Three Beautiful Things 01/04/13: Brails, Benign Indifference, Man in Black

1.  I met with the Senior Warden and his Missus at Brails and it was definitely the Boyd's super ultra premium Ambrosia blend coffee that kept the Troxstar and me refreshed, renewed, and reinvigorated as we enjoyed conversation and as the Missus enjoyed her apple butter and orange marmalade.  You kinda had to be there.

2. Taking pictures is a funny thing.  I had a good time wandering around the west side of the University of Oregon campus, taking mostly candids, but also taking some pictures of inanimate objects.  I took one picture that I decided to post in my Facebook album that I knew would get no response (and it didn't and and that's fine!).  But I really like it.  It's one of my favorites. To me it's a picture of an existential moment  with an anonymous individual in the bottom right corner faced with an Alder Street expanse of, really, nothingness...impersonal cars, a virtually empty sidewalk, populated only by a couple of indistinct, faceless figures, a row of businesses, some open, some closed, but little life.  The person had just rounded the corner and has stopped and I imagined this unknown person suddenly faced with a crisis of facing an absurd street, with no essential meaning, a place that is alive only if the person facing it makes it so.  Is this person facing the benign indifference of Alder Street?  I think so. 

Facing the Benign Indifference of Alder Street

3.  Here's another picture I really liked.  I shot it from the hip.  Had I composed it with the viewfinder, I would have included the guy's feet! What you see, and the only version I've posted, is the rough draft.  I keep thinking there's a better picture within this picture if I just cropped it right and if I adjusted the light, the contrast, and/or the shadow.  So far I haven't found this picture's sweet spot.  I'll probably come back to it on occasion and play with it some more.  But, maybe this is the best version...the 7-11 pay phone, the way the fragment of Redbox vending machine and the promise it holds and the promise of the ATM machine frame this man in black taking care of business.  I'm just not sure....oh well...another day and more pictures to take and enjoy.....