Portrait+on+Vanderbilt+Avenue.jpg" height="320" width="400" /></a><i> </i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Biannual Self-Portrait on Vanderbilt Ave</i>,
2010</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But seriously, you’ll just have
to bear up with these images until they run their course. I don’t know if I’m
trying to find something in them or something about myself or perhaps some
higher artistic expression for them. All I can say for now is that I won’t know
until they’re all out on the table. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I thank you for your patience.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-85319699581729111092014-04-07T05:30:00.000-04:002014-04-07T09:08:42.699-04:00A Week of Self-Indulgence. No, make that "Art."<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46X2Bdsk_OoU0RYDBWyo43Agh9pN1TddxEtX_xjc89k2dbkSPARtlSVAlUj6pU3ODnBNVd3JOj5FPn1wzbC0gN9HzmRBEXkOaZyygOSeClMQLF5aD3pj8zirFAzZpgTYQGtLzxw3K-oNR/s1600/Chris+ring+flash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46X2Bdsk_OoU0RYDBWyo43Agh9pN1TddxEtX_xjc89k2dbkSPARtlSVAlUj6pU3ODnBNVd3JOj5FPn1wzbC0gN9HzmRBEXkOaZyygOSeClMQLF5aD3pj8zirFAzZpgTYQGtLzxw3K-oNR/s1600/Chris+ring+flash.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait in Ring Light</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click
on images to see larger)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where is the line between art
and narcissism? Or should it be between narcissism and art? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Most photographers make
photographs <i>of </i>things or <i>of </i>people. But some have made names for
themselves by instead making photographs of themselves. Just recently <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2014/02/seeing-themselves-photographers-self-portraits.html#slide_ss_0=1" target="_blank">The New Yorker magazine did aninteresting feature</a> on photographers’ self-portraits. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I can’t think of anyone who’s taken
self-portraiture to such heights as <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=cody+sherman&client=firefox-a&hs=lwd&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=l-lBU5v1BqasyAHovoDYBA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAw&biw=2373&bih=1084#channel=sb&q=cindy%20sherman%20art&revid=1279971332&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&tbm=isch&imgdii=_" target="_blank">Cindy Sherman, who dresses and changes her appearance to masquerade as different personas</a>. Sherman’s work is widely
admired and collected as high art, while most other self-portraits are not.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To be honest, it’s taken me a
while to come around to seeing Sherman’s work as anything more than novelty,
albeit extremely well done novelty. But then again I didn’t attend art school
and frequently find myself giggling at a lot of the MFA-speak used in high
photographic art and criticism circles. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But having made fun of that, let
me show just how shallow and inconsistent I can be by sharing some of my own
self-portraits. My contributions to this <i>oeuvre
</i>are not exactly “selfies,” though they are in many cases impromptu. But
neither are they high art in the “Let’s reach into the makeup drawer and dress-up box” context of Cindy Sherman.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mine are experiments. They’re
technical exercises, rather than conceptual explorations of self. Some are
about place and others are about lighting. In New York recently I found myself
taking a lot of pictures of myself in reflection of other people’s art. That’s
about as high concept as it gets with me right now. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m presenting these in the
interest of displaying my experimentation. If you’re inclined to see these
images as self-indulgence or, more seriously, the onset of a serious narcissism,
you’ll just have to bear with it. The practical fact is that on most days I’m
the only model I have. So you’re going to see a lot of me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEHnvtlUQesYYk_Tu_4WxNA0Uj2hpEYXN-7PVp8LexVemoGxWFBp3did6HpWaK6xCzyXNjGxi5C1hVqPY0qf4TKVKXw_ALMFtMNJoY3h4_a_92y5X9SbjXI2iQIfFfshQbAYBrH0PCBNZ/s1600/Chris+in+Rothko.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEHnvtlUQesYYk_Tu_4WxNA0Uj2hpEYXN-7PVp8LexVemoGxWFBp3did6HpWaK6xCzyXNjGxi5C1hVqPY0qf4TKVKXw_ALMFtMNJoY3h4_a_92y5X9SbjXI2iQIfFfshQbAYBrH0PCBNZ/s1600/Chris+in+Rothko.jpg" height="326" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait in Mark Rothko</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVArWM6NlBun4QvdwuOrFg08KfVT6z_YCqPGbpf3Txc2xHm0XGdus-Es5KhHByyog7-zkH1ku1vYe5RmGJbYxIVxv2JJDouiMPoIQZpZJFDQKf0xdaslSf4QAejfPz-gyNRu-5V3hyphenhyphenRzsG/s1600/Chris+in+Donald+Judd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVArWM6NlBun4QvdwuOrFg08KfVT6z_YCqPGbpf3Txc2xHm0XGdus-Es5KhHByyog7-zkH1ku1vYe5RmGJbYxIVxv2JJDouiMPoIQZpZJFDQKf0xdaslSf4QAejfPz-gyNRu-5V3hyphenhyphenRzsG/s1600/Chris+in+Donald+Judd.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait in Donald Judd</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuewsq0ZybZYpMpJFPvPQgtiqsFMe2ltyTE9yrpncXfh8hiV0cX2Lw5kYV4BVJHSLHzVxYXRcyBcivDN096UVZKMj19l_tsBG3eBd9zG-cRXsfeUVxlvNGugrHeqgEJMbP3_AgELv777J/s1600/Chris+@+Christies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuewsq0ZybZYpMpJFPvPQgtiqsFMe2ltyTE9yrpncXfh8hiV0cX2Lw5kYV4BVJHSLHzVxYXRcyBcivDN096UVZKMj19l_tsBG3eBd9zG-cRXsfeUVxlvNGugrHeqgEJMbP3_AgELv777J/s1600/Chris+@+Christies.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait @ Christie’s</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOmu5lZriS1lCKZdVSXtkbAoh67qWqa-nbWFs2lWxa6HbyfVmfQhzW5zVshoK5pXcur87A00B8DItk4aCarqoTStsiQ5Rp10o05sfmtQLNkqOcANuLjyWOBM0oAusdQJsRH6g-S0-f5bA/s1600/Chris+@+ICP.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOmu5lZriS1lCKZdVSXtkbAoh67qWqa-nbWFs2lWxa6HbyfVmfQhzW5zVshoK5pXcur87A00B8DItk4aCarqoTStsiQ5Rp10o05sfmtQLNkqOcANuLjyWOBM0oAusdQJsRH6g-S0-f5bA/s1600/Chris+@+ICP.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Self-Portrait @ ICP</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-48618459859600055822014-03-31T05:30:00.000-04:002014-03-31T05:30:02.158-04:00For Today, I'm Harry
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4U-QUjXbY-dyeLZS86LsOSfnohS5vWSD8rve6zyJVipI_c0Ml-oD8GGhEgvTS1tdiBNFbIL1FTSCZVbwrsrQRiZTTP0NVRFTaX-YVpK9WqoFVcdbz2MX-DEnMvLiymUcCbk2VxtG0Dzu/s1600/Harry.+For+Today.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4U-QUjXbY-dyeLZS86LsOSfnohS5vWSD8rve6zyJVipI_c0Ml-oD8GGhEgvTS1tdiBNFbIL1FTSCZVbwrsrQRiZTTP0NVRFTaX-YVpK9WqoFVcdbz2MX-DEnMvLiymUcCbk2VxtG0Dzu/s1600/Harry.+For+Today.jpg" height="290" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Harry, for Today</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(Click on images to see larger)</span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To set the stage: I’m in New
York on a Saturday morning, walking from the West Village over to Little Italy
to see a friend’s photography that’s on temporary exhibit at a very fancy men’s
clothing boutique. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The venue shouldn’t be a
surprise. My friend’s a fashionable guy. The boutique is the kind of place
where, were I to shop there, your impression of me as a stylish guy would skyrocket
in direct proportion to the drain on my checkbook.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rather than ducking along the
more colorful side streets, as is my usual habit, I instead took the more
direct route across lower Manhattan on Houston Street. Houston’s not as
multicultural as Canal Street. It’s not as touristy as Broadway. It’s a busy
thoroughfare with seven lanes of traffic. But there are street vendors along
its southern side and it still has a bit of a raffish edge, having not yet
attained quite the same gentrified status of nearby Soho. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are lots of interesting
looking people on Houston Street. If I hadn’t been conscious of the time—I was
trying to see four photography exhibits in one day—I’d have stopped and
photographed a lot of them. The neat thing about New York is that you can stand
on a street corner most anywhere in the city and you’ll have more than enough
material to keep your camera busy. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But as it was I only seemed to
notice this guy smoking a cigarette outside a barbershop at the corner of
Houston and MacDougal.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Harry’s Corner Shop looks like a
clean enough place for a haircut. There are no old men cutting hair, no
pictures on the wall of dogs playing cards, and I’d laid odds on there not
being so much as a whiff of Vitalis in the air. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I walked by the guy at first.
Then it occurred to me that he might be worth photographing. I turned around
and walked back and asked him if he’d mind. He said, “Sure,” and invited me to
have a haircut. “I do all the Morgan Stanley guys,” he claimed. (Do <i>I </i>look like I work a Morgan Stanley?) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I did need a haircut. But I
wasn’t going to do it at Harry’s. I made several photographs of the guy. In my
haste I forget Rule #1 of the Harvey Stein School of Street Portraiture, which
is to make sure the subject looks directly into the camera. Doh!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That’s only partially true. I
did have the guy look directly at the camera once. But that’s only because he
insisted I take a photograph of him in front of the shop to demonstrate to his
boss, who’d been yelling to him to get back to work, that he was busy drumming
up business. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Before I continued on, I asked
whether Harry’s is his. “Are you Harry?” I asked, hoping to engage him long
enough for a few more pictures. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He hesitated for a moment and answered,
“For today, I’m Harry.” <span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxiTietwwHS-D7u7GIY0gjaLk1BhkjW51HJIxx0MioIDdNHyGM3SNGibyF_Qc8vGO8WaMbheeBkXzE7GKy-p2wxgkACAYfdJl5NpCQl-AjVUt8lMbFVu2QYXsUQKJZKn9D6whSCiqyyQH/s1600/Harry+Out+Front.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxiTietwwHS-D7u7GIY0gjaLk1BhkjW51HJIxx0MioIDdNHyGM3SNGibyF_Qc8vGO8WaMbheeBkXzE7GKy-p2wxgkACAYfdJl5NpCQl-AjVUt8lMbFVu2QYXsUQKJZKn9D6whSCiqyyQH/s1600/Harry+Out+Front.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Harry Out Front</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
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</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-67099386531712880372014-03-24T05:30:00.000-04:002014-03-24T05:30:04.161-04:00Age Trumps Death
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKZt7JvBX9h2po27F18KAySPHQz40z1al35l9HL2neyiGoVTD2nVKec1Agdr2ew2XASgnyfKmm3ONdeZenaPjfuO8a_a-ZqNwHkT1_ah5a8drXiHD-qQBEIVAZmvC8Ser1Lf_Kn3j13r1/s1600/Flash+219+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKZt7JvBX9h2po27F18KAySPHQz40z1al35l9HL2neyiGoVTD2nVKec1Agdr2ew2XASgnyfKmm3ONdeZenaPjfuO8a_a-ZqNwHkT1_ah5a8drXiHD-qQBEIVAZmvC8Ser1Lf_Kn3j13r1/s1600/Flash+219+crop.jpg" height="396" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>This is 62</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">(Click on image to see larger)</span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am here to assure you that the
ravages of age are apparently more appealing than death.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">How do I know this?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s simple. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It used to be that one of the most
viewed images at my Flickr page was a photograph of the old electric chair at
the Texas State Prison Museum. Smoldering death must be pretty engaging because
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29769815@N00/531475624/in/photolist-NXXbQ-oK3Ec-59UAQP-FFnui-oK3bi" target="_blank">“Old Sparky”</a> has been viewed by more than 10,000 people.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But it turns out death is not as
engaging as the ravages of advancing age.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My birthday was the other day.
It wasn’t one of the big momentous ones. But I thought it might be a good day
to roll out a self-portrait I did a few months ago while working on my environmental
portraiture technique. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When you don’t have a model to
work with, you have to be your own model. One of the challenges in this is that
if you are acting as both model and photographer, it’s tough to get proper
focus. But I like how I lighted this image and the focus, while not tack sharp,
is passable enough that it made the point I wanted to make about myself at this
time of life.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I thought my friends might
chuckle over the picture. I was unshaven. My hair was tussled. I didn’t smile
because I’m not a fan of smiling portraits and because I was aiming for a <i>serious guy </i>look and for <i>truth.</i> Nothing kills <i>truth </i>and <i>serious guy</i> like a smile. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Friends did rib me about the
picture. Marjorie said I could have at least combed my hair and shaved. Julie
said this looks like the “book jacket photo of a celebrated novel by a war
hero.” Old classmates suggested that I appear to be living up to all of the
worst curmudgeonly possibilities of my new age. I’m okay with that, though. Besides,
some of the classmates have preceded me into this new age by a few months. They
understand whereof I speak. <span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What I didn’t count on was that
Flickr’s <i>Explore </i>page would find this
self-portrait worth highlighting. So while my wife cringes at the thought of
such a slovenly photo of myself cast out into the world, as of this writing more
than 30,000 people have clicked on the image to get a closer and larger look. (If
you’re numerically challenged, that’s three times as many people as clicked on
“Old Sparky.”) Many have wished me well and several whose opinions I respect have
discerned the presence of <i>truth</i> and <i>serious guy </i>in the portrait. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And if that isn’t enough,
there’s a woman from the Middle East (whose comments I had to consult Google to
interpret) who thinks I look like George Clooney. I don’t know if that means Clooney’s
looking haggard these days or that I’m looking younger. But I’ll take it. Given
that to have drawn that connection means she must be writing in from some very culturally
bereft place, it just seems cruel to deny her that fantasy. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-56978759610994063632014-03-17T05:30:00.000-04:002014-03-17T05:30:00.462-04:00Sporting the Green
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><br />
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufMT4kf7HJo9Lp_GvC6cZel3wEti_8REExmafdcMTr2d5fi-MVDwq75PFdkvfCi_xcIeowLidNPzJWm5pX_dRmzrkAqEa_1EqIwySgH1YhCkmF6AQZgBGRGCR9DT9QUnqO27D-gyJJrBp/s1600/green+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufMT4kf7HJo9Lp_GvC6cZel3wEti_8REExmafdcMTr2d5fi-MVDwq75PFdkvfCi_xcIeowLidNPzJWm5pX_dRmzrkAqEa_1EqIwySgH1YhCkmF6AQZgBGRGCR9DT9QUnqO27D-gyJJrBp/s1600/green+4.jpg" height="640" width="392" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8784_9lMHRGLL6JJfF5Ho5tQ84u-3MdcYGqau0qMn3V0Qv6Dpz8T8c86OE4aIG1XCCTNvFOsYIoki1KZ7n7wKwdx2W7PjCwqWAJte9e_BcEHU0QYZ1_E07PdNZREFWGdEIgBxKm146CAP/s1600/green+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Happy St. Patrick's Day,</i> 2014</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I grew up in a household where
the only formally acknowledged holidays were Thanksgiving, Christmas and
Easter. (Birthdays were noted, but without much fanfare.) Anything beyond these
was considered either patently frivolous or unworthy of attention because it
was probably a contrivance of the greeting card industry.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is probably why I showed up
at the 47<sup>th</sup> Annual Ocean View St. Patrick’s Day Parade without so
much as a stitch of green clothing on me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One afternoon in 1967, so the
story goes, a couple of guys sitting around at the Ocean View Knights of
Columbus clubhouse wondered: </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">"<i>Why don’t
we have a parade to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day</i>?"</span></strong></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>And so they did. This past Saturday’s was the 47<sup>th</sup>
Ocean View St. Patrick’s Day Parade. (Yes, I know Saturday wasn’t <i>really </i>St. Patrick’s Day. Ocean View residents,
though, are working people. On Monday they’ll be back at the shipyard, the Navy
base or any of a thousand other jobs where you don’t get the day off.) </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8784_9lMHRGLL6JJfF5Ho5tQ84u-3MdcYGqau0qMn3V0Qv6Dpz8T8c86OE4aIG1XCCTNvFOsYIoki1KZ7n7wKwdx2W7PjCwqWAJte9e_BcEHU0QYZ1_E07PdNZREFWGdEIgBxKm146CAP/s1600/green+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8784_9lMHRGLL6JJfF5Ho5tQ84u-3MdcYGqau0qMn3V0Qv6Dpz8T8c86OE4aIG1XCCTNvFOsYIoki1KZ7n7wKwdx2W7PjCwqWAJte9e_BcEHU0QYZ1_E07PdNZREFWGdEIgBxKm146CAP/s1600/green+3.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Grands,</i> 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span> Over the years I’ve photographed at a lot of parades. The
first thing you need to know about this one is that it’s not about the parade.
Sure, there are the predictable flags and floats, princesses, clowns, police
and fire vehicles and Shriners in their go karts and hillbilly jug bands. And
in this case you add in robed Knights of Columbus, Hibernian heritage claimants,
step dancers and even a group of Scots playing bagpipes. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span> </span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCBrOwjDlJIG4etWvtATw_rRWLCMP7s5DtMvCrqxnxdGyQuJ6ioeRWNZpCyWOOcYKjXiQUJ0zb6hAJcnO0b_EgeNz5-lrjzTIqUgO5nAxdsKRBrJw6R6KxfNNNA33GYDcEFCP2wxtUmbpM/s1600/green+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCBrOwjDlJIG4etWvtATw_rRWLCMP7s5DtMvCrqxnxdGyQuJ6ioeRWNZpCyWOOcYKjXiQUJ0zb6hAJcnO0b_EgeNz5-lrjzTIqUgO5nAxdsKRBrJw6R6KxfNNNA33GYDcEFCP2wxtUmbpM/s1600/green+2.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Family that Wears Green Together,</i> 2014</span></span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>It’s the pride of the people who come to watch this parade,
though, that makes this one special. It’s <i>their
</i>parade, not something the tourism or economic development folks foisted on
them. Virginia Beach’s Neptune Festival Parade has fancier floats and more
music. Downtown Norfolk’s Christmas Parade has more lights. The Greening of
Ghent probably has more hipsters. But for unabashed pride of place, it’s hard
to beat Ocean View. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>Ocean View gets a bad rap sometime, especially if your barometer
of civic health is the police blotter. It’s true that it’s more desirable sections
along the Chesapeake Bay are getting gentrified. But the people who come out
for this parade are mostly long-time residents, people who raised their kids
there and are proud to stand up for their community. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>Hours ahead of the parade’s starting time spectators start
staking out places along its route. Tailgaters fill the grassy median between
the lanes of Granby Street. Residents along the route set up chairs and tables on
their porches or lean out their second floor windows with cameras. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>And no matter how rich or poor or young or old or black or
white, they all come decked out in green. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span> </span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliXHC9QzPoBhrLtfpd3WnQfmVI0mU_7PiNZqfwvBQ-A2pP8bb4TgpasdqZzKQGtA7EuEGsrvCztpafgf3-KL4N0CV07He8k_uywTop-L0z6bGEVLt-S_e815UpNdZhR_uKKTRTzON1cYU/s1600/green+1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiliXHC9QzPoBhrLtfpd3WnQfmVI0mU_7PiNZqfwvBQ-A2pP8bb4TgpasdqZzKQGtA7EuEGsrvCztpafgf3-KL4N0CV07He8k_uywTop-L0z6bGEVLt-S_e815UpNdZhR_uKKTRTzON1cYU/s1600/green+1.jpg" height="400" width="250" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Bring on the Irish Men!,</i> 2014</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8784_9lMHRGLL6JJfF5Ho5tQ84u-3MdcYGqau0qMn3V0Qv6Dpz8T8c86OE4aIG1XCCTNvFOsYIoki1KZ7n7wKwdx2W7PjCwqWAJte9e_BcEHU0QYZ1_E07PdNZREFWGdEIgBxKm146CAP/s1600/green+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span> I’d never attended this parade before. When I first thought
about photographing the parade this year, I thought I’d be shooting pictures of
floats and bands. But in the end the photographs that I enjoy the most are the
photographs of the people. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>As for all the color, a day spent here could put you off
green for while. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRJ_15sNPT4fxPlA26cuC9J7QZc8clKznv-695VujypuKV1xOhLckFYr_SMzY42Z-sKczcFbj-kEaTSr0nF5NUgtNR0sGnNnXa951VgEZKwS2syvEg2kZyvQHJMaRBhf_gnsvLzm1cb9c/s1600/green+5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRJ_15sNPT4fxPlA26cuC9J7QZc8clKznv-695VujypuKV1xOhLckFYr_SMzY42Z-sKczcFbj-kEaTSr0nF5NUgtNR0sGnNnXa951VgEZKwS2syvEg2kZyvQHJMaRBhf_gnsvLzm1cb9c/s1600/green+5.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"I'm not Irish. But I like beer and jugs."</i> 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-16432535338695127052014-03-10T05:30:00.000-04:002014-03-10T22:09:15.710-04:00When Does Interest Become Obsession?<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_MOUrRyfOE4921zHBoQFwXWANUNvMOS5DvmL-eSaNm1-2aqjiLGJZ1YTyNqOX-k-GAVlaoLszEdyNFwmJ4LXDKvVvwVTDB7RQCGA-GifpvwI_35RJuD8D4eZ2udK3NQlQhCuV6o41kYm/s1600/Beatrice+-+Mennonite+homestead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9_MOUrRyfOE4921zHBoQFwXWANUNvMOS5DvmL-eSaNm1-2aqjiLGJZ1YTyNqOX-k-GAVlaoLszEdyNFwmJ4LXDKvVvwVTDB7RQCGA-GifpvwI_35RJuD8D4eZ2udK3NQlQhCuV6o41kYm/s1600/Beatrice+-+Mennonite+homestead.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Beatrice Homestead, </i>2005</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click
on image to see larger)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After I commented the other day
that I always try to have some kind of camera with me, my Flickr friend Jen
asked:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Why do we always wish we had a
camera? Why is it so hard to enjoy [the experience of seeing something] just
for the experience it is? Is it our desire to share, or maybe to remember, or
just to capture the beauty of nature and the nature of beauty?”</span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I can only address Jen’s
questions from my own experience, which, the more I think about it, the more I
question just how mentally healthy my response sounds. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But here it is:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What I tell myself, at least, is
that I don’t want to miss a chance at what might be a meaningful photograph.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You know how it goes. You find
yourself faced with conditions that make for a transcendent visual moment. But
you don’t have a camera. #^$@!!**^!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here’s where we venture into the
realm of the obsessive. I sometimes get very frustrated, even unable to enjoy
the experience of something, if I don’t have a camera. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If I don’t capture some artifact
of that transcendent visual moment—and, to be honest, it doesn’t have to be all
that transcendent—there’s a very good chance I’ll forget it. My brain’s a crowded
place. I need notes and pictures and recordings.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The nice part of this is that
when I see those notes and pictures or hear those recorded sounds again, I’m
back in the moment. The sound of swallows will always take me back to Florence.
The smell of a roasting chicken covered with garlic will take me back to Los
Caracoles in Barcelona. A photo of the rugged California coast will recall the
wind against my face in Big Sur. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If I don’t have those artifacts
to jog my memory, it’s as if I wasn’t there. I won’t forget I was there. It’s
just that I won’t have much command over the details of those memories that
made those experiences so rich. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As a child I experienced a lot
of unhappiness and depression. I developed ways of compartmentalizing unhappy
experiences and feelings. This willful forgetfulness protected me. But it also
made it very hard for me to be open to the full richness of experience until I
was well into my twenties. Only then, and in the company of new and trusted
fiends, could I let the walls down between experience and me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Many years later now, I’m slaphappy
about experiencing simple things. To answer Jen’s question, I <i>can </i>be mindful and enjoy “the beauty of
nature and the nature of beauty.” But I still feel I’ve missed out on something
if I don’t bring home some of that moment with me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As for the photograph above, when
the camera I had with me in Beatrice, Nebraska, when I first tried to make this
photograph broke, I went to the closest store and bought another one. How’s
that for obsession?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-62785375812988699462014-03-03T05:30:00.000-05:002014-03-03T05:30:02.240-05:00Looking at Up from Down
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSDBkEFQRyNnZCZsD5O1u5MWn1u_4eKobmckFwZSwM30Qu6OWYbewIW8VXEDRTs-t898BnOMHKOty4EHSA9wEcHxFQTek5TJO4LxDL2hNxxwtXoMmuxiHQrzxxR37ZO5X4RX5-6xr9_r_/s1600/Feb+24+Lets+dance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSDBkEFQRyNnZCZsD5O1u5MWn1u_4eKobmckFwZSwM30Qu6OWYbewIW8VXEDRTs-t898BnOMHKOty4EHSA9wEcHxFQTek5TJO4LxDL2hNxxwtXoMmuxiHQrzxxR37ZO5X4RX5-6xr9_r_/s1600/Feb+24+Lets+dance.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Let's Dance, </i>2014</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger)</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back in 2007 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbonney/sets/72157601890782206/" target="_blank">I made a series ofphotographs of things “at my feet” </a>when I took my daily walk. I
normally walked before sunrise in those days and only noticed when one Saturday
morning I started my walk later in the day that the seemingly quiet suburban
streets in my neighborhood were teeming with various utility markings.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don’t walk that early any more.
But most days when it’s over 40F I do get out at some point during the day and
walk at least five miles. The actual time of day varies according to my work
schedule, travel, etc. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m a proponent of always having
a camera handy, even if it’s just a cell phone camera. Every now and then,
though, I forgot this and almost immediately regret it as soon as I hit the
street. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last Saturday afternoon I didn’t
have a camera with me when I walked. It killed me when I didn’t have a way of
capturing images of some of the things I saw, particularly shadows on the
street. So you can be sure that when I walked the next day I had the iPhone and
its camera with me. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A lot of people getting into
photography start by looking up at the sky. To be honest, an empty blue sky can
be boring. But clouds are so available and so interesting when you start paying
attention to them. Photographers know there’s nothing that will add drama to a landscape
photograph quite like a dynamic sky. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvaLh5cbe7CCpSsVreqPQJpBU4v2bMOXjWKebl80mNggIgrPZk83JJ5FSnaP9GL2ZW8RhaSpUQ5cFw3vc_1_EYK8pWv6kYmRqqLuTPR-EFhhvY16byYVp3x66HsYuHOg8L_JU1FzO7lSi/s1600/Walking+hand+in+hand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbvaLh5cbe7CCpSsVreqPQJpBU4v2bMOXjWKebl80mNggIgrPZk83JJ5FSnaP9GL2ZW8RhaSpUQ5cFw3vc_1_EYK8pWv6kYmRqqLuTPR-EFhhvY16byYVp3x66HsYuHOg8L_JU1FzO7lSi/s1600/Walking+hand+in+hand.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Walking Hand in Hand, </i>2014</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sunday was one of those days
where the sky was clear and blue. But that was okay because what caught me eye
was what was happening in the ground at my feet; namely, the shadows cast by
the sun.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The idea with recreational
walking is that it’s less harmful to aging joints than, say, running. But you
still want to build up enough steam to get some cardiovascular benefit. What I
do isn’t to be confused with race walking, that silly looking strut where you
keep your hands up by your chest and swivel your butt back and forth like a
duck. I look ratty enough when I walk. I don’t need any additional reason for
people to confuse me with a duck. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91zEZy_yEdgxBn029SYrpn9w_-R965mZqNwS5_tRSu3kJt_2eNkFi8LG0Z21RZrNdMZxXbfKwFcITCgUA2YSGpStjOOR-bXcx1-d1Tg_C3_OVL05l-dS8Qz6gVGEnGaa3wYrzIXr5FpVd/s1600/They+went+into+the+storm+wide+and+came+our+narrow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91zEZy_yEdgxBn029SYrpn9w_-R965mZqNwS5_tRSu3kJt_2eNkFi8LG0Z21RZrNdMZxXbfKwFcITCgUA2YSGpStjOOR-bXcx1-d1Tg_C3_OVL05l-dS8Qz6gVGEnGaa3wYrzIXr5FpVd/s1600/They+went+into+the+storm+wide+and+came+our+narrow.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>They Went Into the Storm Wide and Came Out Thin, </i>2014</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To move things along, let’s just
say that after loosening up I build up to a purposeful pace. But on Sunday that
was hard to do because I kept stopping to photograph shapes and shadows I saw
on the street. I’d get humming along and then come to an abrupt stop to capture
the image of something I saw on the street. In other words, not much momentum
or steam being built up. This went on for a good forty-five minutes, and I must
confess that it was actually a relief when the phone’s battery died and I
couldn’t take any more pictures. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I like the images I caught. But
I tell you this: being an observational photographer is hell on your health.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitmOQFlgmSE_p8i7RJIPi6Hab8g0Zrx1HAOmq0uy8Ywf4ordwEH_xGP7xsRXoOCqmNARY5cJk2-YJ7oYAlaOzdtZu7rIHmPF8CZfW19z3a8HaJsE424HPJlSwDMs6H3o_n2MO4os9p0T9y/s1600/It+was+a+dark+and+stormy+night.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitmOQFlgmSE_p8i7RJIPi6Hab8g0Zrx1HAOmq0uy8Ywf4ordwEH_xGP7xsRXoOCqmNARY5cJk2-YJ7oYAlaOzdtZu7rIHmPF8CZfW19z3a8HaJsE424HPJlSwDMs6H3o_n2MO4os9p0T9y/s1600/It+was+a+dark+and+stormy+night.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, </i>2014</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-68563690802818672312014-02-24T05:30:00.000-05:002014-02-24T08:24:41.416-05:00After the Crowds Have Gone<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1M1rPvOsP-D0HoEhSuUrUbDcysFpeS86-FVdOQXF5FCYs-A9oHTKrsfL3P4A-1HVT6KC9wsJslSEdivfcdhEihofYEJQsq9FFhVv0Yy0im2or_aZ0ayTh3BgaR5C8yd0OwdWRRGZBq35S/s1600/Last+Call.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1M1rPvOsP-D0HoEhSuUrUbDcysFpeS86-FVdOQXF5FCYs-A9oHTKrsfL3P4A-1HVT6KC9wsJslSEdivfcdhEihofYEJQsq9FFhVv0Yy0im2or_aZ0ayTh3BgaR5C8yd0OwdWRRGZBq35S/s1600/Last+Call.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>Last Call</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the things about getting
older is that you begin to realize that you’ve <i>seen it all before</i>. Or, if not all, at least a good part of it. It’s
like the other night when, in the course of talking about a book I was reading,
my sister-in-law told me there are only thirteen basic plots in all of
literature. I don’t know if that’s true. But in my time I’ve seen neckties get
wider, then slimmer, the wider again and yet slimmer again. I’ve seen cars get
big and then small and then big again. I’ve watched a dozen artistic fads come
and go. I’ve watched at least three generations “discover” the Beatles.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the 1970s, real estate developer
James Rouse conceived of a new “third place” concept—the “festival marketplace”—as
a tool for revitalizing downtowns and doing social good. Boston’s Faneuil Hall
was one of the first, and so successful that it quickly spawned others all over the country. (The social
good element was that profits from these places would underwrite affordable quality
housing in poor neighborhoods.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In June of 1983, the “Waterside”
festival marketplace opened in Norfolk, Virginia. It had all the usual festival
marketplace elements—restaurants and food stalls, specialty retailers,
activities for people of all ages. It was a beautiful structure overlooking the
busy Norfolk harbor. From Waterside’s terrace you might see a gleaming cruise
ship positioning into a drydock across the river, a towering aircraft carrier
or a submarine gliding by on their way to the Naval Shipyard and other ships, yachts,
tugboats and barges. Even Staten Island ferries, lately. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uJrTQTJ8_7WH8LnHLl5dCq0Szdifzsv0cFmRlinXQyXrsegdBfwhZWA3yYzzurN-m65OmROLcL6-nnUuPAk6Jj41rWDRUpxJgW0sgN2thkURIVMkyscO1XC0v1iQRMh9bOaEAAoNUJph/s1600/February+16+029.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uJrTQTJ8_7WH8LnHLl5dCq0Szdifzsv0cFmRlinXQyXrsegdBfwhZWA3yYzzurN-m65OmROLcL6-nnUuPAk6Jj41rWDRUpxJgW0sgN2thkURIVMkyscO1XC0v1iQRMh9bOaEAAoNUJph/s1600/February+16+029.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></span></span> </i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Harbor View</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Waterside was an immediate
success. It drew hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists to the formerly
abandoned downtown waterfront to dine, shop and be entertained. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">James Rouse knew, though, that
these places wouldn’t work if the were treated like shopping centers. Rather, the
differentiating characteristic of festival marketplaces was their element of serendipity.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s true. As long as Waterside
held to this model, the crowds came. One night in the main hall you might find
a competition between rock bands. Another you might find twenty-seven sailors
from the Danish Navy singing and dancing to folk songs. The important thing is
that you just didn’t know what you’d find when you went to Waterside. So you’d
go there a lot to experience that serendipity. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Only Waterside forgot about
this. When the first management team—headed by a former theme park
manager—finished the job of getting Waterside up and running, their successors
came from commercial real estate property management. Their experience was
running shopping centers, so that’s how they treated Waterside. Good-bye
serendipity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71SZd9B26vnwcfO78Le5er4Uf4V_sQb_NWRHIdKlh2Zcrt9ttnZpxIFP6UZkxtCuQmQOdt6tFZHNS2NMZmiBayqRZqWeu1PAH-bz4PNN_mEnad4qTE6vPHiEQ0ad9K801oxaZOD-ONZrD/s1600/February+16+010.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71SZd9B26vnwcfO78Le5er4Uf4V_sQb_NWRHIdKlh2Zcrt9ttnZpxIFP6UZkxtCuQmQOdt6tFZHNS2NMZmiBayqRZqWeu1PAH-bz4PNN_mEnad4qTE6vPHiEQ0ad9K801oxaZOD-ONZrD/s1600/February+16+010.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>No More Orders</i>, 2014</span></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The momentum from the opening
year was so strong that people continued to come for a while after the
serendipity was gone. But eventually they stopped coming. And eventually the
only tenants the City could find were bars where violence became a problem. In
time, the City evicted even them. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Waterside succeeded in rejuvenating
downtown Norfolk. It paved the way for hundreds of millions of dollars of other
development that continues to thrive. But Waterside itself became a ghost town.
Most of the second floor was closed and covered up. Where there used to be
chairs and benches on the main floor that could be moved around to accommodate spontaneous
needs, today there are tables and seats bolted to the floor, as if you were in
a prison or mall. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_71iiq5Euab4u-awN9iCjz7IXll7K8NPr5TkyPUHcdm4KYtBSE12YsDz2FyvFdut59XnDCtCxTMYd3kvQaC_qQGoUvn8GSDZ9-Z9WKVauGOTwZ_GqAnai2Nu98DZq28nDLkzua79la5HM/s1600/February+16+045.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_71iiq5Euab4u-awN9iCjz7IXll7K8NPr5TkyPUHcdm4KYtBSE12YsDz2FyvFdut59XnDCtCxTMYd3kvQaC_qQGoUvn8GSDZ9-Z9WKVauGOTwZ_GqAnai2Nu98DZq28nDLkzua79la5HM/s1600/February+16+045.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>No One's There</i>, 2014</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Waterside will soon be turned
over to a company that promises to refashion the place into what at first blush
sounds a combination of video arcades and chain restaurants.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hopefully I’m being too harsh. I
want the new operators to succeed. But I haven’t heard anyone use a word like
“serendipity” yet to describe what Waterside will become. And that makes me skeptical.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV3mVICncLIsWvUYijzkiycinYVzcq5fQ9fGx55Yw35fjEJ60qcYwoyE38qm7xezZx0A_goUALHoz_IajLF7zl9PBzuz6Mx6oGiUo-efJBmLScAwr3ep5klkWigua2UWcjptPJiMYWPM9/s1600/February+16+049.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></span> </i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-57939503529198416592014-01-20T05:30:00.000-05:002014-02-04T14:25:06.623-05:00On View<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7BEe-Yc8tvRm3NSf73mmtziyFqS56q7DBMUlMEEh5bpj0xAd77zBYs92Vr1xOikrWosrqCKZvcpAt0omYOtwJvfrJ_irKZiLqlrT_MGFQ-UvVWmK8pIb9X-lbStXRhIuOTixFpejfnIb/s1600/Bethesda+Terrace+219+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7BEe-Yc8tvRm3NSf73mmtziyFqS56q7DBMUlMEEh5bpj0xAd77zBYs92Vr1xOikrWosrqCKZvcpAt0omYOtwJvfrJ_irKZiLqlrT_MGFQ-UvVWmK8pIb9X-lbStXRhIuOTixFpejfnIb/s1600/Bethesda+Terrace+219+BW.jpg" height="231" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Bethesda Terrace - 219</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click
on image to see larger.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I am of the generation raised to
think that you’re not a legitimate artist until
you’ve had a “show” at a gallery where people stand around on a Friday
night wearing turtlenecks, swill wine and admire your work.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ve never had a gallery show.
I’ve been <i>in</i> a few, but none that
were just about me. I’m not complaining, though. I haven’t been diligent in
pursuing such exposure. Besides, I have the vacuum tubes of the Internet to keep
me warm. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For over ten years I’ve been posting
photographs almost every day at one or another online sites, the idea being
that if I post something every day by the end of the year I’ll have at least a
few photographs I think are worth something.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That’s been pretty much the case.
The unexpected consequence is that doing so has also connected me with a large
community of kindred souls. To be honest, this kinship has been the best part.
But the visibility’s not bad, either. My “art,” such as it is, is seen by far
more people every day than could ever see it in a gallery. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Take this past week. More than six
hundred people have asked to see what I’m doing on a daily basis. Under normal
circumstances, the number who actually click on the thumbnail-sized images to
see them larger is much smaller, around a hundred. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But this past week two of my
photographs were featured on Flickr’s “Explore” page, where photographs that some
faceless Flickr employee or computer algorithm think is worth presenting on a
larger stage gets shown. The payoff is that the number of
people who are exposed to your is huge. In the case of the photo above, more than <strike>fourteen</strike> <strike>sixteen</strike> <strike>eighteen</strike> <strike>nineteen</strike> twenty thousand people have clicked on it to see it larger.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That’s no small crowd. And even
though they might have been sitting in their pajamas in Paris, Seoul, St.
Petersburg or Cincinnati instead dressed up in their best turtleneck at a
gallery on a Friday night, their recognition and kind thoughts are no less affirming. We’re all sharing, enjoying and learning from each other, and along
the way creating a community that makes us all much better global citizens</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(For all of the vanity of
thinking that the popularity of the image shown above is all because of
something I did, I’m of the sneaky suspicion that this photo was inspired, however, subconsciously, by Eugene Smith’s
<a href="http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/a-walk-to-the-paradise-garden/" target="_blank"><i>A Walk to the Paradise Garden </i></a>from his Smith's 1955 <a href="http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/archives_highlights_06_1955" target="_blank"><i>Family of Man </i></a>show at New York’s Museum of
Modern Art. )</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-81797875771763357572013-12-30T05:30:00.000-05:002013-12-30T05:30:03.033-05:00@ Patchin Place
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMXzV-FdIlK-vCva1kScINdXgvBhfn89ptIu27fngD_COZ7LY1blVJ_s83Bjlq03sIzO85pUGbXaH3UVSa46ulCJoaq9vnUQKgKSDE53AWXqwVazWcbJQtZngYQzfx9XyRFA5781RlYVY/s1600/Patchin+Place+NYC+11-13+153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMXzV-FdIlK-vCva1kScINdXgvBhfn89ptIu27fngD_COZ7LY1blVJ_s83Bjlq03sIzO85pUGbXaH3UVSa46ulCJoaq9vnUQKgKSDE53AWXqwVazWcbJQtZngYQzfx9XyRFA5781RlYVY/s400/Patchin+Place+NYC+11-13+153.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Patchin Place</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on image to see larger) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In New York City near the intersection of West 10<sup>th</sup> Street and 6<sup>th</sup>
Avenue (aka Avenue of the Americas) are two little glimpses into mid-19<sup>th</sup>
Century life. Milligan Place, entered through a narrow gap between two
buildings on 6<sup>th</sup> Avenue, and Patchin Place, which runs off West 10th
Street, are both small gated residential enclaves. They’re extremely desirable and
expensive addresses in today’s real estate market because of their location,
quietness and quaintness. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But it wasn’t always that way.
Milligan Place and Patchin Place were both built around 1850 to house servants—mostly Basque
immigrants—working at a nearby hotel.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Throughout much of the 1900s, Greenwich Village
was a hive of creative and bohemian life. The apartments at Patchin Place were popular with artists and writers, including
Theodore Dreiser, Djuna Barnes and John Reed. (Today, Patchin Place is famous
for the number of psychotherapists who live there.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A close family friend of my
parents when I was growing up, the painter, illustrator and author Shane
Miller, lived for many years with his wife at Patchin Place. Shane Miller was
an easy-going self-described elf of an Irishman. In his lifetime, Shane pursued
many spiritual paths, and along the way also illustrated cartoons for Warner
Brothers (where composer Hoagy Carmichael was his creative partner), painted portraits and wrote and
illustrated books about the history of New York City, Rome and Athens. Shane
was serious when it came to his work. But as a friend he had a wonderful humor
and a smile that warmed all who knew him. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Everyone, that is, except for
his Patchin Place neighbor, the poet e.e.cummings, with whom Shane and his wife
shared a fire escape that was also the passageway used to take their garbage down
to the street. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For most of us, e.e. cummings is
best known as a poet whose work is immediately identifiable by its exclusive
use of lower case letters. As a neighbor in Patchin Place during the 1940s and
1950s, though, cummings was best known for his hard drinking and general
crankiness, which is saying something considering that just about everyone
living at Patchin Place in those days was known for his or her excessive and idiosyncratic
behavior.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">e.e. cummings didn’t have much
to do with his neighbors at Patchin Place. He and Shane never shared a social drink,
a nibble of food, a war story or complained about publishers. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The only time cummings ever
spoke to Shane occurred late one night when the two men found themselves taking
out the trash at the same time. Shane greeted his neighbor on the way down the
fire escape, but got no response. On the way back up, cummings paused only long enough to touch Shane’s shoulder and tell him, “Your wife’s sure got a big
ass.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-46545968057409464812013-12-02T05:30:00.000-05:002013-12-02T05:30:02.641-05:00Of Thee I Sing Sing
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wH_j2XTwZzylMhziqlX4lVxoyc4GT9Hx-NFwupj9a6z1NESKpP-u7NOcuGJXx0HMqIYgjzOfPpIlg-4wgyCEwPMeh3Axy6IS64uPxswSBSTOJp87oBuYhv93DOSEoUhqPMrJiXUbab5w/s1600/Sing+Sing+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wH_j2XTwZzylMhziqlX4lVxoyc4GT9Hx-NFwupj9a6z1NESKpP-u7NOcuGJXx0HMqIYgjzOfPpIlg-4wgyCEwPMeh3Axy6IS64uPxswSBSTOJp87oBuYhv93DOSEoUhqPMrJiXUbab5w/s400/Sing+Sing+011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Welcome to Sing Sing</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the pursuit of physical fitness,
something interesting to photograph and the opportunity to take my daughter’s
dog for a walk, I have once again run afoul of the local constabulary. Only
where in the past it’s been US Navy sentries in gummy boats racing across the
harbor to keep me from photographing submarines or Homeland Security agents
stopping me from photographing scenes that hundreds of tourists photograph every day, this time it was the screws at Sing Sing prison. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We spent the Thanksgiving
holiday with new friends and family who live in a historic neighborhood on the
edge of Ossining, New York. (If that name rings a bell, it might be because the
fictitious Don and Betty Draper of <i>Man
Men</i> lived in Ossining.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can’t be in this area and
not know there’s a big prison in the center of town. And not just a big prison,
but a famous one. Sing Sing, if you haven’t heard of it, is a maximum-security
prison just north of New York City. It was built (much of it <i>by </i>inmates, presumably under careful
supervision) during the early 1800s. Sing Sing's so famous in American correctional lore that, as the historical market at the entrance proclaims, it's the place that inspired terms like “up the river,” “big house” and “last
mile.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Even by the serious standards of
prison architecture, Sing Sing’s a pretty bleak place. It’s gray stone and
brick buildings ramble from the top of a bluff down to the Hudson River
shoreline. The cement wall that surrounds the prison is tall and as
intimidating on the outside as it must be on the inside.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinln-DU1AUg-zCy0tzwwV-dDN4Qv_rkRax3pUvR9VDzjP16uMnvxJ9kcn4lOlDHC_0845j3zfbONBg5n27NioO7rUo2rYn6-JmKNgT7_tcbVFUVVmwnGIYOoFiug7sY5sEM7Zdwnv3lHcW/s1600/Sing+Sing+017.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinln-DU1AUg-zCy0tzwwV-dDN4Qv_rkRax3pUvR9VDzjP16uMnvxJ9kcn4lOlDHC_0845j3zfbONBg5n27NioO7rUo2rYn6-JmKNgT7_tcbVFUVVmwnGIYOoFiug7sY5sEM7Zdwnv3lHcW/s400/Sing+Sing+017.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>No Parking. No Escape.</i> 2013</span></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My crime, such as it was, was
that Hope (the dog) and I didn’t realize that as we walked purposely down
Hudson Street through a quiet residential neighborhood we’d unwittingly, and
without any warning or further ado, stepped onto the prison grounds. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I photographed the historic plaques mounted outside the prison wall and walked a good mile or so
around the eastern perimeter of the prison, stopping occasionally to photograph guard
towers or interesting textures in the prison wall. It wasn’t until I’d gotten
around to the northern side of the prison that a guard stepped out of a
watchtower and yelled down to me to stop taking pictures. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Under normal circumstances I
might have protested that I was standing on a public street photographing a
scene that is visible from dozens of neighboring homes and two or three major
local streets. But the guard was standing thirty feet or so above me and had a
shotgun in his hand. All I had was a camera and a dog. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And as it turns out, I wasn’t
even standing on a public street any more. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A more observant guy would have
noticed that there were several signs posted at the entrance to the prison
grounds indicating that it’s illegal to make unauthorized photographs on the
prison grounds. I, on the other hand, was too focused on some of the famous
people—e.g. mobsters “Lucky” Luciano and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, Julius and
Ethel Rosenberg, Ruth Snyder, Willie Sutton and “Son of Sam” killer David
Berkowitz—who’ve resided on the other side of the wall.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let’s just say I put the cap on
my camera lens and walked back to the house by another route. Wouldn’t have
been any fun to get tossed in the big house. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nCPypNY4bJhQLoQ1FJTWiJVyUheFIlU4EpyBVYVRRQ2iTRIS5HHupu3t1kN0oKTtsgfjngmvnOAkYiNvLtLT2e5sh6hwEadNmW8LelwoNVc48HtmWsW7M-UqP2OaRQeqkjT-iBFCtz3k/s1600/Sing+Sing+012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nCPypNY4bJhQLoQ1FJTWiJVyUheFIlU4EpyBVYVRRQ2iTRIS5HHupu3t1kN0oKTtsgfjngmvnOAkYiNvLtLT2e5sh6hwEadNmW8LelwoNVc48HtmWsW7M-UqP2OaRQeqkjT-iBFCtz3k/s400/Sing+Sing+012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="color: #0000ee;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The I<span style="color: #0000ee;">llusion of an Escape Ro<span style="color: #0000ee;">ute</span></span></span></span></i>, 2013</span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-4354512369412226302013-11-04T05:30:00.000-05:002013-11-04T11:10:26.996-05:00Ashes to Ashes<style>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuiXdUT3icCnEksKnXhb7rYdsLU0COafQN0jQdcWIFQIo2qsLht5TTxE8x1utpVeK4TJtm9rXbY29Z9vNc2Jsm_xy3FbWLACPJmiDs5OBBXltNQbIwRjHCa6zKzF1ZemSgtkNVponC-Ey7/s1600/Seashore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuiXdUT3icCnEksKnXhb7rYdsLU0COafQN0jQdcWIFQIo2qsLht5TTxE8x1utpVeK4TJtm9rXbY29Z9vNc2Jsm_xy3FbWLACPJmiDs5OBBXltNQbIwRjHCa6zKzF1ZemSgtkNVponC-Ey7/s400/Seashore.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>At Home in the Park</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on image to see larger.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In thinking about her death, my mother
was adamant that her body not be subjected to embalmment and burial. She’d hoped
her remains or some parts of them might be recycled or used for medical
research, and although every kind of paperwork imaginable was in place for such
arrangements it did not turn out to be possible for either of those wishes to
be honored. This sent us straight on to Plan C, which was cremation. Having
jumped ahead so unexpectedly to this outcome, my sister and I realized that
we’d never found out what our mother wanted done with her ashes. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a certainty, though, that
neither my sister nor I had any desire to keep those ashes in urns on our respective
mantels. This left us thinking about the Elizabeth River, beside which our
mother was born, and the Atlantic Ocean, close to which she lived for most of the
rest of her life. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Disposing of human ashes, or <i>cremains, </i>as they’re politely called in
the trade, is a far trickier matter than I’d expected. For one, you can’t just
wander down to the shore and toss them into the surf. That’s not legal, it
turns out, just as it’s not okay to do a lot of other things you could think of
that would seem appropriate and respectful.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Clearly some subterfuge was
called for, which means mainly that anything goes and that the important thing
is to not draw attention to yourself as you do it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">[How many of you are already
recalling <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u44D3qKKGPU" target="_blank">this cautionary scene from “The Big Lebowski”</a>?]</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My sister and I finally decided
that our mother’s ashes should be scattered in the state park located at the
end of the street where we spent much of our childhood. Our mother loved to
walk there, especially in the fall and winter when the park’s thousands of
acres of tall dunes, live oaks and swampy bottoms were a refuge from the ocean
winds at the other end of our street. She’d come home cheerful and unburdened
by whatever stresses she’d carried into the park. Sometimes she’d come home
with interesting leaves or twigs or bayberries with which to replenish the dry floral
arrangement she always kept on top of the piano in the living room. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you’ve never handled cremains,
let me tell you that they might surprise you a little. One relative warned me
that her late son’s cremains had included pieces of bone several inches long.
My mother’s ashes, fortunately, held no bones and to the uninitiated could have
passed for a bag of finely sifted flour, a little on the grayish side. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The day I distributed my mothers
ashes was sunny and chilly, just the kind of day Mother would have loved to
walk in the park. I naively thought that as I tipped the bag the ashes would be
so light as to float elegantly into the air and return to nature as little more
than a dusty cloud. But in fact they’re kind of heavy and leave a distinct
trail. So instead of tossing her ashes into the air, I took a long walk and left
her ashes atop dunes and under the low limbs of live oaks. I left some in the
empty crooks of trees, where maybe they’ll keep a few squirrels warm this
winter or give next spring’s snake nests a soft cushion. I made sure some of
them made it to White Lake and to the inland bays. I hope some of them have
drifted out into the Chesapeake Bay by now or have even made their way around
to the Atlantic Ocean. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Moses, or whoever wrote the book of Genesis said, "Dust
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-48114510269637241442013-10-28T05:30:00.000-04:002013-10-28T14:45:19.780-04:00To See, Perchance to Sit<style>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRclwvW_Asv-rzDFe_5PeFPyCXADVuBUTSFWrRAnqH4h9ZbovO-ehGCos2PwVSb39D3_fxhY7HPWBbCkV1qJYEMfqnY6A1eSoEju6D515f01miRIHFOFskgIwzcphmMN29Iwp0bsab3Keb/s1600/Ossining+026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRclwvW_Asv-rzDFe_5PeFPyCXADVuBUTSFWrRAnqH4h9ZbovO-ehGCos2PwVSb39D3_fxhY7HPWBbCkV1qJYEMfqnY6A1eSoEju6D515f01miRIHFOFskgIwzcphmMN29Iwp0bsab3Keb/s400/Ossining+026.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Ossining 026</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on image to see larger.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Landscape architects tell me
that although outdoor seating areas are actually designed to be used by people
and that great attention is given to layout, views and the design, comfort and
durability of the seating itself, many are never used that way. Some of this is
because the design isn’t good or the seating isn’t comfortable or appropriate
for the needs of people. But some of this, I’m told, is also because sometimes
it’s okay if the outdoor seating is only seen and not used.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Huh? It’s okay to have a
beautiful seating area that no one uses?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The answer, I’m told, is “yes.” In other words, a park bench or comfortable chair in the
garden or on the lawn is more an illusion, a visual cue, a fixture that reminds
you that you <i>could </i>sit there if you
wanted. The mere imagination of that use is enough to create a momentary
illusion of the tranquility, privacy or whatever you would have hoped to have
achieved had you actually gone outside and used the bench or chair.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The benches shown in the
photograph above are in a quiet little neighborhood park overlooking the Hudson
River north of New York City. I don’t know if anyone ever sits there. They’re
affixed to the ground and are arranged in a linear way that discourages conversation.
Much of the river view, too, has become obscured by trees and the most direct
sight line to the river requires that you ignore the guard towers at the nearby
Sing Sing Prison that stand in the intermediate distance. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We recently had a chance to
visit a very lovely home just up the hill from this park. The home has a wonderful
lawn and shaded garden at the back. It’s the kind of place that makes you want
to find an excuse to use the word “sylvan.” The property is at the bottom of
the steep wooded hill. There are several levels to the garden, some with their
own comfortable seating areas and lots of stone walls to keep everything in this
elevated landscape in its place. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The main public rooms of the
house look out onto that beautiful scene. The owners are very busy
professionals. After a long day of work I could easily imagine them wandering
out into the garden with a cool drink on a warm evening and sitting in one of
the seating areas to talk or just listen to the wind blowing through the trees.
When I asked the lady of the house whether they do this, she chuckled and
responded, “[Husband] creates these little ‘views.’ We don’t ever actually use
them.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To see, perchance to sit. That’s
not exactly what Hamlet said. But aye, there’s the rub.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"># #</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-40718852994406949132013-09-30T05:30:00.000-04:002013-09-30T05:30:00.846-04:00The Knights
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxZbtTC4IHWbkpESWmaSKN9e37d4dvZ_-NxieYKSXejHEh_r0yMMqeeycMmkdSBJNCY_t7FsmtEmUswrCRFlpzbFaaquFJksZcewYrjmkcaaaOKzYCVX2BoWiiazmYVRUvvmhWSg2W4Qv/s1600/2013+Neptune+Parade+076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxZbtTC4IHWbkpESWmaSKN9e37d4dvZ_-NxieYKSXejHEh_r0yMMqeeycMmkdSBJNCY_t7FsmtEmUswrCRFlpzbFaaquFJksZcewYrjmkcaaaOKzYCVX2BoWiiazmYVRUvvmhWSg2W4Qv/s400/2013+Neptune+Parade+076.jpg" width="226" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Knights 76</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This past weekend was the
wrap-up of Virginia Beach’s annual Neptune Festival, an event created,
depending on who you talk to, to either drum up some fall tourism business, or,
as I’ve heard some say, so that “we” can take back our beach, “we” being local
residents who feel snubbed by the summer tourists who pump a billion dollars or
so a year into our city’s economy. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Whatever the case, the Neptune
Festival can be fun. There are parties, sandcastle contests, a regatta and a
parade. There’s an art show and 5K, 8K and children’s “crawl” races. There are
funnel cakes and, for reasons I don’t understand, people who sell bathtub
liners and house gutters. There are bands, seafood and beer. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This year’s parade featured something
like a hundred floats and other attractions, including your usual fire trucks,
school bands, Star Wars re-enactors group, Shriners in go karts, baton
twirlers, cheerleading squads, dance schools, antique cars, horses, Special
Olympians and stern looking young boys and girls from local high school ROTC
troops, a great many of whom, I’m sorry to report, haven’t learned how to keep in
step to the same rhythm yet.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I took a lot of pictures. But to
be honest, I didn’t really care to document the parade. Instead, I was more
interested in looking for my “little moments,” patterns in light and dark and
color. And wouldn’t you know that for all the color of the parade some of my
favorite pictures from the day aren’t of the cheerleaders, brass bands and the
like. They’re a small group of pictures of the robes and sashes of a group of
Knights of Columbus. Go figure. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtWo3UEZros7TnIz4Yj4cbdFe6MwN2Xl9IpRWUJwuZ0ICxkn9zrFzcJaHO3ntc_EU5OgoR__FMxkekvuSMDUOOucmKelihbEBqr3iEa2lyqejd8ER8I6qTHYILuUfnFE4VLPUHL_9JY_S/s1600/2013+Neptune+Parade+078.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtWo3UEZros7TnIz4Yj4cbdFe6MwN2Xl9IpRWUJwuZ0ICxkn9zrFzcJaHO3ntc_EU5OgoR__FMxkekvuSMDUOOucmKelihbEBqr3iEa2lyqejd8ER8I6qTHYILuUfnFE4VLPUHL_9JY_S/s400/2013+Neptune+Parade+078.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Knights 78</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JCC8lnpKNqKoMJoYEUqWhJWUsE9otzmczIg-1ZfK3QJlfOB-gScldO5IscVZ1WBfn-j33KvPAm6H4ZgKiEL9lVk5WzazL_O2810bU9x_lHLKYDAdzec1kVUeAI9J4Qiuwjk5PEvJoFEb/s1600/2013+Neptune+Parade+077.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JCC8lnpKNqKoMJoYEUqWhJWUsE9otzmczIg-1ZfK3QJlfOB-gScldO5IscVZ1WBfn-j33KvPAm6H4ZgKiEL9lVk5WzazL_O2810bU9x_lHLKYDAdzec1kVUeAI9J4Qiuwjk5PEvJoFEb/s400/2013+Neptune+Parade+077.jpg" width="265" /></a></span></span></div>
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</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>The Knights 77</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-1327427735064777572013-09-23T05:30:00.000-04:002013-09-23T05:30:02.108-04:00When the Only Model You Have is You<style>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp90ivYWyEUymLUExdlvpvHFPw4mZ0Yn07KsAnM1hsK5qxy6vqQSAQMArfA9PuE4wsYTfzDuwMhkQAzj5r7RXgEXkNANjOQIAZtdta-9OuEeGA3mj4Q4BJJAq1D2VGpe_9JcVWDJTSZP-J/s1600/Flash+137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp90ivYWyEUymLUExdlvpvHFPw4mZ0Yn07KsAnM1hsK5qxy6vqQSAQMArfA9PuE4wsYTfzDuwMhkQAzj5r7RXgEXkNANjOQIAZtdta-9OuEeGA3mj4Q4BJJAq1D2VGpe_9JcVWDJTSZP-J/s400/Flash+137.jpg" width="330" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Flash 137</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Regular readers will wince at
the thought that I’m going to once again mention the photography workshop I
took in New York in August. Yes, it stretched my comfort zone. Yes, it made it
hard for me to “see” photo opportunities that seemed limitless before. And yes,
now I can’t seem to see a photograph of a person—almost any kind of existing
light portrait, really—that couldn’t be improved by a little supplemental
artificial light.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So I’m either ruined or off on
yet another tangent. Rather than admit defeat, I’m choosing to interpret this as
“skill exploration.” Last year’s
workshop sent me off photographing anyone who’d stand still long enough. This
year it’s all about supplementing environmental portraits with artificial light.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The thing about doing environmental
portraits—and by this I refer to any photographic portrait that’s done not in a
studio, but rather <i>in</i> some sort of <i>situ</i>—is that you need someone to
photograph. My New York friends can find models all over the place. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/adambuteux/9863272113/" target="_blank">Here’s anice one from Adam Buteux.</a> I mean, it’s as if there are people just
walking the streets of the city waiting to be asked to be photographed with,
say, an Irish wolfhound, a Fendi bag or a lush Oscar de la Renta ball gown.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are no super models
wandering my local streets. No Fendi bags, Irish wolfhounds or de la Renta ball
gowns. No, I’m left with the only model who’ll agree to sit for me, and that
would be me, graying hair, wrinkles and all. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is probably not a bad thing.
There’s a lot I’ve yet to learn about lighting before I turn my camera loose on
real people. Shooting with supplemental light requires a lot more thinking and
planning than I’m used to doing. There are a lot more variables, which is great
once you’re confident is flexing them.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Before I can do that, though, I
have to learn a basic checklist for doing basic things with lights. When I get
that “muscle memory” firmly implanted in my mind, I’ll be able to stretch some
and play with the variables.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Using artificial light for the
first time is like using Photoshop for the first time in that it’s a matter of
subtlety. At first you over-do it. Then you learn how to tone things back so if
you need such software to further process your images they don’t look so over-processed.
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As the series of photos below
shows, I’ve a lot to learn. The one above is the most recent, and I think the
best so far. I may be slow, but I’m getting there.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkpDGoYwxLkKNFahCGzddq4ADWhci_Yr-v0zbDFAop3yTXgeG9tcTkcK7kY6r-J5Mcj57z0mkIulOAI1JAF7XNwFvUax1pneu8y1bF1mn4z0hhFBcUwpcyosu1-KjLNgJ-urI0betSqOB/s1600/flash+015.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkpDGoYwxLkKNFahCGzddq4ADWhci_Yr-v0zbDFAop3yTXgeG9tcTkcK7kY6r-J5Mcj57z0mkIulOAI1JAF7XNwFvUax1pneu8y1bF1mn4z0hhFBcUwpcyosu1-KjLNgJ-urI0betSqOB/s400/flash+015.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Flash 015</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegFXnTlBYKifw7I4TE8GJrEOC_kg36z4dh-RPRVa809Fwthmms6jSkMAzEq8lbQk352tgOQuHtfYaITnhwGJus_-ftDIt_LRGmOrBbJuU_4OQY-oAgEya-LSCsJZ0qfovI6XFaOLz5pp9/s1600/Flash+113.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegFXnTlBYKifw7I4TE8GJrEOC_kg36z4dh-RPRVa809Fwthmms6jSkMAzEq8lbQk352tgOQuHtfYaITnhwGJus_-ftDIt_LRGmOrBbJuU_4OQY-oAgEya-LSCsJZ0qfovI6XFaOLz5pp9/s400/Flash+113.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span> </span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Flash 113</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-71518809754619886802013-09-16T05:30:00.000-04:002013-09-16T05:30:01.795-04:00Fez Season
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTu-MSEOVEUw65-lXfXLMPbF_WJdXjIPDMpmmJWw9dOaD-gcsR7A7cZ8cysn4DJMsbR6bOPxkb8sprEoh4DquSZ1pxMSJcuWugocGebcCEYzzvz7zfKqtPd9Wy2rxjM890jlIXk3v-VLl/s1600/2013+MASA+046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLD0rgUHKQ9oPh27aGloT-dJLetuCRtSpTmHPc1hXwvox0_5jI3ziX6b5eqdCyGpqkpve7izh47Abjvkgxa6Y8Co_bWpmdvURN-kLWeTNmEg_pf3Zr1m-NWjeGw9-8exbPJctetSEMiWl/s1600/2013+MASA+065+CROP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLD0rgUHKQ9oPh27aGloT-dJLetuCRtSpTmHPc1hXwvox0_5jI3ziX6b5eqdCyGpqkpve7izh47Abjvkgxa6Y8Co_bWpmdvURN-kLWeTNmEg_pf3Zr1m-NWjeGw9-8exbPJctetSEMiWl/s400/2013+MASA+065+CROP.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MASA 065</i>, 2013</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
(Click on images to see larger.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
It being September, that means
it’s Shriner season in Virginia Beach. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I’ve written about the Shriners
several times in the past and even published a book of photographs from their
parades. One, and sometimes two, of their regional conventions are held in
Virginia Beach each September. At the end of the week they put on a parade on
Atlantic Avenue in the oceanfront resort area. I’ve been photographing their
parades long enough to know just about all of their floats and long enough for
a surprising number of the Shriners to recognize and remember me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
This year it was only the
Mid-Atlantic Shrine Association that came to Virginia Beach. So the parade was
a little shorter, which was good because I was unable to stay for the actual
parade. But I was able to wander among them as they assembled in all of their
glitz and flourish before the parade.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTu-MSEOVEUw65-lXfXLMPbF_WJdXjIPDMpmmJWw9dOaD-gcsR7A7cZ8cysn4DJMsbR6bOPxkb8sprEoh4DquSZ1pxMSJcuWugocGebcCEYzzvz7zfKqtPd9Wy2rxjM890jlIXk3v-VLl/s1600/2013+MASA+046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsTu-MSEOVEUw65-lXfXLMPbF_WJdXjIPDMpmmJWw9dOaD-gcsR7A7cZ8cysn4DJMsbR6bOPxkb8sprEoh4DquSZ1pxMSJcuWugocGebcCEYzzvz7zfKqtPd9Wy2rxjM890jlIXk3v-VLl/s400/2013+MASA+046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MASA 059</i>, 2013</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTl0_cb-S-3QxdmgYTqTXKYdGBbOgQxtBrZxqJj0uT62bjmANSIjrVeWZy0feol22sFYsrmGQBI91jPjT6F2Gr6IQj-oMqQq-4aR1uCBxOGsgAX_mvtU8Ewknl0crR3bZy5YR0G824kkr/s1600/2013+MASA+059.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTl0_cb-S-3QxdmgYTqTXKYdGBbOgQxtBrZxqJj0uT62bjmANSIjrVeWZy0feol22sFYsrmGQBI91jPjT6F2Gr6IQj-oMqQq-4aR1uCBxOGsgAX_mvtU8Ewknl0crR3bZy5YR0G824kkr/s400/2013+MASA+059.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MASA 141</i>, 2013</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWQDGBZ0nsy7cx2NenAosdaoJagT1CxkIXK2XsLGgPk4U8qwok1CSavchNugLv63IUnTt39RJfrNS8ykbd0BwRzhMR478pqBGf3OzARZRQ-0ZVDqAvvKnVDZQMdANenWJbtIs0UF11A1I/s1600/2013+MASA+141.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJWQDGBZ0nsy7cx2NenAosdaoJagT1CxkIXK2XsLGgPk4U8qwok1CSavchNugLv63IUnTt39RJfrNS8ykbd0BwRzhMR478pqBGf3OzARZRQ-0ZVDqAvvKnVDZQMdANenWJbtIs0UF11A1I/s400/2013+MASA+141.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">MASA 046</i>, 2013</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-7033596041861035242013-09-09T05:30:00.000-04:002013-09-09T05:30:03.899-04:00Humility Along the Gowanus
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGrlucVC7Jnmfx_vIsuturNyD4mAY7-uY0B1mtgg_oscbvZKPzXdsfIgHKzu19Oq-dPokg8lUVZS7guWYYrSwMuhatn0Ud9fd0Tq4ysLI84do51g16wN5RAUmcthRkLbwAHCx0e71oDSv/s1600/Gowanus+8%2713+027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGrlucVC7Jnmfx_vIsuturNyD4mAY7-uY0B1mtgg_oscbvZKPzXdsfIgHKzu19Oq-dPokg8lUVZS7guWYYrSwMuhatn0Ud9fd0Tq4ysLI84do51g16wN5RAUmcthRkLbwAHCx0e71oDSv/s400/Gowanus+8%2713+027.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Gowanus 027</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on image to see larger.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s nothing that’ll put you
in your place faster that seeing someone else publishing photographs of
something you thought only you’d been prescient enough to photograph.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">During my recent stop along the
Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn my eye was drawn more to things above ground that in
the canal itself. There’s a bridge and all sorts of interesting trestle steel
for an elevated subway bridge and station. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Gowanus Canal is famous for
its polluted waters. Even though great effort is being given to cleaning up the
canal and even though it may look pretty decent from a distance, it’s still
pretty bad off. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But being the thorough kind of
guy I am when I’m determine to mine every bit of photographic potential from a
place, even the mundane parking lot of a Lowe’s home improvement store in
Brooklyn, I did eventually turn my eyes to the canal itself. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What I saw was fascinating, even
if it wasn’t something into which you’d necessarily want to dip your toes. Looking
down into the canal was like looking into an abstract mural on which Marc
Chagall and Claude Monet might have collaborated. Really, the colors you see in
the photograph above are the colors of the…well, I don’t know if really
qualifies as <i>water</i>. But whatever you
call the fluid in the canal, it does look like this.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, here’s where the humility
comes in. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t take many pictures of
this petroleum-infused waterscape. I shot a few frames and them moved on. I
figured that once you’ve seen one shot of the Gowanus waterscape, you’ve seen
them all.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So it was with more than a
little irony and humility that I opened my e-mail one afternoon a few weeks
later and found a link at the <i>aCurator </i>site
to <a href="http://acurator.com/#/2/193/0" target="_blank">photographer Bill Miller’s take on the Gowanus</a>. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sure enough, he’d done like I
had. I’ll bet he even stood at the edge of the Lowe’s parking lot just like I
did. And I’ll bet he, too, photographed the many other things there are to photograph
around the Canal before he ever turned his eyes to the water.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">But when he did look down to the
water, he didn’t take the same casual attitude to it that I did. He stuck
around for a while and captured a number of interesting views of whatever it is
that pollutes the Gowanus Canal. If you didn’t catch the link to Miller’s Gowanus
series in the paragraph above, <a href="http://acurator.com/#/2/193/0" target="_blank">here is it again</a>.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-29908460669666385332013-09-03T05:30:00.000-04:002013-09-03T05:30:05.225-04:00A Brooklyn Point of View
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2R8yHwanlxCeLj86H9MaW2SENgHbN2OQUP9CZXWJgAJOyg1i9xk4D9CoUNW62TcpjG8b6CLxL-SeOJ4kmLPVstgdROBXYoI3D9kvShlVbcUvfwazviuNxfcFyHNDwuY76nSMNNob1Zif/s1600/ICP+8%2713+562+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2R8yHwanlxCeLj86H9MaW2SENgHbN2OQUP9CZXWJgAJOyg1i9xk4D9CoUNW62TcpjG8b6CLxL-SeOJ4kmLPVstgdROBXYoI3D9kvShlVbcUvfwazviuNxfcFyHNDwuY76nSMNNob1Zif/s400/ICP+8%2713+562+BW.jpg" width="285" /></a></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Manhattan Graphics 362</i>, 2013</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger.) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">People think New York’s an
expensive place to visit. And it can be. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But like many internationally
oriented cities, if you’re traveling on a budget there are still a lot of
places you can go and things you can see for free. New York has something for
everyone, no matter where your tastes lie on the highbrow/lowbrow spectrum. A
four-block walk in any direction will expose most visitors to more interesting
sights than you see at home, and if you’re willing to venture a little further
afield there’s so much live entertainment on the street and in the subways that
you could easily wonder anyone would pay to get in anyplace.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">New York’s a city of magnificent
architecture. It’s ethnic enclaves offer the visitor a reminder than not everyone
lives like you do. It’s also one of just a few American cities where the art of
window display is still treated like a serious art form by retailers. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For outdoor views, there’s
Central Park, of course. One of my favorites, though, is the Staten Island
Ferry, which you can ride back and forth across New York Harbor and get
tremendous views of the Statue of Liberty, Governor’s Island and lower
Manhattan. I suspect the people who use the ferry to go to work take it for
granted after a while. But I can’t imagine a more civilized commute than one
that includes at least a boat ride each way. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of my favorite vantage
points is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The Promenade’s a narrow park that
hangs out like a balcony over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, diverting traffic
noise and offering one of the best views of lower Manhattan. Off to your right
are the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. Directly across the East River are the
canyons of Wall Street. To your left is Governor’s Island. In the distance are
the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Staten Island and the soaring Verrazano-Narrows
Bridge (which is as high as I ever want to be without being in an
airplane).<span> </span>Really. You can stand in one
place and see all of this and more. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIo2TqjFMqCK65oKO32LmcGsk28Hzco69FxuxLBQ1J9SOAkPyDwGNQXG0JEFyG92BlEJzsrw4YvVeXxhCxnXyKgLXekjt0wtO9iEvcOsGvRbyiY33mdkp6GkYTNOvNe8HKKNUqv9FQDfIA/s1600/ICP+8%2713+577+BW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIo2TqjFMqCK65oKO32LmcGsk28Hzco69FxuxLBQ1J9SOAkPyDwGNQXG0JEFyG92BlEJzsrw4YvVeXxhCxnXyKgLXekjt0wtO9iEvcOsGvRbyiY33mdkp6GkYTNOvNe8HKKNUqv9FQDfIA/s400/ICP+8%2713+577+BW.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span> </i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Manhattan Graphics 577</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Promenade’s a most civilized
place for a walk. There are gardens and fancy apartment buildings and
townhouses on the east side. There’s plenty of seating if you just want to
watch the passing parade on the East River. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A few weeks ago I had a chance
to walk along the Promenade in the early morning. It was a wonderfully clear
and crisp. I could have spent an hour taking picture just of the Promenade. But
instead I used a long lens to make these pictures of some of the buildings on
the Manhattan side of the river. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBT_8mnbgtRzjl9Hmbxop-wPr28F5deRSGM8cYYYPvy_E-iZSO_j8NntM5wmsoa02e3DEg5qIGgTioR96J4S8cXnTTPzkp6hCtHoRQ2OPKDcS8vcWET5HhqSL-Upme5lIM__jX1sLYrhf/s1600/Brooklyn+Heights+Promenade+View+004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBT_8mnbgtRzjl9Hmbxop-wPr28F5deRSGM8cYYYPvy_E-iZSO_j8NntM5wmsoa02e3DEg5qIGgTioR96J4S8cXnTTPzkp6hCtHoRQ2OPKDcS8vcWET5HhqSL-Upme5lIM__jX1sLYrhf/s400/Brooklyn+Heights+Promenade+View+004.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Brooklyn Heights Promenade 004</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-51787147508905979252013-08-26T05:30:00.000-04:002013-08-26T10:55:20.996-04:00Skin in the Game<style>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeE5n3P4k2PFXNB8DGXSzdx_5sE-gQAkA8a88E8utjEaVCApfyWqvHulmHy0m7eSdjQ2VcJvQz6MlFQHW7pMbWHKqFdr37Xc4voJra5yZv-6QoH_SeBAsxErjkvxjYPuGJockitCsQry4m/s1600/VB+Tattoo+Show+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qCspSvkOhSKWKP1tlL7DBmt6HlQRkkVIsvqli_5-fIrVy72qNHbVBS7mzYTlL1yJ7Sp7bZ54h51OJKONOc4ORy8ot83xAF1mTZfDSIs5bSl8ekOztkBoHmBpxJRrsARaCqILTMlVn89F/s1600/VB+Tattoo+Show+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qCspSvkOhSKWKP1tlL7DBmt6HlQRkkVIsvqli_5-fIrVy72qNHbVBS7mzYTlL1yJ7Sp7bZ54h51OJKONOc4ORy8ot83xAF1mTZfDSIs5bSl8ekOztkBoHmBpxJRrsARaCqILTMlVn89F/s400/VB+Tattoo+Show+009.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>It's All About the Tattoo Art</i>, 2013</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I broke one of my rules for these
pictures.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ll do a lot of things in the
name of getting the picture I want. I’ll trespass. I’ll ask the subject to move
into a better position. I’ll use Photoshop to clean up my mistakes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But what I won’t do it pay
someone on the street to let me take their picture. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is a practical matter. Once
you pay someone to sit for a street photograph, 1) everyone expects to be paid
and 2) you become a target for every beggar and ragamuffin. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There are more than enough interesting
looking people in the world to photograph. If someone insists on being paid for
a street photograph, I politely decline and move on until I find a more willing
subject. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Up until a week or so ago, this
rule of not paying had extended to not paying exorbitant tariffs to get into
places where I’d like to photograph people. I’ve paid, say, $5 or $10 to get
into an event where there was photographic potential. But that was it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then my friend the eminent
illustrator Walt Taylor insisted I go with him to a tattoo convention. Walt and
I sometimes wander around the local scene on Saturdays, me looking for things
to photograph and him looking for inspirations for illustrations. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I didn’t have anything against
going to a tattoo convention. People with tattoos can be intimidating to some
people. But they’re also among the easiest people to get to sit for
photographs. I thought there might be some interesting people at a tattoo
convention. Besides, Walt’s been threatening for several years to get a tattoo.
I thought this might be the day.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgRWkXc9j6xZg1xCO1Qq1zPnWNZiHthyp0BqchWYEZf2gIvZeE8No7UzWYHr38rbGpBBzN5DQNYXlrzRL0YMG0Jr3-naSgVWsTHWsBCVmK1EhYzrVAst0tTpg4xlAPpzyles1P84fxu-i/s1600/VB+Tattoo+Show++015+BW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtgRWkXc9j6xZg1xCO1Qq1zPnWNZiHthyp0BqchWYEZf2gIvZeE8No7UzWYHr38rbGpBBzN5DQNYXlrzRL0YMG0Jr3-naSgVWsTHWsBCVmK1EhYzrVAst0tTpg4xlAPpzyles1P84fxu-i/s400/VB+Tattoo+Show++015+BW.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>In This Man's Navy</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What I didn’t reckon on was that
there’d be a $25 admission fee to get into the tattoo convention. But in the
name of friendship and photography, and after making sure they’d allow
photography, I went ahead and agreed to this inky excursion. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The convention center where the
event was held was a sea of booths containing lots of tattoo art and chairs and
tables where people could sit or lie down while a tattoo artist did his or her
work. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There’s a curious intersection
of themes in the tattoo art world I hadn’t anticipated. The fifties-style
pin-up girl look is big. So is anything steampunk. The real surprise, though,
was the number of exhibitors that had taxidermied animals in their displays. Can
someone explain this for me?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcQFQ2sT8mrxHpNyDdfm5Ig3Hbm8XXhi6s52UJfMQNI5de5IcPQGDiEfVzVNOV6tkMR77XYm5zoVOAXOKwq9TKMkZ7t9XecUyQYawjzqHuuVkAui2N8qqJUl4cp_96PA3rjBBpJO-aIhf/s1600/VB+Tattoo+Show++033.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcQFQ2sT8mrxHpNyDdfm5Ig3Hbm8XXhi6s52UJfMQNI5de5IcPQGDiEfVzVNOV6tkMR77XYm5zoVOAXOKwq9TKMkZ7t9XecUyQYawjzqHuuVkAui2N8qqJUl4cp_96PA3rjBBpJO-aIhf/s400/VB+Tattoo+Show++033.jpg" width="355" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Framing the Art</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the end, I didn’t take as
many pictures as I’d hoped and wasn’t very pleased with what I did take. Walt, by the way, didn’t get a
tattoo, either. But he did buy a tattoo convention t-shirt. That might qualify you as hip in Norfolk. But from where I sit that doesn’t
count as real skin in the game. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZNYg73Mj9g_CucjTPaE6EH2J8HpnOZLCCzHsokEvvJFptNLVvxVolALZkyC99aC3QTbcLukFnw6F7PLm57bFogckIM0CuV3-oUdmoCudI0RvUjlXALVJ4xq4tX6nYyh_4uPPCff8NPv1/s1600/VB+Tattoo+Show++020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNZNYg73Mj9g_CucjTPaE6EH2J8HpnOZLCCzHsokEvvJFptNLVvxVolALZkyC99aC3QTbcLukFnw6F7PLm57bFogckIM0CuV3-oUdmoCudI0RvUjlXALVJ4xq4tX6nYyh_4uPPCff8NPv1/s400/VB+Tattoo+Show++020.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Taxidermy and Tattoos</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-77056572922722471192013-08-19T05:30:00.000-04:002013-08-19T05:30:00.222-04:00A Wrong Turn Turned Good
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2clybZLWJ6WHSv763iU7j3IXUl4SRhP_730nCwnQP1vUyWuadekp6IL7Ph2crD32Qsj8iOnGe9hT0reEPrG3AzsqP6xbGTeCdIEed0d1E3yADIp3ABUrfIV8-nSVRuJY91oc33lg4jtyT/s1600/Gowanus+8%2713+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2clybZLWJ6WHSv763iU7j3IXUl4SRhP_730nCwnQP1vUyWuadekp6IL7Ph2crD32Qsj8iOnGe9hT0reEPrG3AzsqP6xbGTeCdIEed0d1E3yADIp3ABUrfIV8-nSVRuJY91oc33lg4jtyT/s400/Gowanus+8%2713+004.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Gowanus Canal</i>, 2012</span></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was leaving New York to return
home to Virginia one morning recently and made a wrong turn. Actually, after reviewing
the map I’ve determined that I didn’t make a wrong turn so much as fail to make
the correct left turn when the route took me briefly off one expressway onto
local streets so that I could get on another expressway. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But that doesn’t matter. What
matters is that instead of getting an earlier start on the drive I found myself
headed downhill toward Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. It was a gorgeous morning and
barely 70F. In other words, excellent conditions for a quick walkabout.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Gowanus Canal is probably
second only to Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River in the notoriety of its environmental
degradation. It’s been the dumping site for industrial and other wastes for
more than a century. I’m told copious efforts have been made to end dumping, clean
the Gowanus Canal and open the area up to more modern uses that allow people to
get closer to and enjoy the waterfront. However, as the picture below
demonstrates, I’d advise you to refrain from sticking your toe in the Gowanus
Canal just yet. Even the birds seem leery of it. </span></span></div>
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</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXel6ne_qu_bIlTgUZF6c6XX5XHyQzsZhL7oswwNVMe2If5O00jmBOfltWkXWKMse2WFNSJxwZy3P1xBV7BCjJSA9N3HlDez6UhHb5g9RB23AHJssIyTvkiWB_pNJsCygwDsDUltKHjIuK/s1600/Gowanus+8%2713+027.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXel6ne_qu_bIlTgUZF6c6XX5XHyQzsZhL7oswwNVMe2If5O00jmBOfltWkXWKMse2WFNSJxwZy3P1xBV7BCjJSA9N3HlDez6UhHb5g9RB23AHJssIyTvkiWB_pNJsCygwDsDUltKHjIuK/s400/Gowanus+8%2713+027.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Gowanus Waters</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But that doesn’t matter either.
I wasn’t going for a swim. And it turns out the area around the canal is ripe
for the kind of graphic industrial photography I sometimes like to do. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqxyF3Xf-I9Qg9fQBdbcQhT7t9ZRHITjdrU3YeZGuuaY9y_2YFRQSSuXKL-UEMCCLT0dqECJ3shf5GfNV631-8R12uO-ACuc28M8GllKFUDzPoDxms1halliqvHvbRBbw2X6gkIgB5h9-/s1600/Gowanus+8%2713+017+BW.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqxyF3Xf-I9Qg9fQBdbcQhT7t9ZRHITjdrU3YeZGuuaY9y_2YFRQSSuXKL-UEMCCLT0dqECJ3shf5GfNV631-8R12uO-ACuc28M8GllKFUDzPoDxms1halliqvHvbRBbw2X6gkIgB5h9-/s400/Gowanus+8%2713+017+BW.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Gowanus 017</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9w-kqeA8vE2tw1tJXixym8ZZqwaBRKn4dTGUaddkm7UBvYunTT3PV9sIL4VU_f5vqivtFW1ThdWJq-fJjTzAUVt7Hy_YxWlpsNSCNosh39PBW6GnqmEDFdE_UuDyVPqRFvcE_ZHWq35Nl/s1600/Gowanus+8%2713+022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9w-kqeA8vE2tw1tJXixym8ZZqwaBRKn4dTGUaddkm7UBvYunTT3PV9sIL4VU_f5vqivtFW1ThdWJq-fJjTzAUVt7Hy_YxWlpsNSCNosh39PBW6GnqmEDFdE_UuDyVPqRFvcE_ZHWq35Nl/s400/Gowanus+8%2713+022.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Gowanus 022</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-6293791611509691292013-08-12T05:30:00.000-04:002013-08-12T21:56:18.164-04:00Under the Lights and Stretching the Comfort Zone<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguX8e2ha4m4YfbTFyBs605WnWV4XilIUySloWWikZqDCKB2Ot4M3FyMPAJYUCRr9WD5aF5cE-upQsFEQpaUgr3dJZ4quADhDykR7N1tzfRtWbqhOvV1mHM4oRGKcZjPU4vJdw0LM7htQ9W/s1600/ICP+350+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguX8e2ha4m4YfbTFyBs605WnWV4XilIUySloWWikZqDCKB2Ot4M3FyMPAJYUCRr9WD5aF5cE-upQsFEQpaUgr3dJZ4quADhDykR7N1tzfRtWbqhOvV1mHM4oRGKcZjPU4vJdw0LM7htQ9W/s400/ICP+350+small.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Brittany</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(Click on image to see larger) </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I
spent last week in New York participating in a workshop called “Environmental
Portraiture” at the School of the International Center for Photography
(ICP). After last summer’s terrific “Photographing
People” workshop at ICP with Harvey Stein, I thought I’d turned the corner and
that it would be clear sailing from then on. Then I had one of those “Aw,
s---t!” moments when I realized I had to give thought to what to do with people
once they’d agreed to be photographed. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
isn’t rocket science. But still, if you want photos to be more than mindless
snapshots, you do need to give some thought to how you portray people honestly,
accurately and engagingly. And it’s not like I haven’t given this some thought
already. Still, I thought it might be instructive to observe how another
photographer works through this process.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
year’s class was taught by Shelby Lee Adams, who is probably best known for his
<a href="http://shelby-lee-adams.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">arresting portraits of individuals and families who live in the “hollers” ofAppalachia</a>. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From
anyone else, this series of portraits could come across as exploitative.
Shelby, however, grew up in Hazard, Kentucky. He understands and respects the
culture and customs of that impoverished region. He doesn’t treat his subjects
as caricatures, something an outsider would be easily tempted to do.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I
enjoyed getting to know Shelby. But it didn’t take long to conclude that the
course should have been called “Lighting for Outdoor
Photographic Portraits.” There was very little talk about the intellectual
process of environmental portraits and a whole lot of talk about lighting ratios.</span></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let
me tell you, this is a lot harder than you might think. As someone who’s always
favored natural light, learning to shoot in a formal portrait format,
particularly outdoors, was a real test of my comfort zone elasticity.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What
we had to do was reject natural light and instead learn how to
create the light we wanted. We were approaching these portraits as a painter
might, with all the creative flexibility that entails. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Artificial
light isn’t a foreign concept to me. I’ve photographed in a studio before. It's intuitive to use strobes and other artificial lighting there. But on the
street, where there’s lots of light and maybe even the interesting light that
drew you to photograph someone in the first place? </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
leads to the second obstacle. Normally, I’m anxious to photograph people in
their own context. I go to where there are, whether that’s an artist in his
studio or a pianist at the piano or just a pretty girl sitting in the soft
light under a tree. You get the picture. That’s why they’re called
“environmental” portraits.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But
in this class we were learning not to go <i>to
</i>the people, but rather to <i>bring </i>them
to a place, or create a place, where we’d set up a series of artificial lights to
turn an outdoor space into an indoor space.
To me, this makes about as much sense as spending a lot of money to manufacture
rain on a sunny day just because you have a raincoat you want to wear. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway,
I spent a week stumbling through this change of paradigm. I shot hundreds of
images of seven or eight different models. I don’t think I embarrassed myself
too much. The photo above was taken in the arcade under the Bethesda Terrace in
Central Park.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8792349136622990269.post-45018329756939209962013-07-29T05:30:00.000-04:002013-07-29T05:30:04.120-04:00The Wreck Tree
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcaCB7TRb_CWNlNLAT8gRm9tjelHWL2G9-FOj9UHRLgQhpm6doiV7Fbxbi9IuKrlb1u7FfSN1ikX7aTvi5FNkiry4BioqqVfdE4hzE_jwYrg82almErh89fOMTJ8O6XIuA5NhkU95eMp6/s1600/Wreck+Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcaCB7TRb_CWNlNLAT8gRm9tjelHWL2G9-FOj9UHRLgQhpm6doiV7Fbxbi9IuKrlb1u7FfSN1ikX7aTvi5FNkiry4BioqqVfdE4hzE_jwYrg82almErh89fOMTJ8O6XIuA5NhkU95eMp6/s400/Wreck+Tree.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ciUomFMf4FaZr0-IIWRYZNA79FZvciFUJK45q2fUr_4-BYacRfNd2K8G2tTWSxj23lanp3NoAHz0VlQSaXal881UwgQaZUrPlETM1_25hEteP9bP3huZUEy5PDrX8FgEn75M6QQv8VW1/s1600/You+were+such+a+good+kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Wreck Tree</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Click on images to see larger) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ll be honest. I don’t usually
pay too much attention to those roadside shrines people set up in memory of the
friends and loved ones who were killed in accidents at those spots. They seem
such simplistic expressions of grief for people whose lives were more than the
few stuffed animals or ribbons tied around trees, signs and little white
crosses.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The other day, though, I stopped
to photograph such a roadside shrine, the first time I’ve ever done that. I did
so mainly because I was desperate to shoot something and this shrine seemed to
be the only thing in sight.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was along a country road in
the rural southern part of our city, along the North Carolina border. This is a
low area, much of it swampy, good for raising corn, soybeans and big water
snakes. I don’t have any anxiety being around corn or soybeans. But I do shy
away from big water snakes, and the area where I saw this little scene does happen
to be home to the only kind of venomous rattlesnake we have in our immediate
coastal area.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Still, there was something that
compelled me to stop. Maybe it was the two crosses, one made from lumber, the
other from broken limbs. Or maybe it was the little plastic bicycle or the
snack bag that was nailed to the tree. Or maybe it was just that the tree into
which the young man whose life this shrine celebrates stuck out at the edge of
a little bend in the road, the kind of tree of which anyone who drives past it
regularly probably says, “Someone’s going to run into that damned tree some day
if they don’t so something about it.” <span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ciUomFMf4FaZr0-IIWRYZNA79FZvciFUJK45q2fUr_4-BYacRfNd2K8G2tTWSxj23lanp3NoAHz0VlQSaXal881UwgQaZUrPlETM1_25hEteP9bP3huZUEy5PDrX8FgEn75M6QQv8VW1/s1600/You+were+such+a+good+kid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ciUomFMf4FaZr0-IIWRYZNA79FZvciFUJK45q2fUr_4-BYacRfNd2K8G2tTWSxj23lanp3NoAHz0VlQSaXal881UwgQaZUrPlETM1_25hEteP9bP3huZUEy5PDrX8FgEn75M6QQv8VW1/s400/You+were+such+a+good+kid.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>You Were Such a Good Kid</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Fastened to the top of the cross
is a plastic bag containing a marker pen. I wondered initially whether the
deceased had been, or wanted to be an artist. But then I realized the pen had
been placed there by someone who hoped the deceased’s friends would leave
messages. And indeed they did. The cross was covered with heartfelt messages of
grief and hope for a better life in the hereafter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don’t know what the
circumstances were of this accident. I can tell from the notes written on the
wooden cross that it was a young boy named Ian and that he was a student at a
local high school. It’s not too hard to imagine a teenager driving too fast,
maybe under the influence, maybe even showing off driving in the dark with no
headlights on, cutting the curve a little too close, his tires catching in the
ditch and…well, the predictable result. Godspeed, Ian. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjX3RRppa6jdws65fIIMbeMk0P5irFCulqpcxMMAVIILo-S_31Xf4trsFyM2LHrDGESTCQSYJfivMmVo6Wu2XEYGjcEdQq-pQb8Sy4YR1dZHeIQBggOc39MZ_rmuzv8LYPjNGZrT60s79F/s1600/Can't+believe+you%27re+gone.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjX3RRppa6jdws65fIIMbeMk0P5irFCulqpcxMMAVIILo-S_31Xf4trsFyM2LHrDGESTCQSYJfivMmVo6Wu2XEYGjcEdQq-pQb8Sy4YR1dZHeIQBggOc39MZ_rmuzv8LYPjNGZrT60s79F/s400/Can't+believe+you%27re+gone.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Can't Believe You're Gone</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfLiBUOMkUNX10F9RK2KHS2oElvsBqSBzoRFWYzNHYMvK6dq3m-1yKVmKbXaGpzj7JVeHyj_hpazJT9WdeVzVVy0jLxEd44cqt95pUr89ATNXN5kDwdO_3NoEra9BF7ZaSqw_VDMAIBSe/s1600/Evidence+of+a+Life.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfLiBUOMkUNX10F9RK2KHS2oElvsBqSBzoRFWYzNHYMvK6dq3m-1yKVmKbXaGpzj7JVeHyj_hpazJT9WdeVzVVy0jLxEd44cqt95pUr89ATNXN5kDwdO_3NoEra9BF7ZaSqw_VDMAIBSe/s400/Evidence+of+a+Life.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>Evidence of a Life</i>, 2013</span></span></div>
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</span></span>Chris Bonney 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/11217899331763560117noreply@blogger.com2