Monthly Archives: September 2018
A blurry day
I love fog! I love how it blurs and distorts what we’re familiar with, how it makes everything seem quieter, and how it hides things that are otherwise very close.
But after a few hours, I am ready for the sun to come back out.
Sweetwater, Texas
photographed 2.23.2018
Out with the old
Parts of this hospital have already been torn down, and other parts are well along in that process – all to make way for a new hospital. It’s hard to get a good view of the work site, though. There are tall construction fences (with fabric over them) all around the site. The parking garage that would afford a fantastic view is accessible only with a code number (which I don’t have). I think there may be a way to get to a pedestrian bridge, but that means wandering through the maze of hallways of a place that holds only bad memories. So, I did what anyone with a 28mm Summicron lens would do: I poked that little lens right through the only part of the chain-link fence that didn’t have fabric covering it, cranked up the ISO, braced the camera and myself against the fence, held my breath, and hoped for the best…
(Weirdly, bracing myself, holding my breath, and hoping for the best are all things I have done inside that facility.)
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 9.17.2018
Dickens (not Charles)(but named for him)
When your itinerary for the day is to “drive around and look at stuff” and you’re traveling along a two-lane road and there’s a sign that says “Dickens” and run-down building down a dirt road, there’s really only one choice, isn’t there?
The place is unincorporated, and so small that there’s no population listed. I’d put it at fewer than 10. According to our friend Wikipedia, the place was founded in the 1880s when the railroad went through. Wikipedia also notes the place was named for Charles Dickens, though it offers no supporting evidence. But let’s think about long-ago students in this school reading Bleak House…
Dickens, Nebraska
photographed 8.26.2018
A giant white dress
Yes! Children AND adults can sew up a giant white dress, if they want.
But if that’s not your deal, look to the far wall, where you can (apparently) check out the BEST NEBRASKA WINES, which sounds weird enough that it’s probably a real thing.
Neither dresses nor wine your thing? Off to the right, then, is an accordionist/comedian you could check out. I make a mistake of sitting down in the front row after he’d started his show – I must have violated some some provision of the of Accordionist Audience Code of Ethics, which just goes to show the hidden dangers of traveling in foreign places like Nebraska – and he heckled me relentlessly. At one point, when some old dude came down to take a picture, he stopped playing, and said as he gestured to my camera, “Sir – no photos. She’s here from Jimmy Fallon and won’t let anyone else photograph me.” It was SO FUNNY. To the accordionist.
All this to say the state fair had plenty of stuff to look at.
Nebraska State Fair
Grand Island, Nebraska
photographed 8.28.2018
One Day | One Image 