More Window Photos

A small suite of windows showing off in Amsterdam.

Get your painted-wooden-shoes-in-the-form-of-comfy-slippers or dildos at one of the city's ubiquitous souvenir shops . . . or perhaps a windmill or an S & M figurine. Variety is not an issue.

This was a unique dollshop (among other things). It reminded me of J. F. Sebastian's workshop in Blade Runner.

While every window arguably is its own type garden, this one represents the more literal version. 

How many Mao dressed-like-your-dad statues have you seen? The details in the chair and the cigarette and the baggy skin beneath the eyes make this more interesting than one might initially believe.

 

Windows Catch the Photographer's Eye

I was showing a friend some of the thousand photographs I've taken over the past 5 or so years, and it became clear that one of my photographic fetishes is windows . . . more specifically what is visible through windows. Windows serve a dual function, of course . . . to see from and to show off. I like to capture what's being shown.

The shot above is a window on a street off of Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. New York is the ultimate cornucopia of windows. 

I like the peacock feathers draped in the background of this display. They seem a reminder that layered on the bland skeletal superstructures of our world is beauty . . . an odd but fascinating blessing.

Aquarium Adventuring

A week ago, my daughter Beth and I went to the New England Aquarium on a snowy Sunday afternoon. It was her last weekend before returning to college (via a detour in D.C. for the inauguration of Mr. Obama). 

Having spent months on a beach in Crete helping newly hatched sea turtles find their way to the sea, the emphasis on sea turtles at the Aquarium held special appeal for Beth. We wandered the whole afternoon around amazing displays, getting our Sea Turtle Passport stamped along the way, and seeing how the actual other half lives beneath the surface that covers most of our planet.   

Beth's reflection in the main aquarium's glass makes it almost seem she's entered the tank, doesn't it?

This is the world's laziest sea turtle . . . he slept all day, except for this one instance where he woke and swam straight to the surface to get a hit of oxygen.

The aquarium has an assortment of sharks, menacing but apparently kept docile by regular feedings from aquarium staff.

This crusty Emperor seems to be hitchhiking. 

One of my favorite displays . . . you have to look close for the sea dragon (aka, horse) in the middle. No more than two inches long, these delicate creatures motor about with beguiling grace.

At the Beach

When the seasons move along into their cold mode, it's nice to find a reminder of what was and will be again before we know it.

From the Rooftop of My Building

Sometimes we're just lucky enough to be in an amazing place with a camera at the right moment.

Dancer's Inspiration

On a rainy Saturday morning, when I promised myself I'd work on revisions and submissions of poems, I am roaming through photographs instead. This is from the Alvin Ailey studios in New York. It's a photo of a mosaic that I sat beneath through a winter morning a few years back, while my daughter auditioned nearby. I've always thought there might be a poem's inspiration waiting to be found in this image, but if not for me then perhaps someone else may find it.