Letting Go

Where: Bradford, Vermont
When: November 7, 2009

Transparencies

Where: Tuckahoe, NY,
When: November 4, 2009

Drifting Down

Where: West Village, NYC
When: October 23, 2009

I just like the colors against the white background. It's not really my favorite shot, to be honest.

Form follows function

Where: West Village, NYC
When: October 9, 2009

I love how the chain link and the vine have similar properties, and actions.

Building Blocks

Where: Hudson River Park, NYC
When: November 9, 2009

I had a dream last night, where I'm in a room with a task. I need to set up a chalk board with several moving parts. I try to do it all at once and fail, I can't get the various sections to support each other, can't establish a firm base. The room is crowded with people trying to achieve the same task, a cacophony of clattering, gestures and conversation.

In the middle I see one young girl sitting on the floor, patiently lifting and lowering one side of the chalk board over and over, with a focus that is both intense and diffused. I sit down next to her with my chalkboard and do the same thing, and feel calm and certainty return in the effort to master one small portion of the task, and I realize that I'm dreaming, and that it is a metaphor for meditation practice.

"I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value...
Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction,
bind grasses to build a hut, and don't give up."

By Shitou Xiqian [700-790], "Song of the Grass Root Hermitage".

I've been distracted, busy and, most recently, sick the last several weeks, and my practice has dropped off, so I was happy to have a dream reminding me to start again, binding a few grasses at a time.

I don't see it.

Where: Hudson River Park, NYC
When: November 10, 2009

I love the futuristic/retro look of these things. Wish I had had a stronger light that day to really pick up on the shapes. I also should have brightened this before exporting/resizing - sorry it's a bit dark.

Variation on a Theme: Same Sun, Different Day

Where: Solterreno, Vall de Laguar, Spain
When: July 2, 2009

Same sun on other days (these were meant to be links to old posts, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, so I'm putting them all here instead. I kind of like this better, actually):

The seasons of my life

Where: High Line Park, Chelsea, NYC
When: October 14, 2009

Title from Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide". Which is such a lovely song, but a little too close to the mark a year or so ago, when the need for change and direction felt both too urgent and too frightening. Now I can listen to it and just enjoy it, which is nice. So here's to riding out the tides.

"Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder, children get older
I'm getting older too"

Variations on a Theme: There's Beauty In The Breakdown, in horizontals

Where: Soho, NYC
When: October 25, 2009

Title from Frou Frou's song Let Go. Here's the vertical version.

Phoning Home

Where: Hudson River Park, NYC
When: November 16, 2009

Inside Out

Where: My Apartment, NYC
When: November 5, 2009

Another from the experiment with out of focus self-portraits. This was the feel I was going for at the time (but liked the color one better). Creepy, right?

I normally select which photo from the backlog I feel like posting so that there's more of a theme, but now I'm just going straight down so it might be a little disjointed.

Dead Heads

Where: High Line Park, Chelsea, NYC
When: October 14, 2009

I kept skipping over this one as an upload choice, but looking at it again (and not as a thumbnail) reminds me why I chose it to upload at all. I love the graceful feel of the branches, and the dof.

To The Point

Where: Hudson River Park, NYC
When: November 2, 2009

Off center of the center

Where: High Line Park, Chelsea, NYC
When: October 14, 2009

I love the swirly lines in the middle of this! It's why I went with bw, I feel like it makes the detail pop.