• An Incorrect Response to An Open Pit

    For years people have told me that surface mines are bad — at least undesirable — destructive to land, even obliterating whole mountains. Nevertheless I have always found them fascinating to look at and aesthetically pleasing, as described by this image taken on the eastern edge of Arizona.    

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    June 19, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • Can You Spot the Anomaly?

      These are 17th Century French fur traders (historical impersonators) angling a canoe toward shore along the Ohio River. A modern detail betrays them, despite their elaborate attempt to deceive.    

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    June 18, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • Children Playing in Sand and Fog

    A cloud of sand and fog covered Sana’a, Yemen during my one winter’s residence. The odd conditions persisted several days. Neighborhood kids ignored the weather, playing under streetlamps as usual late into evening. On lightly traveled streets Yemeni children stake out playgrounds with exclusive rights; girls enjoy hopscotch and boys organize dodge ball combats — […]

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    June 18, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • Is This the Best Salesman in the World?

      The image portrays Savash, a charismatic Turkish man— master of several languages — instantly a friend to every person he meets. I do not know his job title at the hotel. In other contexts he would be called a rainmaker, a troubleshooting outside man, leading clients toward the restaurant or pushing the lodgings, helping […]

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    June 15, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • Praise for the Specimen, #2

      We were coming to the end of an automobile trip and had reached south of Payson, Arizona. It was late in the day; everyone was tired and we looked forward to sleeping at home for the first time in a week. When I saw this regal cottonwood tree lit by the sun — circled […]

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    June 11, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • In Praise of Specimens

      Images of living and and non-living specimens — like portraits of people — can seem animated or they can just recline listlessly on the page. In photography serendipity always operates, but functions most fluidly in a skilled observer; on this winter morning finding such a vigorous wind-sculpted tree felt like one of those fortunate […]

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    June 10, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • The Two Most Difficult Subjects

      The Saguaro Cactus and the Grand Canyon — each is an intimidating subject. They are emblems of the Arizona territory, represented copiously in diverse media: oil paintings, photographs, refrigerator magnets and t-shirts to mention just a few examples. The saguaro grows only here; the grandest canyon on earth by the logic of superlatives exists […]

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    June 8, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • Shaking Sand From Her Shoe

      An Egyptian girl perches on a ledge along the Coast Road and shakes sand from one of her shoes, her exposed head still wet from bathing in the Mediterranean Sea. Soon her conspicuous hair and skin will become unacceptable; casual innocent moments like this will be forbidden in public. It could signal a reputation-destroying […]

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    June 2, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • The Force of Icons

      They are impossible to resist. You try your hand at crafting an image despite tens of thousands who have come before you — tourists and professional photographers who made their own attempts with sporadic success. One cannot take the same photograph twice. You are encouraged and motivated by that; moreover, when standing before these […]

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    June 1, 2020 By Redburnusa
  • This Subject Seems Inexhaustible

      Regarding water in motion: Permutations of flow and reflection, Seem limitless. No stream the same, No glimpse, And no time alike.        

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    May 21, 2020 By Redburnusa

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