Keds®

 Clarion, Pennsylvania, 2012

Cloud

 

Washington, Connecticut

High summer light in southern New England with a changing weather pattern.

Cattle and Clouds

 East Morris, Connecticut

Almost Buried

 Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, 2012

Florida Morning Light

 Ocala, Florida, 2012

ONE WAY

 

Ocala, Florida, 2012

Small political posters in the window.

A Bit More on that Rally in Southbury

Southbury, Connecticut

It was scheduled for two o'clock so of course I arrived at one forty and sat in the car catching up on email. At about one fifty an enthusiastic young man pulled into the parking lot of the Playhouse Square complex and began to get a table and handout materials from his car and set them up in the adjacent open space at the town's main intersection. (I photographed demonstrations here, in 1991, from competing sides for and against that year's invasion of Iraq.) Suddenly, lots of people showed up right about two. This is a specifically local action. It's the thirteenth week they've held it, and all the locals know how long it takes to drive there. When enough people had come, organizers used a bullhorn to make some announcements and rhetorical points.

A particular point was to stress that this is an independent movement in the town of Southbury, not connected with any widespread organization, though they choose to use the "BLM" slogan as central to their effort.

Someone over in upstate New York is making these bracelets with the names of people (almost all black men) killed by police in questionable circumstances. I didn't get the details but it's a fund raising effort. The woman distributing/collecting ($10 a piece) asked me to take a picture of it, and wanted to put the basket on the ground to get her hands out of the picture. No, I said, it will be much better with your hands holding it out. Oh, of course, silly me, said she.

I'll just let the signs carry it out from here. Do click on any picture to see them much clearer and tighter if you're using a large display.

Maroon Hat

 Ybor City, Florida, 2012

It was late October and lots of shop windows had Halloween themes.

BLM Protests in Southbury

 Southbury, Connecticut

The text of the sign the woman in front is holding reads, "EQUAL RIGHTS FOR OTHERS DOES NOT MEAN LESS RIGHTS FOR YOU. IT'S NOT PIE. BLACK LIVES MATTER.

The fallacy of the zero sum game deserves protest. Lest anyone think there were only five folks here, there were more nearly a hundred, to be seen in more pictures later. It's a large intersection at the center of a 15,000 population bedroom community (formerly farm country) and people were trying to socially distance around the corner a couple hundred feet each way. They told me it's the 13th Sunday in a row that they've gathered for this.

Bricks and Weeds

 

Clarion, Pennsylvania, 2012

Save the Post Office Saturday

 

Bethlehem, Connecticut

Nearly 700 protest rallies were planned for today, in support of the USPS. About fifteen people turned up with signs in the tiny town of Bethlehem, CT. I noticed that nearly everyone in passing cars either honked or waved in support.

It's also "Street Photography Day," in honor of Henri Cartier-Bresson's birthday. I think this counts as Street.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger and clearer view on a large display.

Hands

 Clarion, Pennsylvania, 2012

Gold

 Valdosta, Georgia, 2012

More from the archive, eight years ago. The almost-match of the gold screen and her hair was kind of catchy.

Picnic Park

 

Jennings, Florida, 2012

I haven't been getting out to shoot this month, partly because of a minor injury, so it's back to the archive for a while. This picture from a strange town park/playground has always appealed to me but I didn't put it on the blog back in 2012.

Globe and Chair

 

Woodbury, Connecticut

Antique mart the morning of August 4, a few hours before the big wind storm came through and knocked out power to most of the state.

CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

 Torrington, Connecticut

Some unauthorized advertising in a residential neighborhood.

Green and Brown Weeds

 Torrington, Connecticut

Bears at Work

 Torrington, Connecticut

The building for many years housed a Salvation Army thrift store. It's been vacant for a year or so but recently has been undergoing renovation and will be added to an adjacent children's indoor play center—when the pandemic allows such places to open again.

Summer Weeds and Fields

 Washington, Connecticut

A steamy hot mid-July afternoon with a storm sky forming to the north, at Steep Rock Macricostas Preserve. You can click on any picture here to get a larger, more detailed view.

Black Rock Lake in the Rain

 Thomaston, Connecticut

A hot July afternoon rain with more storm clouds coming in.

Power Lines

 

Washington, Connecticut

On a rainy July day.

Thank You Notes in New York

New York, New York

THREADING

New York, New York

Greenhouse, with Weeds

 

Woodbury, Connecticut

This greenhouse on Main Street is vacant but not abandoned. It's empty but pretty well maintained, except for the crop of weeds growing up outside. This was shot Tuesday a couple hours before the wind storms came through. We got power back at our place Sunday afternoon, almost exactly five days after the storms took out the grid. Cable internet is still off, so I'm back at the Firehouse to use their WiFi.

Looters and Arsonists

New York, New York

Apparently there was some trouble at 29th and Park Avenue. I noticed this last Sunday taking a walk around the block before my workshop session at the Penumbra Foundation.

detail

More damage a little farther down the block. I didn't see anything else like it in the area.

From the Firehouse

Woodbury, Connecticut

That's our Joe Pye Weed behind the house, Tuesday morning before the storm. This Saturday morning we are at the Orenaug Fire Company where there's a community room with charging stations and two showers.

One o'clock Tuesday afternoon and the wind is beginning to whip the plants around.

About two o'clock, after a raging wind storm with not much rain. When it got calm I went out to look for damage. The only direct damage we had was this maple that missed the barn when it came down, but took down the barn's power line. While I was checking, a new twisting wind came suddenly out of nowhere. The trees began making insanely loud cracking noises. I got back to the house and later found that many more trees were snapped off, uprooted, or torn apart by the second and third bouts of wind. Luckily our buildings weren't hit. I've looked around the area Thursday and Friday as part of a view camera field workshop I've been teaching for a private student, and the damage is amazing and extensive. Three foot diameter oak trees are snapped/twisted off ten feet above the ground. The towns have run out of detour signs because nearly every road is blocked by downed trees and power lines. The utility claims they expect 99% restoration by Tuesday—one full week—but that's obviously nonsense. The state highway that runs past our house has multiple partial blockages that haven't been touched, and is completely closed less than a mile from us, where downed trees and wires as of now are exactly as they've been since Tuesday. While out we saw a group of bucket trucks setting up to work—the company logo said they were from Wisconsin.

Brief Note

Tuesday's storms devastated our area with massive damage to trees and widespread road closures and near universal power outage. I'm using my iPhone as a hot spot to put this post up. I won't waste the data to post any pictures here until we have power and WiFi back. That might well not be until the middle of next week.

Weeds, Wall, and Lichen

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Weeds and Tags

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Weeds at the Entry

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Still at that factory building that seems to rotate industrial tenants at intervals of every few years.

POLICE TAKE NOTICE

Naugatuck, Connecticut

The building is occupied and busy, looks like some sort of machine shop. They're just a little behind the weeds growth.