God and Messenger
Comments: 5
As I rode into town for a late-afternoon meeting the light was achingly beautiful and I wished I could be in it walking around. I arrived at my destination to find that the person who I was meeting hadn’t been able to make it back to the office in time from another appointment (she’d tried to contact me but I’d already left). I spoke to her on the phone — she was on a train — we rescheduled, and then I went back out into the last of the twilight.
I’d been given the gift of being able to walk around a little bit without having to worry about being anywhere, and I decided to spend it by walking down Aoyama Dori and then Omote-sando. On little walks like this there’s a poem by Charles Reznikoff that comes in handy called “God and Messenger” —
This pavement barren
as the mountain
on which God spoke to Moses—
suddenly in the street
shining against my legs
the bumper of a motor car.
I’m trying to make a point of carrying the old CoolPix with me on days when lugging an SLR is out of the question. It’s still a great little camera, although sometimes JPEGs don’t seem to handle skies so well.
In the west, this lone cloud had to bear the full light of sunset.
Clouds slinking behind a building to change into something more sombre for the evening.
The CoolPix can be set to act Lomo-like and just keep drinking in light until it’s had its fill. It was pretty much dark at this point.
These were all hand-held, peering down into the LCD of the camera held at waist level. The lens swivels around to where it needs to be.
Public sculpture often inpires a special form of melancholy in me. I’m sure I’m not alone.
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Posted to Photographs • 2004.01.23 (Fri) • 22:06
Comments
Posted by resonance 2004.01.23, 23:26
I miss my coolpix, I really do. Especially because I have to make an executive decision regarding which lens to put on my DSLR before walking out the door. I usually choose incorrectly.
Great shots, Jeremy. The last one, like some of your other recent ones, looks rendered. Wonderful.
Posted by kit 2004.01.24, 02:43
Your pictures are truly beautiful. I check your site every day.
Posted by cloudshift 2004.01.24, 05:32
haha… great poem!! Also, great photo (as is usual)…
Posted by andrew 2004.01.24, 06:22
Did you do anything to intensify the colours? They do look Lomo like.
Posted by amnésia 2004.01.27, 21:16
You have an inspiring blog, really beautiful photos
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