Since this is a weird winter with way less snow than usual in either Kentucky or New England, I decided to drive up to Massachusetts to visit family for a few days. This is shocking news, but today, Sunday, it is supposed to get to 75 degrees here! So, warm greetings from the northeast USA...
I even stopped in New York City on the way, driving in via the Holland Tunnel (which used to terrify me as a child! All that water above us!! Shiny pale yellow wall tiles flashing by forever!!) I left in the dark that same day, taking the Whitestone Bridge route east. The night was clear, the lights of the big city like multiple tiaras, and yet I didn't dare stop to look more intently for fear of never returning to that highway facing the direction in which I was then headed.
My photography there was mostly limited to a visit to the ICP (International Center of Photography.) I went with my sister, and I am thrilled that I got to NYC while the exhibit I had been wanting to see was still up -- Greg Villet's photos of the family of Richard and Mildred Loving, who were married in D.C. but who couldn't live together where they wanted to, in Virginia, because, at the time, 1966-67, interracial marriages were still illegal in 16 states. I've been interested both in how the photographer worked to get the photos and in the story they tell. The Lovings were the ones who took their case all the way to the US Supreme Court.
I asked if the black and white prints on display were done by the photographer. I was told that yes, they were, and the bent marks on most of them were the result of his having given them directly to the Lovings who treated them like the family photos they were -- a generosity now being shared with the rest of us.
Meanwhile there are new photo tools in my life. By chance, my first smart phone ever comes at the same time as a camera upgrade and lens upgrade. My first f2.8 lens! A lot to learn, a lot to try out, a lot to see with. Today I am sharing two iPhone photos, the first from home, last week, and the second from right-this-very-minute.
 |
| our historic outhouse, seen from the living room window |
 |
| my laptop (blog companion) in the BOOKMILL, in Montague, Massachusetts, with thanks for the wireless and the electricity and the delicious sandwich from the Lady Killigrew |
An iPhone! And two pictures made with it; which are wonderful. Having a phone with a camera certainly changed the way I took pictures. I think because I have it all the time and it's just what it is; you can only point and shoot, it responds to the impulse, maybe. With a camera I would think that I'm going to take pictures, there's some reason, an occasion, etc. But not with the phone. It was just there, part of the everyday.
ReplyDeleteSteve