Galveston Pleasure Pier
I had a long walk around Galveston yesterday. My destination was the Galveston Pleasure Pier. Great name, but it was unfortunately closed! This is an interesting place with lots of amazing architecture and history. / I think the green plants in the foreground are some kind of gorse or heather. They had little yellow flowers and reminded me a bit of what I saw on the coast of Cornwall.
Water Fountains / Hobby Airport
I flew into Houston this morning on my way to Galveston to talk about the suitcases to the NAMI Gulf Coast’s annual NAMIFest.
On my way to pick up my checked bag I saw these water fountains, and stopped to take a quick photo.
Looking forward to my presentation Friday evening. I’ll post more soon.
Durbar Square / Hindu Gods
Cris starts work tomorrow, so today was a day to walk around a bit. The earthquake damage is very obvious with piles of brick everywhere and scaffolding around many buildings.
These shots are all from around Durbar Square.
Cris would gasp just about every time we turned a corner in this part of Kathmandu. She came here first in 1979 as a Peace Corps volunteer, has subsequently come back to work in Nepal on a regular basis, and is really familiar with the city. It is really shocking to see the devastation.
As we were walking back to the hotel I started noticing pictures of Hindu gods that were about 3 feet off the ground and which were spread out about every five yards along a huge brick wall. They are evocative in the odd way that things that attract my attention are. I began taking pictures of them when I saw this next guy, who looked much more contemporary than the rest.
These next two are Krishna.
He is almost always depicted with a cow and a flute.
And often a milkmaid.
This sign was higher up on the wall and Cris was looking at it and smiling as I walked past her. It is amazing to come to a place like Nepal with someone who speaks and reads the language. It basically says, don’t piss or shit on the wall. Which is why the images of the gods are placed just about the height at which a man’s stream would fall. It seems a pretty effective deterrent.
The issue of public defecation is something that the current government has begun to work on (for obvious reasons).
We like Ganesh as he is the remover of obstacles and the patron of the arts and sciences. For some reason, we have always associated him with travel, which is something we do quite often. Finally, here is Hanuman, the monkey god.
Thanks for following. We are a bit sketchy on Hindu lore, so please pardon me if I have gotten anything wrong about the gods.
Vancouver Day 2
When we were taking the taxi in from the airport, Cris saw a sign in a shop that said “The world needs more Canada”.
I couldn’t agree more. The people here are astonishingly nice.
Everytime I come back to the room, the view is different.
Off to the botanical gardens later today.
Back to Vancouver
The first leg of the flight was Hartford/Toronto on this tiny little prop plane. It was kind of cool actually. Air Canada service was great.
The windows frosted up, but when we started descending just past Buffalo, there was an amazing view of Niagara Falls.
I took this photo just after first light. It will rain much of the day, but Vancouver is such an amazing city. Cris has meetings, but there will be lots of time to walk.
Bradley Airport Terminal B
Peter and I used to drop off Cristine at this terminal when she would be leaving on some of her long trips to South Asia for work. After she went to her gate he and I would sit on a bench at curbside and record the names and numbers on the shuttle vans as they came past. I still have some of the notebooks that we used all those years ago.
On Friday I drove her to the airport for a brief trip to DC and on the approach road, this is what we saw. I guess I knew that they would be tearing it down at some point, but it was still a bit of a shock. / She flies in later tonight, but I came down early to try to get a shot. The sun went below the horizon within 30 seconds of taking this photo and the light changed completely. It is always amazing to me that a building once so full of activity could be reduced to this. It will be completely gone very soon.
Another Connecticut Avenue Apartment Building
Here’s another Connecticut Avenue apartment building. Clearly of a different era from the ones I posted this morning.
Sulgrave Manor / La Reine
Cris and I are in DC for a few days visiting Peter. There are so many nice apartment buildings along Connecticut Avenue, and these two caught my eye this morning.
These residential prewar buildings are so common throughout the district. They sure don’t build ’em like they used to.
Men’s Room, Stockbridge Hall, UMASS
I was really happy to have an assignment in Stockbridge Hall today. It gave me the chance to visit one of the best public toilets in the area. The building was built in 1915, and most of this room seems original. One of the sinks on the left is missing but the space is otherwise mostly intact. Look at those urinals! / Here is a different angle↓.
It is really rare to find a bathroom in an institutional setting that hasn’t been completely destroyed by modernization. This room would be so easy to restore to its original state, but given that it is on the grounds of a public university, that is something that will probably never happen. Several years ago I shot a 360° panorama in here, and unbeknownst to me, there was a guy in one of the stalls!
Guest Photograph
I have known my friend Alex Ross for a very long time. He has been an influence on me in more ways than I can list here. Although we don’t live near each other, we speak on the phone on most days. When I first started thinking of myself as a photographer, it was Alex whose eye I most admired. He just sees things in a way that no other photographer does. He sends me prints from time to time, but more often will send an image through email. Last night he attached this shot to a note about creativity. He said nothing about it, it was just at the bottom of the email as if it was an afterthought. It just blew me away, and I thought it would be nice to share it on this cold Monday morning. Thanks Alex, for everything.
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