Roadside
ADHD? Me? Ha!! I can’t sit still in a moving car?? Me? Camera in hand and ready for action… there’s lots to see. America, ain’t it beautiful? Sometimes I think you can guess the politics of folks from the roadside show. Careful for the rocks you turn over.
Religion
We are neither of us religious, Colleen nor me. We are lapsed Presbyterians. Yes, we attended the same Sunday school in the same church in different classes. (Somewhere back around the sixth grade.) Girls and boys were separate – different stories, lessons? We are in churches all the time. I pray: “Oh God, get me outta this one…” Colleen meditates. Church is good for birth, death, and marriages, Lisa once observed. I was married by a judge, and then, later, by a Presbyterian minister. Go figure. I am scheduled? to be buried in a ghost church cemetery. Don’t ask. Dead is dead. I don’t much care what is done. Let my loved ones be at peace with their decisions and wishes. I wish them serenity in their thoughts. Symbolism, beauty, grace… all are found within a church.
Scene at the antique store
What is it? Seen it? Need one?
I had an early Kodak instamatic camera back in 1965? It was the “100” model and shot 126 film. I got it and we went to the NY World’s Fair in Flushing, NY. Old soda? Can you drink it? At these prices? How about a sewing box? Need one? Dirty or clean? I guess the clean ones sold out. It’s a winder. Wind what? For what? Elephant pottery. Use? Dunno. New! In the box! Food mill. It’s a bargain, you don’t see them around nowadays?
Nostalgia? Memories? We go to the antique store and find more stuff we don’t need and didn’t know we wanted and didn’t know we missed. Fun. But, no.
Church
We are in churches a lot. We don’t “go” to church. Which, church? Dunno, give me a few shots… ah! It’s Santa Fe. Passing thru. Sights, sound, food… The ristra was the clue. Vertical or horizontal? ?? Do you shoot vertical or horizontal photo composition? Holding an iPhone vertically answers that question. Most of you hold your phone vertically. A camera, real camera, lends itself to horizonal composition >90% of the time. I shoot mostly horizontal. I don’t make much effort at vertical composition. Why? My computer screen is horizontal. So, it fits, screensavers are mainly horizontal. It’s better use and fills the computer screen easier/better. Oh! Back to church, horizontal or vertical? Me? I go both ways. Ha ha. Colleen? She likes to look inside churches.
Women are smart
I was infatuated by Kristina. She was niece to a famous neurosurgeon. Cool. We had a brief travel encounter heading toward Oslo. I never saw her again. It was her decision. Better for me (much!!). Strange girl. I had back pain. She opened her handbag and took out a bottle of mixed assorted pills, found a couple and handed them to me. ??? Oh, she said, I know what they are by their looks. I took ‘em. Trust! It’s wise she did not hook up with me. After all, history says that if you wait, you will meet Colleen once more. Oh! Thank you! I laugh, though. We stopped along the way to Oslo, spontaneously knocking on a random door to a mansion, and getting a tour from the mistress of the house. That is definitely not my usual, or, maybe… You may smile (or not) to see the weaving, which Colleen can undoubtedly comment. Warp, weft, pattern, they are all discernible to the eye of a weaver. Me? I am very happy in the place I am in, right here, and, now. I am with a very smart woman, indeed!
Scenes I have seen
Quintessential? Camden. It is a very picturesque town. There are shots. Perhaps I was not feeling the inspiration? Lazy? Who knows? I have been here. Have i? This is no time to be existential. Like the sunset, it is subtle in color. Is there more to say? Some days are like that. Pictures jump out or not.
Counting the cars…
As long as we are on Simon and Garfunkel… counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike…. Colleen took this shot. Great shot! She was shooting to include the green arrows. ??? I don’t know. She got a quintessential shot of traffic in America! I’ve been there! And, on our return trip the GPS gods took us on a (lost) detour past St Vlad’s church on the hill. Sometimes random wandering is good! Note: you are never lost if you never put the car in reverse.
Meanwhile, back at home, the flowers … they are fewer as summer fades. It is time for the rose of Sharon to bloom. I have one this year. It is my harbinger to fall.
The Summer Knows – Barbra Streisand
… And if you’ve learned your lesson well
There’s little more for her to tell
One last caress
It’s time to dress
For fall
Would you?
…take your dog…. Wow! She did it! She had the dog with her at a black-tie concert. She must know….?? The dog got a lot of attention. It (dog) didn’t seem to mind – attention or the surroundings – no noise. I kept waiting for it (the dog) to pee on her. In the second half the woman did leap out of her seat? … to walk the dog? But, alas, no, the husband and dog remained seated and she did not return till the end? A mystery it seems, that shall remain unresolved.
Behind the scenes (pics)
The only difference between your iPhone and my camera is that my inconsequential pics have a higher technical quality. My daily diary is not particularly interesting. I have shots of the cats, where we’ve been, and the food we consumed. Mundane. Boring, no doubt. The stories behind the picture(s)? It’s all an experience/experiment. Does the picture come first or does the narrative come as I take the picture? Both, all of the above, a gorgeous sunset is easy. But I experiment. There are few new pictures. It’s mostly reworking previous subjects in a new situation. Repeat? You bet. New? Some, too. By now I should know what I’m doing and never miss. I should not have to repeat my mistakes. I know what to do. But… most of my stuff (images) is mundane and not worthy of more than a glance. Throw stuff away? A friend told me recently that he dumps all his bad images. Clutter! No clutter! No, no, no. I have faithfully cataloged all of my clutter with a database. Database? Why not? And images are stored on hard drives. There’s no space taken up there. …except if you have too many redundant drives. Anyway, today was mundane. Anything but… Coffee in the antique store, antique store (another), ghost church/cemetery, dinner/anniversary with the cousins, and food! There’s a fine line. But, every day is a gift! Really!! You gotta be smiling by now, YTIMA spelled backwards is llits AMITY.
Without a plan
You plan, you plot, you schedule. We did. We arrived in time to take the advertised tour of Glasgow Cathedral. We discovered they had stopped the schedule a while back. They were doing tours by request as people arrived. We got a private tour guide for a couple hours. I arrived without any expectation. I never worked with a plan, just a vague vision. Upon arrival the guard admonished the girls to use the exit side of the entrance; they had to circle back and around. We found out why the stained glass was modernized and replaced by donors and groups. I discovered you have to be on site in order to really know how things work. It all fit. We had a great day!
Rain
Every day it rains – in Scotland. Maybe once in a while… it doesn’t. But, mostly it’s safe to expect rain. We were at Brig o doon. A quaint church was there. it was still functional. The retired ruin of the previous church was across the street. And, we chanced upon a wedding with bag pipe and full kilt regalia. The groom wore a traditional suit and the bride was in white. Umbrellas. Sun. Rain. Kilts. Something for everyone. Yes, all on the same day!
Ghost Church
How do you film a ghost? Good question. Good answer. …’cause I don’t know. It’s not easy. The questions begs an answer. There’s not much to see… or to effectively record. I suppose that’s the answer too. Confused? I might yet be buried here. It’s a former church site that has been designated a national historic landmark property but they did not landmark the building. The church was collapsing. The solution? Ghost church. I’ve never seen nor heard of one. It’s surely different. It’s in the middle of nowhere. So, I doubt there will be many folks visiting. Now you know about as much as I do without resorting to an internet search.
Follow up: They painted it. I have mixed feelings about the paint job. It does stand out. I suppose it might even look spooky on a moonlit night.
Funny
Well, it’s funny to me. I was once accused of having a dry sense of humor. Was that good or bad? I suppose it’s not a good thing to have a woodpecker loving on your wooden church. I’m scanning slides. Not editing. So, I end up looking at each and every one I scan in order to label them. I have a database. Within reason I have lain my hands on a lot of images without too much pain. But the things that I have forgotten knows no bounds. Undoubtedly I saw this slide when I mounted it. But until now I would never tell you that I got a shot of a woodpecker on the steeple of a wooden church. He was gone by the next picture. A call from God?
photobackstory 