Tag: black&white

Left vs Right Bank

 

La Rive Gauche [a left bank of the CT River].
La Rive Droite [a right bank].
Yes, all rivers have a right and left bank.  Some of the most famous of river banks can be found in Paris: the Seine.

The banks of the  Connecticut River doesn’t have the inimitable splendor of its cousin in France. However, both waterways are remarkable for a myriad of reasons, some similar; but I suspect the majority of those things remarkable are marked by differences in history and appeal.

Vive la différence!

Penitence among the ruins

In my life, only 2 museums have profoundly impacted my psyche: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and most recently the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. As instruments for education, they are a means to an end.

The prison in Philadelphia was built to help those find and practice penitence for whatever crime they committed. Human nature can be flexible and adaptable across time, however, incarceration and solitary confinement has a way of bringing ruin to flexibility and adaptation.

With that ruin, even the strongest of men—and women—lose their hearts, emotions, everything, to spiritual atrophy.

If marketing is the means to help us remember a brand and its benefits, then the marketing of such museums is to reinforce the unimaginable cruelty were capable of, and to keep alive the most powerful and universal of virtues that are love and hope.

 

Across the Crossing

Personal photography, the kind that takes you out and about, is often a solitary process. For many photographers that’s often the case. The image above is one of my [new] favorites in the category of “street photography.” For me it’s more accurate to call it “wandering photography.”

I typically have no mission or subject matter in mind. I essentially chase the light regardless of whether it’s on a city street or a country road.

Light, texture and shadow tug on me, asking me to stop and consider the possibility just before I press the shutter. You may not see what I see when I come across a play between light and textures. However, what you see and feel matters just as much.

Tanglewood

I have been to this place many times before, but not in winter. It’s called Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. To walk the grounds void of flora, visitors and the orchestral sounds of a storied symphony is not only cathartic, but prone to nostalgia.

When you’ve visited a place numerous times, memories can fill many empty spaces. On a summer Sunday afternoon during the season, it’s not an uncommon quest to find a suitable open space on the lawns. But, you do find a spot, spread out your blanket, set-up your food and beverages and soak up the sun and air, all while music literally spans the grounds.

 

 

 

An Enduring Perspective

Vertical dimensions and shapes provide seminal perspectives. The Bay of Fundy is such a place to feel them. It claims to have the highest tidal range on the planet, on average rising and falling 56 feet [17 meters], twice a day.

While the tides run relatively constant, the power of moving water creates an impermanence to the landscape. The land changes albeit slowly. And of course, we physically change too, though on a timeline far shorter than these “monuments.” These amazing structures will outlast me, which is to say they’ll still deliver an enduring perspective to others who might be standing on the very spots when I took these photos.

 

 

Exterior Decorating: Not ready for Conde Nast

The renowned publisher Conde Nast has 22 brands, last I checked. Four readily come to mind: Vogue; GQ; Conde Nast Traveler and Vanity Fair. In the context of this post, those 4 magazines have been founts of creative thinking for my marketing side, editorially and commercially.

So, I took creative license to offer an ambiance of levity, a lack of seriousness if you will, because I wanted to share a distraction far from the banal and divisive intrusions that dilute attributes of hope, faith, tolerance, civility and last but not least—love.