... from a this week when the temperature rose to almost 45°f, relatively balmy for this time of year ...
... eighteen years ago now, i remember doing this same self-portrait with my first "serious" digital camera, an olympus e-10 ...
... john texted me, "want to go wander a bit" ... silly question, after all, isn't that what life's supposed to be all about ... at our first stop, the colby museum of art, we enjoyed a special exhibition of the sports photography of walter looss ... if you're a photographer and/or a sports fan, i highly recommend a visit ... after that we wandered through several of the galleries ...
... i like sculpture, and, as you know, i like taking pictures ... i'm always a bit hesitant when i think of interpreting another's art—but, something i've learned, hesitation is antithetical to creativity ... here're my original images, taken using a sony a7ii with a 35+ year-old manual focus/aperture nikkor 50mm f/4 ...
... here's what i "saw" ...
... in another gallery we found another most fascinating less "traditional" piece ...
... there are many ways that art can be defined as "good," i know that one of the most important is if it makes you smile and want to play ...
... me and me and the art and the light did a little dance ...
... john recorded the result ...
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| COURTESY JOHN MEADER |
... another way you know art is good ...
... i stopped, laughed, pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized i'd just found yet another of the definers ...
... after the museum we drove across the interstate to what i'm going to select as the first of my "wonders"—no, even though next year it'll be celebrating its 100th birthday, not the rice rips impound generating station ...
... the "wonder" is the huge 10' diameter wooden penstock that delivers 42-foot head-pressure from messalonskee stream 2,300 feet uphill from the generating station ...
... its tar covered barrel-stave like boards are bound with huge iron rings held tight by massive washers and bolts ...
... as you might be beginning to guess, it's something else that brought me to select this place as the first on my list ... by the way, please, add your own ...
... it's not the penstock itself, nor is it simple the dam, it's the fact that the big ol' tube leaks, a lot, and in the winter when it's freezing out the little squirts and spurts and sprouts and streams of water cause really magical things to occur ...
... strangely compelling wonderfully fascinating things ...
... phantasmagorical things ...
... you don't have to believe me, this wonder is only a few miles from the center of town, just across the interstate in oakland ... don't wait too long, however, otherwise all you'll see is a big wooden tube ...
... i worked this one up from my museum images ... i'd much rather you don't ask me about it—tell me (you can use little box in upper right of page) ...
... this one—well, i'm trying to be as good at making posters as my friend chad ... it's not happenin', but i keep trying anyhow ...
... i hope you had a relaxing break ... thanks for joining me ...