Philosophical Photography, Percontation, Prose, Poetry, Parables, Pottery & Politics… Phew!
We were in Manhattan at the weekend, on the same day as the Puerto Rican Day Parade. This is held on the second Sunday in June and was established in 1958. It was colorful and noisy, with lots of streets blocked off for the parade along Fifth Avenue.
People of all ages take part, and you’re never too old to celebrate, as demonstrated by this older gentleman on roller blades, who was keen to show me he could still do the splits!
I hope I am that fit when I get to his age!
~Richard
Hinduism, the major religion for the Indian subcontinent, has thousands of gods that are worshipped. These myriad deities fall within the trinity of major gods, Shakti (Devi), Vishnu, and Shiva.
Shakti, or Devi, is the creator and changer; Vishnu is the preserver, or protector; and Shiva is the god of destruction. Of course, each god has many other minor deities associated with them. Too many to list, in fact as some can be very specific indeed. This makes Hinduism a very personal religion, whilst existing in a larger framework. There are many temples throughout the city of Chennai dedicated to various deities and they are usually very colorful.
One of the oldest is the Kapaleeshwarar (Kapaleeswar) temple in Mylapore, which is dedicated to Shiva and his related deities.
As colorful as the carvings are the stories surrounding the creation of many of the gods: tales of rage, redemption regret and rebirth proving that even gods have to take the consequence of their decisions!
The carvings on the various temple buildings and smaller shrines are kept bright through regular maintenance and ensure that you really do get the impression of being overlooked from the heavens as you walk though the Temple complex in a clockwise pattern.
Keep on the white path though or your bare feet will burn in the searing Madras heat!
Chennai is a bustling, modern city in many ways, with many well dressed locals walking with cellphones attached to their ears like any other urban scene. But there are also many locals who cannot hope to afford the western lifestyle and for whom the local stalls and stores are an essential part of life. It is quite odd to see bill boards advertising a new shopping mall that will contain GAP, and other corporate retail outlets alongside the more modest stores, many of them on carts or in the front of people’s houses. These stores have been giving service to the locals for generations and forming an essential part of the community – something that is lost by the corporate giants with their never-ending quest for growth.
At 1454 feet (443m) tall, the Empire State Building (ESB) is a very impressive art deco skyscraper that was the tallest building in New York City from 1931 until 1970 and then again from September 2001 until April 2012. Globally, it is as iconic as the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben and The Eiffel Tower in being able to instantly identify with a country and city.
There have probably been millions of photographs taken of the ESB in just the last few years so I was pleased to be able to get an unusual angle with the cross atop The Guardian Angel Church juxtaposed against this behemoth of a building.
Philosophically deep and meaningful? Maybe, you tell me! Interesting composition? I like to think so 😉
As intimated in my earlier postings yesterday and Monday the New York High Line features several worthy art installations along its 1.4 mile length. However, there are also other artistic perspectives to be seen in the local environment too. In addition to the “Young Veezy” art I showed yesterday particularly liked a few other other graffiti works that are easily seen on the walk.
This is definitely going to become a place I try to visit more, and in different seasons too.
Yesterday’s trip to the Big Apple was a bit of an eye opener for me. Despite trying to get inspired by the dogwood52 challenge that I have forced myself to participate in for the last 19 weeks, I have really been neglecting my photographing activities on the whole. One could say I have lost my focus (appalling pun intended!). Thus, knowing that I would have several hours free time in NYC yesterday I made a point of packing up my bag to include my Panasonic GX-8 with a 20mm f/1.7 and a 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 lens.
I also took along my trusty Panasonic LX5 and removed its external LVF so that I could keep it handy in my pocket. I thought about getting some decent street/urban shots but, to be honest, I still feel very self-conscious about this and don’t want to intrude too much into people’s lives. It’s just my opinion, but I strongly believe that the ways of the Garry Winogrand “in yer face” approach are long-gone and people are much more suspicious and unforgiving than they were even 20 years ago. I want to get home in one piece.
Anyhow, as I mentioned yesterday I took a leisurely stroll along the High Line and was pleasantly surprised not only by the art installations but also the views of the buildings and the creativity that has been used in the area. This extends from the place itself into the neighboring buildings and also into some of the graffiti in the area.
Being alone in the city as a tourist can be a little strange; for example, there is no-one to share your thoughts or discoveries with but on the other hand it does afford a time of quiet self-reflection from the normal busy day. I used the time to wander aimlessly along and to “see things again” through my cameras, unfettered by a tight schedule or the wants of others.
After an hour or so on the High Line, generally making myself a nuisance to other users and drawing some confused looks from tourists, some of whom wondered why the old guy was taking photos of a wall or getting low to the ground*, I felt as though I had reset myself. As I headed up to Central Park it was as if I was able to focus on my photography like I used to.
* as an aside this is a great way to get strangers to look at all sorts of odd things and almost start a chain reaction of crowd behavior. It’s surprising just how few people will actually ask what you are trying to see!
Today was meant to be a blog entry on politics per my schedule, but to be honest I’m sick of politics at the moment and a lot of my posts have already covered that topic over the last few weeks. So today I took advantage of a break in the rain and, as we had what ended up being a brief bit of late afternoon sunshine, I ventured outside for some photographic therapy. Several weeks ago I purchased a 10” x 8” mirror from the dollar store in the hope of using this to make some interesting compositions. I had left in in the trunk of my car and there it had languished. Today, I finally decided to start on this project, especially as I just found out that May is National Photography Month (NaPhoMo). I began by removing the plastic frame from the mirror so that it had no defined edge and would be able to blend into the background for a better optical effect. Unfortunately this also meant the cheap card backing was detached too, so I had to cover the back of the mirror with duck tape to protect it from being scratched*. Five minutes later with prop in hand I started playing around in the garden.
No sooner had I placed the mirror down then one of our hens came over for a look. I thought she might be frightened, or angry but she simply regarded the bird in the mirror, was mildly confused when she looked over the top and then wandered off looking for bugs (good girl).
I think this may turn into a longer term project as it had loads of possibilities, even though the mirror is far from perfect…
*although this may too be an interesting effect
“A little off the top and a lot off the sides, please…”
WEEK 18: Artistic: Texture – The artistic inspiration this week is texture. You should almost be able to feel the image.
When you look around you, there are just so many textures to choose from, so many in fact that it becomes difficult to decide what to do. For this assignment I was going to use a metallic texture but then switched to a stone texture instead. This is from a wall tile at my place of work.
The rough lines remind me of the grooves on a record for some reason. I wonder what sound it would make if it could play?
WEEK 17: Landscape: Urbanscape – Most Landscapes are wide open spaces of natural beauty… this week find the beauty of the urbanscape/cityscape.
You would think that it is quite easy to get an urban landscape, but this week I was fairly rushed and the weather wasn’t the best, with a few days of drizzle and grey skies. Anyhow I eventually ventured out this morning, taking a 30 minute diversion before work, with the intention of getting some street shots and, moment of inspiration, some shots from the top of the parking garage, six floors up, in the center of town.
I was strolling purposefully up the stairs when I was overtaken by a “bit of a Martin Parr moment” as I call them, and decided that an internal urban landscape would fit the bill nicely. I love the huge swathe of grey concrete, the light glinting off a single parked truck in the distance and just a small splash of color of the elevators on the periphery.
Please let me know what you think!
~Richard
Stuff that interests Mr Reid, a physicist and teacher
Sharing Great Blog Posts
Travelling the overcast isles
Inspiration for meeting life's challenges.
a resource for moving poetry
Welcome to my world.
Mind over matter
Musings on a mad world
Travel. Climbing. Characters. True stories, well told.
Adventuring the globe whilst based in the beautiful PNW, with a focus on fitness & adventure travel, conservation and a healthy balanced lifestyle. All with my beautiful partner in crime, Stephanie!
Games, Illustrations and Short Stories
Success By Design
Never get lost in the Sauce
Photo Book Store
Happy Eating
Cooking, gardening, traveling and photographing around the globe
storytelling the world
Perspectives on Lifelong Learning, Education, & The Arts
searching4theshot 