Saturday, August 9, 2008

Artifacts

This is for Lori, regarding my photographic progress. Artists are so tough!!

OK.

Walking Ridley Creek today …





























































These remnants of a stone cabin bring to mind our disposable culture. We do it every day. We leave our waste, our jobs, our families. We pick up and move on. “It’s a healthy thing,” we say. Change is inevitable. Change is necessary. Change is human. There are always new vistas, new challenges, new people, new lives. It’s a flavor of survival of the fittest. That which has grown stale or small cannot endure. And, what of the left behind? It must either prove its worth to new inhabitants, or gather dust and crumble.



















This wall stands just outside Ridley Creek. It once was a barn on which a man painted a mural with a dove and the inscription, “Peace on Earth”. Through the 70s and 80s, he changed the mural with the seasons. Spring flowers, summer greens, autumn leaves, winter snows, Christmas Star. He was committed, and everyone looked forward to his changes.

One day, the barn burned down, but this was an artifact that had proven its worth. The community got together and reinforced the wall to ensure that it would not crumble. The wall stood, and the mural continued to change with the seasons.

The man died in the 90s, but someone is refreshing his paint, still.


Sunset on the way home.




















Still trying to capture the moon.
















Closer …
















Almost. O well.

3 comments:

Lori Skoog said...

Fe...got the comments. Gary may still pack some leeks. Glad to see that you are doing more with your camera...I still think night photography is great.
Thanks for all the words.
Lori

San said...

Dazzling photographs. All of them. The shimmer on the water, the remains of the past, the moon growing closer.

And your words about our disposable culture are most thoughtful, particularly as a reflection on your images of the skeletal past.

Lyrical post.

CoyoteFe said...

San - Thank you for the kindness. It's a long journey, this trying to see and articulate, isn't it?