A Rider Vanishes

I spent a lovely couple of hours this afternoon in Bethesda, enjoying the perfect weather and practicing my panning shots. This one had the bonus of a third bicyclist coming from the opposite direction at exactly the right instant.

Bow Before Spring

Yes, it's another picture of flowers. You know why? Because flowers are beautiful, even at twilight when the light is failing. These tulips were bending before a cold breeze that belies the season. We aren't yet at a time of reliable warmth. But it's coming, the tulips say so, and they are never wrong.

Reflection on Dining

I can see myself here (if you know what I mean).

Clichéd and Unconcerned

This lovely little soul was rescued bodily from the hands of irresponsible custodians by some friends. He became the unofficial mascot of Abbie's wedding shower.

It's a terrible photograph: blurry, badly framed, etc. But look at that face! Sweetest puppy EVAR (and his fur was so soft).

Splendor

Lynn and I went to the Smithsonian Craft Exhibition at the Building Museum this afternoon. I was able to persuade her to try on this lovely ($900!!) jacket, which fit her perfectly . Its maker, Starr Hagenbring, had no business cards, which totally scandalized me. (If I ever manage to make it into a prestigious show like this one, please feel free to kick me firmly in the butt if I don't have cards in my stall to hand out to admirers!)

April Showers

Friends Dooley and Barb read a card at their baby shower.



Abbie, Abbie's Mom Linda, and her Mother-In-Law-to-be Charlotte.

It was a full day of life passage celebrations today. I'm privileged to be able to join my friends for these occasions.

Elements

Bread, oil, garlic, rosemary. More than enough substance and flavor for a meal.

Ancestor Dwelling

Before I was born, my family drove across country multiple times, camping at scenic spots in the West. This sort of rock formation inspired several of my father's bas relief sculptures.

Rolled

Once upon a time, I worked as a waiter. They don't tell you before you become a server how much "side work" is involved. I remember spending a lot of time sweeping up, rolling cutlery into napkin bundles, and cleaning the espresso machine. All the time you're doing those things (typically at the end or beginning of a shift), you are not earning tips, you are earning the less-than-minimum wage that restaurants get to pay people who wait on tables.

They also don't tell you in advance that you are expected to "tip out" to the bus boys and the bartender from your own earnings. If you're tipping your waiter 15%, they're likely keeping no more than 10%.

Let's just say that my time working in a restaurant has made me a much more generous tipper than I used to be, especially in places where the food isn't particularly expensive. Those folks just aren't making a whole lot of money, and the work can be brutal.

Connected

Transport in and out of the shadowlands.

Newness of Life

The language of Easter is a dialect of Spring.

Happy Birthday

Someone's birthday is today. Please let him know you're glad he was born; I certainly am.

Welcome

In Death of the Hired Hand, Robert Frost wrote: "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

If you're lucky, there's a place where you're actually welcomed in. That's where the heart finds its ease.

Ordinary

Sometimes it's just this: light coming through a fogged window with a rusted metal frame, water beading on plastic, a hanging cord, a rounded bar of soap. The light washes across, refracts, illuminates. It's the simplest thing, really. I catch my breath at the beauty of the world.

Sway

Late afternoon, and the pendulum is swinging gently.

A Strange Aesthetic

I'm not sure how to account for my fondness for such widely divergent images. What is it that tickles my aesthetic imagination about the view of the Flamingo's brassy glory from this dimly lit, beige elevator lobby at Harrah's? And what could it possibly have in common with my appreciation of this tumble of striped rock at Valley of Fire?

Consider the Basil

Two of my favorite people plan a garden. What could be more beautiful?

Carface

Remember bumper cars? They were FUN. I find myself with an unexpected yen to visit an amusement park and just have fun. (This may have something to do with a stopped up ear that is making me stupid and very cranky.)

Purple

I don't think of heather as usually being an early spring bloomer. But here it is.

Green

It's been unseasonably hot here in DC for the last few days, all the way up into the 80s. Spring is being forced along at a preposterous pace. Finally, today, a break in the heat and some rain. Maybe now we'll have a chance to pause and appreciate the new green flourishing everywhere.

Carved by Water

Most deserts were once watery places, but very few photographs make them seem that way. In this one, I can see the sway and swirl of the current against the rocks, and the sandy path remains to show the way to the ocean.

Roots x 2

This much is elemental: water, rocks, roots.

You Want Flowers...?

I got flowers! I gotchyer magnolias right here.

Spring Red

Yes, that's a maple, a Japanese Fire maple. And no, it's not Fall, it's Spring. Don't worry, I'm confused too.

Tattooed

Just as with tattooes inked into the skin, declarations marked into trees sometimes seem to occasion second thoughts or regrets.

Fallen Camellias

I had a lovely late-afternoon walk with Deb at Green Spring Gardens Park. There was a veritable orgy of blooming underway, much of it just beginning, some in full flower. But most of the camellias were already past their prime. Spring goes just this quickly, for some.

Fire Canyon

I couldn't even muster up an April Fool's joke today... too busy wrangling years and years worth of files and correspondence and images.

Monumental

It was a day of dentistry and the unpacking of new technology. So no new pictures, but another from Valley of Fire. I like this one because it has an ambiguous sense of scale: how big are those trees/bushes, that bunch of rocks, the mountains in the distance?

In An Unusual Light

I haven't done much photographing of people in a long, long time (once upon a time, it was my livelihood). I'd quite like to get back to it, in an exploratory way.

I'm a huge fan of light that bounces off of windows or mirrors onto otherwise nondescript surfaces, thereby transforming them. In this instance, I was lucky enough to have a pedestrian illuminated as well.

Valley of Fire

I spent a wonderful couple of hours wandering around this state park with Bob. These images are a small sample of the wonders to be seen. This location will surely reward multiple visits.



This barrier was intended only for motor vehicles.



We stayed until sunset. A nearly full moon was rising in the East.

Disorientation

I continue to be wobbly and a little woozy. I've got some sort of ear infection, I think.

Confusing Passage

I'm in Las Vegas and I've been feeling unwell for a couple of days… lightheaded and woozy. This image gives a sense of the problem.

Amphitheater

I'm traveling for a week or so; it's possible I may miss a few days' posting. And when I do post, it may be from the stockpile, like this one from last Sunday's visit to Arlington Cemetery.

Grain and Flakes

Two different distressed surfaces, and some metal.

Arlington House

I spent several hours on Sunday wandering around Arlington Cemetary. The Custis-Lee Mansion is stuck partway through renovation, for lack of funds, which I find absolutely preposterous and shameful.

Glen Echo

Glen Echo Park is a strange hybrid of a place. The oddest thing about it is a bunch of loving restorations that are not being used at all (never mind for their intended purposes).

They have a lively art workshop scene, and in the summer it apparently runs riot with children. But no bumper cars, and no actual crystal pool.

No Weight

You know my eye was caught by the arrow, the numbers, and that tasty tasty rust.

Under Construction

I've been thinking a lot about technical matters, because I'm going to have to rebuild this blog soon, and I'll probably want to mix some other stuff into the SomeBeaut site. It's all going to be a boatload of work.

I'm gradually beefing up my technology infrastructure though, so at least the "But my computer sucks!" excuse will not longer apply. April will officially be Full Steam Ahead Month.

Autumn Leaves Before Spring

Glorious weather today almost made me believe that winter is done and Spring is waiting next door for permission to enter. Looking at this picture, you might imagine that somehow we skipped winter altogether.

If only.

Curves

Okay, I confess: this image was not taken in the last 72 hours. Anyone can see that. After all, there is clearly some SUNLIGHT showing in this picture.

Worst. Winter. EVAR.

In A Glass

There's always a frame, and there's always distortion. Some are just more easily spotted than others.

Zones

Some transitions are more clearly delineated than others.

Nature v. Nurture

Another image from the grounds of the Katzen Art Center.

Elliptical

It's been a while since I looked at sculpture. Several years ago, the Katzen Art Center opened just up Massachusetts Avenue from me. It's about a quarter mile away. Have I been inside yet? NO. (Muttering. Shame. Embarrrassment.)

Finally, I went by and gave the exterior, complete with staircases, fountains, and sculpture garden, a thorough going-over. And I actually liked quite a bit of what I saw.

Can the interior be far behind?

After The Flood

I like to think this shows the aftermath of high water as Dürer might have portrayed it. If he'd had a camera. Okay, and a computer. WHATEVER.

Please make sure to look at the larger version of this, because it's all about the details.