Okay. So I did my daily check of www.dooce.com today and checked her daily photos. She's posted a truly beautiful image of...get this...a traffic cone. Yes, a pylon. It's a beautiful photo. And named so appropriately too - "The Eye of a Traffic Cone".
So, I'm looking at this picture and I'm thinking, "What in the hell made her take this?" Was she driving around, saw the cone by the side of the road, screeched the car to a stop, jumped out and took this picture? Is it possible that in driving by this cone that was laying on it's side, she could see this gorgeous photo in her mind? Because if that is the case then Heather Armstrong is truly genius. Artistically genius - gifted in sight.
I can see beauty in things too. I can spot a detail in something, or a color, shape or texture that's photo worthy. But at 30 mph driving by in my minivan? Not so sure. (and I don't have a minivan)
And, even if I did pass that pylon, lying on it's side in the dirt and weeds by the side of the road, would I stop? Would I take the time to put on my blinker, slowing traffic behind me, pull off to the side of the road, open my car door into the oncoming traffic, walk out into the street with my camera, with all traffic watching my every move, squat by the side of the road, and take a picture of a TRAFFIC CONE LYING ON IT'S SIDE IN THE DIRT AND WEEDS while the people in the cars racing by are watching? You KNOW they're wondering what the hell is that crazy chick doing? Is she taking a picture of a CONE?
Just yesterday, I was driving into Boston for a meeting. I had my camera in my car. I always have my camera in my car. As I crossed over the Tobin Bridge the view of the city was really cool. It was a gray, drizzly day and there was a thin fog lifting off the tops of the lower buildings, with peaks of the taller buildings poking above. The bridge itself almost appeared to be floating in middair as the fog was just below it's belly. It would have been a great shot. I knew it. I wanted to take that picture. But the Tobin Bridge is, in case you don't know, Route 1 going into the city and it's two lanes of traffic moving at lightening speed with not a single driver thinking for one instant about anyone but themselves and the conversation they are having on their cell phone. There are no breakdown lanes. No shoulders. No possible way to stop without deeply pissing off a large number of already too-angry Boston drivers. Not to mention the likelihood that you would either be run down by an 85 mph delivery truck carrying "Antoine's Meat and Produce" or killed by a road-raging psycho with a gun. So the thought of stopping to take that great shot? Sadly, it was a fleeting one.
On the way home, I stopped at Stonewall Kitchen (have you ever been there? If not, you must go) for a sandwich to go. In their store and cafe I saw about 40 fantastic photos in-the-making: a smoking black candle in a black frosted goblet, a woman preparing taste samples in the store kitchen, a beautiful pale green strainer (yes, strainers can be beautiful too), lovely decadent pastries in the cafe, a horribly snotty looking woman who I'm certain was from Manhattan and thought she was the cream.
But my camera was in the car. Should I go get it? So many photo-ops here. I should take advantage. After all, I didn't get that great bridge shot this morning. But, really. I'm going to wander around the Stonewall Kitchen company store and cafe, crouching down taking photos of products, food and snotty Manhattan ladies? Not so sure. I doubt they'd even let me. They'd probably grab me by the arm and 'escort' me and my camera back to the parking lot for fear of "retail espionage." Not a good idea.
I took it all in though. I really did. I looked at everything - every shape, every color, every texture. I touched the back of the hedghog boot scraper. I looked at the way the canisters were perfectly in line and the ramekins were stacked, tilting ever so slightly and the glasses with bees on them were in line but two were missing from the front row. I smelled the food and the coffee. I watched the woman at the cafe counter as she bustled to and fro helping customers, never pausing but always smiling genuinely and calling all women, regardless of age, "honey." I watched her red lipstick that matched her red shirt and thought how it contrasted with her black hair, but how it all worked for her. How she wasn't a beautiful beautiful person, but a beautiful regular person. I heard the clanking of the dishes in the kitchen, and the older couple, on the other side of the room at the display of Christmas items discussing the merits of pine-cone shaped candles vs. artichoke candles. And, I listened to the snotty woman from Manhattan tell her friend about what she learned from the psychic she met with - how the psychic told her that alas, she was right, the sister of her friend's friend was actually alive and well in the afterlife and missed her brother who was only one year older ("they were as close as twins, see").
Could my camera have caught all of that? Yes, with enough time and patience and courage I could have captured ALL of those things. Oh, and as long as know one threw me out.
So, I'm looking at this picture and I'm thinking, "What in the hell made her take this?" Was she driving around, saw the cone by the side of the road, screeched the car to a stop, jumped out and took this picture? Is it possible that in driving by this cone that was laying on it's side, she could see this gorgeous photo in her mind? Because if that is the case then Heather Armstrong is truly genius. Artistically genius - gifted in sight.
I can see beauty in things too. I can spot a detail in something, or a color, shape or texture that's photo worthy. But at 30 mph driving by in my minivan? Not so sure. (and I don't have a minivan)
And, even if I did pass that pylon, lying on it's side in the dirt and weeds by the side of the road, would I stop? Would I take the time to put on my blinker, slowing traffic behind me, pull off to the side of the road, open my car door into the oncoming traffic, walk out into the street with my camera, with all traffic watching my every move, squat by the side of the road, and take a picture of a TRAFFIC CONE LYING ON IT'S SIDE IN THE DIRT AND WEEDS while the people in the cars racing by are watching? You KNOW they're wondering what the hell is that crazy chick doing? Is she taking a picture of a CONE?
Just yesterday, I was driving into Boston for a meeting. I had my camera in my car. I always have my camera in my car. As I crossed over the Tobin Bridge the view of the city was really cool. It was a gray, drizzly day and there was a thin fog lifting off the tops of the lower buildings, with peaks of the taller buildings poking above. The bridge itself almost appeared to be floating in middair as the fog was just below it's belly. It would have been a great shot. I knew it. I wanted to take that picture. But the Tobin Bridge is, in case you don't know, Route 1 going into the city and it's two lanes of traffic moving at lightening speed with not a single driver thinking for one instant about anyone but themselves and the conversation they are having on their cell phone. There are no breakdown lanes. No shoulders. No possible way to stop without deeply pissing off a large number of already too-angry Boston drivers. Not to mention the likelihood that you would either be run down by an 85 mph delivery truck carrying "Antoine's Meat and Produce" or killed by a road-raging psycho with a gun. So the thought of stopping to take that great shot? Sadly, it was a fleeting one.
On the way home, I stopped at Stonewall Kitchen (have you ever been there? If not, you must go) for a sandwich to go. In their store and cafe I saw about 40 fantastic photos in-the-making: a smoking black candle in a black frosted goblet, a woman preparing taste samples in the store kitchen, a beautiful pale green strainer (yes, strainers can be beautiful too), lovely decadent pastries in the cafe, a horribly snotty looking woman who I'm certain was from Manhattan and thought she was the cream.
But my camera was in the car. Should I go get it? So many photo-ops here. I should take advantage. After all, I didn't get that great bridge shot this morning. But, really. I'm going to wander around the Stonewall Kitchen company store and cafe, crouching down taking photos of products, food and snotty Manhattan ladies? Not so sure. I doubt they'd even let me. They'd probably grab me by the arm and 'escort' me and my camera back to the parking lot for fear of "retail espionage." Not a good idea.
I took it all in though. I really did. I looked at everything - every shape, every color, every texture. I touched the back of the hedghog boot scraper. I looked at the way the canisters were perfectly in line and the ramekins were stacked, tilting ever so slightly and the glasses with bees on them were in line but two were missing from the front row. I smelled the food and the coffee. I watched the woman at the cafe counter as she bustled to and fro helping customers, never pausing but always smiling genuinely and calling all women, regardless of age, "honey." I watched her red lipstick that matched her red shirt and thought how it contrasted with her black hair, but how it all worked for her. How she wasn't a beautiful beautiful person, but a beautiful regular person. I heard the clanking of the dishes in the kitchen, and the older couple, on the other side of the room at the display of Christmas items discussing the merits of pine-cone shaped candles vs. artichoke candles. And, I listened to the snotty woman from Manhattan tell her friend about what she learned from the psychic she met with - how the psychic told her that alas, she was right, the sister of her friend's friend was actually alive and well in the afterlife and missed her brother who was only one year older ("they were as close as twins, see").
Could my camera have caught all of that? Yes, with enough time and patience and courage I could have captured ALL of those things. Oh, and as long as know one threw me out.
Icing on the Dock
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