Monthly Archives: February 2017
153. PASSAGES. Singapore. A city state with a look all its own. The gloom was a result of something called the “2015 Southeast Asian Haze”. From Wikipedia: The 2015 Southeast Asian haze was an air pollution crisis affecting several countries in Southeast Asia. It was the latest occurrence of the Southeast Asian haze, a long-term issue that occurs during every dry season in the region. It is caused by forest fires resulting from illegal slash-and-burn practices, principally on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.
152. NEW YORK ON FOOT. The Bronx. Niether digital nor analog could save the tonal range of this photo because it wasn’t there in the first place, but when raw horsepower is needed analog leaves fewer contaminants behind. The relatively empty spaces and open sky of the Bronx can leave one feeling wistful on a lazy summer evening.
151. PASSAGES. Charlotte, North Carolina. I doubt a picture says a thousand words, but a picture certainly can cause a thousand words. I read an article recently where the author argued that on the scale of safety versus liberty, the USA leans heavily toward liberty. In 1776 this country decided to step out of the mainstream of Occidental civilization and go it alone. As an immigrant from a British colony, I am only beginning to understand the place, but my affection for it grows despite the overheated rhetoric that images like the above provoke. “This country is hard on people” is a line from No Country for Old Men, another uncomfortable snapshot of America.
150. NEW YORK ON FOOT. Turtle Bay, Manhattan. It seems that every 19th Century European painter took a shot at the “Paris street, rain at dusk” picture. There is something archetypal about turning up one’s collar against the rain while looking in envy at warm interiors, and the orange glow of tungsten light is the perfect foil for the cold blue of a rainy winter sky. Its a scene that I never tire of. The blur caused by camera shake and a bad lens makes the image more painterly.