Tag: Photo on Flickr

Mirrored Bricks

Reflecting Bricks / Flooded Courtyard

There’s a sunken courtyard near the office where I work. It’s shaded on three sides by an office building, a hotel, and a parking structure. Trees soften the sunlight that does make it through. Three steps lead down from the edge to the brick floor, with a smattering of concrete benches and planters.

One day last winter, a rainstorm flooded the courtyard. Not very deep, maybe an inch or so (if that). Just enough to turn the bricks into a mirror, which really struck me as bizarre.

Photo Challenge (WordPress): Mirror

Down the Narrow Hallway

Hayworth Hallway

A few years back I saw a Tennessee Williams parody at the second stage of the Hayworth Theater in Los Angeles. It was a few rooms opened up and converted in the office section of a historic building, complete with the old-style lighting, molding, wooden floors and carpet that you see here. The “lobby” was the entry level for the back stairway, where they’d somehow managed to cram in a bar and a couple of tables. Then you’d walk up the stairs, around a corner, and down this long narrow hallway until you reached the right door.

The building dates to the 1920s, when offices had character and weren’t just boxes. The theater seems to be gone now, as it’s since been turned back into offices. Because apparently that’s something Los Angeles doesn’t have enough of?

Photo Challenge (WordPress): Narrow

Raven and Poe: Partners for (n)evermore

Life-sized bronze(?) statue of Edgar Allen Poe walking, carrying a briefcase, with a raven emerging from the case. It's covered with a green patina, and situated on a brick-paved walkway on a city street with trees in the background.

Last September I visited Boston to attend a friend’s wedding. While there I took a guided walking tour of the Freedom Trail, and also wandered the city a bit on my own. I stumbled on this statue with a pair of unconventional partners: Edgar Allen Poe and a raven.

I particularly like how they’ve balanced it so that the raven appears to be flying out of the briefcase as the writer’s papers burst out. My photo album on Flickr has another angle of this statue, plus another 15-odd sightseeing shots.

Seasonal Wetlands: Summer vs Spring

Seasonal Wetlands: Summer vs Spring by Kelson Vibber

It finally occurred to me to put together a side-by-side image of the one spot I managed to take photos of on both hikes!

On the right: May in Madrona Marsh, after winter and spring rains filled up the low-lying areas of the preserve.

On the left: Late August in the same spot, after summer had dried up the pools. Despite the drought, and helped along by a couple of freak summer storms, the ground is still holding onto enough moisture that the floor of the vernal pool is covered with low greenery instead of dry grass.

I know, it’s always better to put “before” on the left, and I tried it with that layout, but it ended up looking better this way.