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The Power of Diagonals
Continue ReadingA slanted line creates a vector resulting in at least two (explicit or implied) triangles — a simple yet strong armature upon which to build a composition. Here the central diagonal incorporates the curvaceous qualities of an arabesque. Coincidences and other hard lines abound, made softer and more like a dream by reflections and fortuitous […]
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A Good Kind of Pride
Continue ReadingThe fireman in our foreground with polished ax seems swollen with pride in his occupation, however not from self-inflation or hubris that comes before a fall. On the contrary his demeanor seems to me without such vanity or arrogance. I see pleasure and satisfaction with his place in life, dignity in his bearing, a healthy […]
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Another From the Anomaly Collection
Continue ReadingAnomaly — Something different, abnormal, peculiar or not easily classified: something anomalous. A deviation from the common rule: irregularity. Aberration, exception, oddity, oddment, kink, mutation, error, paradox —- freak, monster, crackpot. The dictionary and thesaurus entries barely describe what we see in this image of a man wearing a giant deer head, taken in […]
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An Unnerving Discovery
Continue ReadingOn a trans-continental road trip I spent three nights in Goodland, Kansas, sleeping late and re-building stamina. One afternoon I visited in that provincial, high-plains town a museum of local history; there I came upon this equipment from a distant century. The profusion of wires unnerved me momentarily. Those cables might carry powerful surges of […]
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Observing Butterflies
Continue ReadingIn Egypt I observed two categories of women. The first I nicknamed penguins; older and generally overweight, they hide their figures so well under dark robes they appear as broad rectangles from behind when silhouetted on the street. They tend to waddle like those arctic animals and are equally anti-social. To the remaining females I […]
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A Group of Spiritual Athletes
Continue ReadingIf you have watched professional athletes stride into an arena before a contest — gear in hand — you will recognize the reference in our headline. They enter using a relaxed yet energized gait, arms and shoulders loose. They ooze confidence that comes from relentless years of training. Elite dancers ramble like that too. These […]
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Is This A Political Statement?
Continue ReadingIf our subject is attempting a political protest, I think he fails for lack of clarity. What inference should we draw from his pumpkin-headed mask, jumbo ears and gangster outfit — is he impersonating a politician, or a clown? He wears a suit, recently shined shoes, and is picketing a street corner in New Mexico […]
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Anomalies, Page 2
Continue ReadingI encountered Larry (a rather tall humanoid) on Main Street downtown Lexington, Kentucky one sunny afternoon in winter. It was not feasible for me to interrogate him, as he was moving in a crowd of equally tall strange people, so we are left with many mysteries surrounding our efforts to decode this photograph. Larry’s […]
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An Anomaly Below the Mokattam Hills
Continue ReadingOccasionally you come across something which — at least in your own mind — does not belong in the place where you find it, an anomaly. While wandering the Cairo Necropolis, an inhabited complex of tombs and catacombs in the medieval quarter of the city, I noticed this bedraggled poster seeming unusual in a Muslim […]
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