This is what a sunny winter’s day looks like in DC. There’s a very thin veil of color that remains in the landscape even in the depths of winter. This picture was taken from a wooded trail along a shallow creek, not far from my place. I wish that you could see a larger version…
Tag Archive: texture
Old-Fashioned Landscape
I wonder what the aesthetic status of an image like this would be if the first photographs had been in color. Or if somehow—like rural portions of the world that have skipped directly from drums to cellphones—the development of photography had been direct-to-digital. No patina of nostalgia would cling to this form of presentation. It…
Flaky
I feel as if if I’ve gotten out of whack in my urban-decay-rust/pretty-flower-cuteness quotient. So here’s some straight-up, old-school, fire hydrant funk for y’all.
Signature (Red)
I’m not sure what the purpose of this marking was, originally. If it was for municipal maintenance of some kind, it’s unusual in that it was made by a fluid drip rather than the usual spray paint. I don’t think it was urban tagging of any kind. So: is the image posted here mine, half-mine,…
Ornamental
Today Deb and I took Abbie out to lunch in a belated celebration of her birthday. I was bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, but the food and the company were both excellent. As we left Chef Geoff’s, I was temporarily distracted by this astonishing ornamental in an outdoor pot. It was very bright out, with…
Leatherwood
I’ve been looking at this image periodically for two months now. I’ve been tweaking and messing about with it, to a sense of lingering dissatisfaction. Eventually, I’ve had to admit to myself that the photograph simply does not do a good job of capturing what it is that I find compelling about it. I wonder…
Scattering
It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that I was the only person who thought this scattering of fallen flowers was beautiful. It would, I confess, make me a little sad. A Year Ago: Porter’s Piano I came across this beauty in a lounge area above the Park Avenue entrance to the Waldorf-Astoria… [read more]
Decay, Two Kinds
Husks, metallic and organic. A Year Ago: Clichéd and Unconcerned This lovely little soul was rescued bodily from the hands of irresponsible custodians… [read more]
Net
I’m not, by and large, a huge fan of the aesthetics of plastic. Yet I have found myself photographing this kind of construction-fence netting again and again. Because they are deliberately designed to be as visible as possible, these materials make no apology for their artificial, day-glo colors. I am captivated by the way they…
Texture x 3
If you feel that you’re missing out photographically, there are a couple of easy tricks that can snap you out of the visual doldrums. The first is this: get closer. Maybe even a lot closer. Getting closer not only lets you see detail you might otherwise miss, it also changes how things look through the…