photography – Page 3 – Whaddya Mean Rosebuds?

More About Geese

Posted on August 8, 2014 by sshafarzek

Early Spring Duende
(for Judy Longley)

I”m out here looking for Canada
Geese. Is that anything like
a wild goose chase? I only want
to shoot them with
my camera and think
about duende
as they stiff-walk on the dead
grass, take off wildly
honking, hit the water
awkward, put their heads in
the freezing cold and shake
their oily feathers like
trash. Wings tucked, necks erect,
two of them and a duck
arrow across this pond, where
the water, today,
is gray-green and winter’s mourning
still hangs
from the trees. They don’t know
I want their picture. If they knew,
they’d have no idea
why. These frequent tourists
are out looking for their life. I’d have
to say, so am I.

More Icons

Posted on August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 by sshafarzek

They live among us, these figures of belief. This one I found outside an apartment where I was living. I don’t doubt that the person who put it there meant to remind us, in some way or other, of the great saint who loved all living things. And the figure below, from a Buddhist garden is also, I’m sure, meant to bring to mind something more than ornamentation.

Then there’s a more ambiguous category. Like this Buddha from a friend’s garden. It expresses, maybe not belief, but certainly, solidarity.

Some things are more ambiguous still. I’m not sure what to make of this fellow below. But that’s just my ignorance. Perhaps somebody knows.

About these last, maybe it’s anybody’s guess. Anyway, there were for sale.

Why This Bird?

Posted on July 30, 2014 by sshafarzek

I’ve seen this flamingo more than once here in mid-Virginia, where you really never see any real ones, and it makes me wonder. Why a flamingo? It’s probably like those things you see on license plates (especially here in Virginia, where the privilege is cheap): sometimes obvious, but often so intensely personal, there’s no deciphering it, let alone figuring out why.

Here’s another version of a bird, this one really is from Florida (a store front in Del Rey), and also false, of course.

I’m not arguing against this sort of thing. Doesn’t it make the world more interesting?

Well, yes, real birds are more interesting still. But require more upkeep…

Patio Figures

Posted on July 29, 2014 by sshafarzek

In the apartment complex where I live, the patios are at the front, like little front porches, which makes them a not very satisfactory place for practicing one’s tai-chi (unless one were very good, I suppose), but they do provide lots to look at.

And the beauty of it is, people are always moving in and out, so the subjects are often changing.

The artificial geese below, for example, have departed.As have these angels.

But this icon, also departed, has long been a favorite. I don’t know what it means, or means to depicct. I imagine it to have religious significance.

or I hope so. Here’s one of mine, though he doesn’t live outdoors (he’s made of papier mache). It’s Hanuman, a god with a lovely reputation, which is more than you can say about most gods. I would put him on the patio if he could take the weather.

The Pond of Summer

Posted on July 28, 2014July 28, 2014 by sshafarzek

I call it a pond, but technically, it’s a “stormwater reclamation project.” It sits adjacent to several fairly high density (for the suburbs) living areas, including the apartment complex where I live. For those of us who live nearby, it’s a blessing of many kinds. I like to take its picture.

And then there’s the geese

For a while there, this spring, it seemed like the pond was a goner. They, the ubiquitous they, came in, put up a chain-link fence and proceeded to dig.

Nobody knew what they had in mind, but it didn’t look promising. Day after day, big trucks came in and out, carrying away dirt and stones. Pretty soon, it began to look like a field

and we began to wonder whether we should be resigning ourselves to another development going up or something equally non-aquatic. Then, Saturday, as I was driving up that road I noticed the chain-link fence was gone. I pulled over immediately, parked at the side, and ran to look. The pond was back.

Of course it looks a little ragged right now

but no complaints. Long live the pond!

More About Bicycles

Posted on July 26, 2014 by sshafarzek

What better way to pick rosebuds while you can, than to fly like the wind on a bicycle?

Or just get from one desired place to another. Good exercise, good fortune. And in between, the bikes get to rest.

Or not.

Virginia Wrestling

Posted on July 19, 2014 by sshafarzek

There’s something I’ve always liked about this poster, which I photographed in the summer of 2011 (which I know, because it says so in the picture). Of course there’s always much to like in sight of muscular young man looking enthusiastic, but it’s more than that. It’s partly because they are so clearly playing up. And then, it’s partly because Virginia wrestling is what we’re all doing here in Virginia, eh? I don’t mean, necessarily more than one would be doing anywhere else (New York wrestling, anyone?) but particular to its own particularities. One is always wrestling with something…