MAR-VIC CLEANERS

Waterbury, Connecticut

Kind of wonder if the parking authority for the city is on board with this policy.

This Way

Waterbury, Connecticut

More Waterbury Weeds

Waterbury, Connecticut

Waterbury Weeds

Waterbury, Connecticut

Two Overpasses

Naugatuck, Connecticut

A single track still carries a few trains a day up the Naugatuck river valley from Bridgeport to Waterbury.

Sitting Room

Torrington, Connecticut

Island Ahead

Naugatuck, Connecticut

The bent traffic sign surrounded by greenery on the overgrown hillside was what I noticed first, but the busy street leading into town from the north has no sidewalk, or even a shoulder on that side. Then I realized that passing cars could complete the picture. I never get tired of trap-action shots.

City Tree

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Can a city tree be a bit raggedy, and still stately at the same time?

Window Collection

Torrington, Connecticut

White and Black, with Weeds

Torrington, Connecticut

White painted bricks, asphalt with paint chips, dead weeds and new weeds, a full palette.

Black Spires

Waterbury, Connecticut

St. Anne's Church is undergoing restoration. Before I-84 vaulted itself through the center of town, the church was the dominant structure in the whole valley.

REGISTER CITIZEN

Torrington, Connecticut

Newspaper offices and printing plant, now vacant. The weeds are moving in.

Roses and Weeds

Torrington, Connecticut

An old residential neighborhood where most of the big houses have been divided into multiple apartments. As you walk down the block, the state of upkeep varies enormously from house to house.

OPEN, II

Torrington, Connecticut

Patriotic windowbox.

OPEN

Torrington, Connecticut

Storm clouds coming in. Open, but please use other door, seems like a mixed message.

Waterbury Walls and Weeds

Waterbury, Connecticut

A short summer morning walk along Benedict Street.

GET YOUR ZEN ON...

Torrington, Connecticut

I'd already thought the scene was pretty interesting, and then the two kids on bikes came through.

Naugatuck Weeds

Naugatuck, Connecticut

An hour and a half of weed watching in Naugatuck, 7/7/19. Only bagged half as many as in Torrington the day before.

Torrington Weeds, Part Two

Torrington, Connecticut

Isfahan, or Shiraz?

Iran, 1970

In the recent posting of pictures from the IHP scholarship trip in 1969-70, I somehow overlooked two of my favorite pictures from the year. For thirty years they've been in my 12 shot super tight edit of work from the trip, so here they are in this sequence one more time. The group spent six or seven weeks in Tehran. Partway through we made a side trip to the cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. I made these pictures in a spooky covered market area, but I don't remember which city I was in.

Thirty years ago, when I showed this picture to the great photographer, teacher, and writer David Vestal, he immediately shook his head and said, "Hard way to make a living."

More from Zagreb, 1970

Zagreb, Yugoslavia

This should have followed the post with the ordination ceremony. It's a Mass taking place in a basement church facility on the outskirts of the city. What I understood from my contacts was that the government made a show of allowing the Cathedral to operate so they could point and say they were not oppressing religion. The reality however was that they did discourage religious activity except at the highly visible cathedral, literally driving it underground.

Torrington Weeds, Part One

Torrington, Connecticut

A little over an hour of weed watching around Torrington, 7/6/19.

Sidewalk Art

Naugatuck, Connecticut

He spends hours on a Sunday making a chalk drawing on the sidewalk of the town green. Here he's discussing the symbolism of the figures in the design with a woman and her pet reptile.

detail

The pet appeared to have fake dragon wings attached to its collar.

Finished design a couple hours later.