These shots were taken at the 2015 orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. As usual, I failed to take notes about genus and species. I think the yellow orchid is a type of cattleya; the red is a type of lady’s slipper. The green and purple wasn’t identified and I have no guess about it. If anyone can enlighten me, please do!
Stairs and Shadows
I’ll be posting some photos I took on Sunday at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis (Shaw’s Garden to St. Louisans). I drove up to see the annual orchid show, but the photos I like best from Sunday are not of orchids. I’m trying to get back to abstracts; this is a rather feeble effort, but that’s where you start. I used a Pentax K-50 and a 50 mm lens. This is a pretty tight crop of the original.
This is a very small crop from a photo of a car with a Carbondale business establishment’s window reflected on the side. I boosted the saturation to the extreme and tinkered with the tint. This was taken with my iPhone. It is, I hope, a bit Kandinsky-like.
Another iPhone photo. “Every Glance You Take” is the title of an exhibit of abstract photography I currently have up at a local arts center. It reflects the fact that abstract and minimalist compositions are everywhere around us just waiting to be seen, and thus are in fact representational at bottom…just usually not at the scale or perspective we’re used to negotiating as a species. I found this pattern in the door of a women’s restroom at a local chain restaurant.
Glass Door 2
These photographs were taken with my recently acquired iPhone. I did little to them other than cropping and brightening. I’m happy to finally have a camera that is with me all the time.
Car Wash Abstract no. 3
Car Wash Abstract no. 2
Car Wash Abstract no. 1
To Higher-Ups:
The Technical Team has noted serious technical difficulties with Blog entitled “Vapor and Flow,” with no forward (or backward) movement observed since mid-January. Blog is currently parked in the Driver’s front yard, where it seems to be accumulating trash. Driver has not yet had it put up on blocks, but Technical Team is on alert.
Team suspects a problem with the fuel injection system, though without hands-on investigation it is impossible to tell whether the gasoline tank might simply be empty. Team had noted some juddering of the steering wheel, accompanied by slightly erratic driving, in December and early January, indicating the need for immediate tire rotation and rebalancing. In addition, tires should be checked for wear. Driver has done none of this.
Driver herself, rather than repairing the Blog or addressing various ethical quandaries in her life at the moment, has become obsessed with the dog urine stains in her carpeting and the possibility of replacing the carpeting with something that can simply be hosed down. She daily repeats a monologue that always begins the same way (“I can’t stand this! What am I going to DO?”) and ends the same way (“But how would they move the piano?”). Technical Team estimates that said piano, a tall, ancient upright, weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen Beetle, flower holder included. Unlike a Beetle, the piano would probably not float, although Team finds this an intriguing question and would very much like to be notified of the results of any experiments along these lines. LOL.
Excuse us, that was unprofessional on our part. To continue, Driver also appears obsessed with a new personal best in Scrabble: her highest-ever non-bingo word score (GAZEBO, 84 points). While interesting numerically, this is judged by Team to be a rather trivial achievement in the grand scheme of things and recommends that Driver should just Get Over It.
Excuse us, please ignore editorial comment. Finally, Technical Team notes that on multiple occasions recently Driver has stated that she “dodged a bullet” because the voice student portion of a recent music recital was cancelled. This comment has been flagged for further analysis, but Team can only assume that someone slated to attend said recital was prepared to use firearms in the event of Driver singing. Team has insufficient information to gauge (pun! LOL) the appropriateness of the posited firearm use.
Excuse us again; Technical Team is fatigued and too easily amused. Team judges that Driver is currently earning A’s in Reading and Scrabble (quantity only), D’s in Physical Therapy and Caregiving, and F’s in Voice Lessons (lack of practice), Problem Resolution (dithering), Diet Remediation (inaction), Photography (inaction), and Blog Repair (inaction and negligence). Given this poor functioning, Driver’s hair looks better than might be expected, although Team is not well trained in assessing such matters.
In conclusion, Technical Team advises continued close monitoring of Blog and Driver, with future updates as necessary.
—Submitted February 23, 2014, ungodly hour of the morning
(Technical Team wishes to note that it has worked overtime on this report and would like to be duly compensated. Thank you.)
Red Door
Now that we in southern Illinois have a welcome respite from the severe cold, here’s an image from a balmy day last summer. Taken with a Canon PowerShot 310.
Memory of Summer (Sunglasses Crop)
Another reflector photo. This one is highly cropped from the original. I like it for the colors. It’s odd; I think my writing is much stronger than my photography, but my writing draws much less interest. Go figure. Perhaps I’ve had too much trouble being funny lately.
Reflector Detail no. 3
Barricade Closeup
VAPOR AND FLOW 