Monthly Archives: February 2021
the other side of progress
Out on the edge of town, buildings are vanishing at a surprising pace: they are in the way of a new road, an outer loop around town.
Lubbock County, Texas
photographed 2.17.2021
Going up against chaos
My regular reader(s) already knows that I often photograph restrooms, and that reader is nice enough to not laugh to my face about that.
But this is a reason why I have that weird little habit: that turned-over trash can was just ASKING to be photographed, if you ask me.
Another one of my weird photographic habits, which my brain tends to do all on its own without any assistance from me, is to place song lyrics in my head when I see scenes like this. Usually they are Bruce Cockburn lyrics and usually they don’t seem to have a very strong connection to the actual scene. Today’s lyrics, suggested by Melinda’s Brain, come from a song called “Going up Against Chaos.” And if you listen to the lyrics and can figure out a connection to this photo, please let me know: I’ll be damned if I can tell what it is.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 2.17.2021
Different Years: a diptych
If you’ve been following along the last couple of days, you know that my collaborator suggested randomly pairing images from the same date but different years just to see what sort of diptych might emerge.
And here’s what I got when I selected One Day | One Image posts from October 17 in 2020 and 2013.
Oddly enough, this pairing works, I think – the peaks of the roof of the church building are echoed in the dancers’ arms.
Dusty, Washington
photographed 9.2.2020, posted 10.17.2020
Denver, Colorado
photographed 6.21.2008, posted 10.17.2013
Wigs: a diptych
If you were here yesterday, you already know that my friend Al and I are taking an online photography class together this year. Our discussions of diptychs for class led us to recall a rain-soaked couple of days in Los Angeles, when we were attending a weekend workshop at the Los Angeles Center for Photography. And that led – as these things sometime do – to the idea that we should collaborate on a diptych.
That’s me in Al’s photo on the left. It looks like I can barely believe what I am seeing, and added to that is the fact that my hair is really wet from all the rain we’d been in.
But wait: there’s more. Just when I thought we were done with diptychs. Al suggested that we look further at our archives and pick images from the same day/different year and pair them up. So….tomorrow you can see the first effort at that project. Unless these wigs have frightened you to the extent you will never return.
Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
photographed 2.17.2017
Ice: a diptych
My photographer friend Al told me about a year-long photography class called “Gathering Light,” taught by photographer Laura Valenti. Al thought maybe I’d like to take the class (he was already enrolled) and since he’s never steered me wrong (except for that one time) and because I needed some structure and direction this year, I signed up.
The assignment a week or so ago was to work on diptychs; it was not easy for me, as my photographic eye is more documentary and, to me, diptychs seemed more fanciful or something. I don’t know. Anyway, as often happens the idea to combine these two images came to me when I didn’t even know I was still thinking about it. You’ve seen both of them before (here and here). I rather liked the way they turned out.
And tomorrow, maybe, you’ll see another pair of images…
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 12.5.20 and 1.3.21
One Day | One Image 