The New York Times Magazine devotes an entire issue to “Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart”. Includes some stunning Paolo Pellegrin photograghs in addition to the in-depth essays and reporting.
Author: leh
Earth Overshoot Day
rDay Five-Hundred-Six: Perseid Meteor Shower
Yeah, right. We got no further than the back yard where we had to contend with all sorts of ambient city light. In one and a half hours, I saw three meteor streaks, none during the time that my camera’s shutter was open. Here’s what I saw (click to un-small each):
The second image catches the LifeFlight helicopter (we are directly on the flight path to the hospital up the street about three or four blocks) during one attempted meteor exposure. (In case you are curious, I was shooting at a guesstimated f2.8, ISO 2000 for 30 seconds. Using my old 1960s 24mm Nikkor lens with manual focus at infinity. Tripod and remote shutter release, of course. If I had been on my toes, I would have been chasing this the previous night, and would have had exposures & techniques down by tonight. [sigh]).
For a decent capture, check out this example from space.com. And you are sure to find many more fine images throughout the Interwebs, the Google-verse.
rDay Five-Hundred-Five
A downtown stroll and former workplace drop-in. In excessive heat.
Catching The Biles
Simone Biles, right up to the news from Rio today, seems to keep on defying the laws of physics. Here is a piece on those very physics around her incredible gymnastic skills.
And from a year or two ago, a little introduction …
Another From Dr. Hamblin
rDay Five-Hundred-Four
Shade-Dog the Recalcitrant passively asserts himself again. And he keeps his eye on local Chevy classics and other wildlife. In the meantime, we walk around the elementary school and watch the sunset from the sports field.
How to Throw Your Vote Away
Here’s a medium.com piece that should debunk a myth …
Crows Do It
There are so darn many of the creatures around here. That’s why they occasionally show up in my walkabout photographs. Seems that they — at least some species — are tool-makers, according to this BBC report today.
In A Kansas Cemetery, 1974
In September 1974, I was slowly wending my way on a solo cross-country road trip with my faithful Land Rover, purposely avoiding interstate highways so as to discover off-the-beaten track photographic opportunities and lessen the frustration of driving a vehicle that maxxed out at 60 mph. Stopping to see old acquaintances in cities like Denver and Kansas City and Omaha, it was a childhood friend settled in small-town Kansas who told me about the Davis Memorial in a cemetery outside nearby Hiawatha, a village of about two or three thousand residents.
After the death of his wife, Sarah, in the 1930s a wealthy farmer named John Milburn Davis commissioned an Italian marble tomb in her memory, taking several years and something like $100,000-200,000 of his Depression-era fortune to complete. Ten or twelve statues of the couple depict different stages of their lives, with the final representing Davis seated beside “The Vacant Chair” after her passing. Following are some of the photographs from that session (strictly speaking, not all of these images are newly-(re)discovered, as I did publish two in an art journal in the mid-seventies and one was included in a Los Angeles gallery exhibit). Following that are some links and videos with more information on this strange and haunting edifice.
And some found information, just tonight unearthed from the Internet …