Blog Archives

College of Architecture

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The college of architecture and urban planning at the University of Michigan is housed in this old building. And, at the end of the building are apartments; anyone who’s ever gone to architecture school will appreciate the genius behind THAT idea.

(Oldest architecture school joke in history: This building doesn’t even NEED light switches: the lights are always on because on one ever leaves.) (I never said architects were funny.)

Ann Arbor, Michigan
photographed 4.20.2013

Alley, at dusk

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I don’t know what street I was on (Benton Place? Lake Street?). It was in Chicago – I remember that much. I might have been heading east. Unless I was going west, or, you know, one of those other directions that streets go.

But it doesn’t matter. What does matter (at least to me) is how attractive this alley was, with construction scaffolding blocking the light from above and a streetlight highlighting the concrete barrier in the foreground.  And, way down on the other street, a lone pedestrian in a bigger hurry than me.

the Loop
Chicago, Illinois

photographed 4.13.2013

White on white, 6

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The calendar led me to believe it might be warm; it was the third week of April, after all.  It was not warm; it wasn’t even cool.  So my day of photographing rural Michigan devolved into whatever I could shoot in brief forays from the car.

Fortunately, the caretaker’s shack at this cemetery was close by and I was able to get a few shots before my fingers got too cold to work the shutter release.  (And, yes, I DID have gloves.  But gloves that are really toasty in Texas are mostly just decorative in Michigan.)

This side of the building, the west, had a lot more peeling paint than the other sides.  That, plus what I observed that day, make me think that harsh winds from the west occur with some degree of regularity.  In that way, it was a lot like home.

Oak Grove Cemetery
Manchester, Michigan
photographed 4.19.2013

Stairs from the nameless street

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A curvy staircase going from one street (that Google maps just refuses to provide a name for) to the intersection of E. South Water Street and North Park Drive, and on to Lake Shore East Park.

I guess people in Chicago know this, but it came as news to me:  those stainless steel handrails are cold, and when they get wet* they are very slippery.

downtown Chicago, Illinois

photographed 4.15.2013

*There was something called “rain” in Chicago.  I’ve read about it, but we don’t get it in Texas.  At least not in my part of the state.

Madonna of the Sun

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On that cold morning, the Madonna looked liked she’d climbed atop the urn to better catch a ray of sunlight, as she tried to warm her marble bones.

St. Thomas the Apostle Cemetery
Ann Arbor, Michigan

photographed 4.20.2013