Cave Ghosts
Pictograph Cave State Park, Montana
2011
I took a little trip to Pictograph Cave State Park while staying in Billings for a few days a couple of weeks ago. The actual pictographs in the caves were so faded and hard to see, I found the stain marks from water seeping out of the cave walls as interesting a subject as the actual pictographs. This shot shows what looks like a crowd of ghosts, or maybe they’re space aliens.
Memorial Day
Bozeman, Montana
2011
A lot of my Patriot’s Dream photos, such as the one from yesterday, perhaps have been interpreted as being a bit irreverent and indicating a lack of patriotism on my part. That’s actually not the case. In fact although I don’t see the flag as anything sacred, I take at least mild offense at times when I see the way it is used in a questionable or commercial manner. I mean, to the extent that it represents our country’s ideals, is associating it with dog poop the way it out to be displayed?
Patriotism is not the cavalier and trivializing display of the flag in every conceivable context as if that symbol consecrates any mundane activity with which it is associated. I find that mindset ironic and humorous in a cynical way. I think true patriotism is the willingness to do what your country asks of you (within reason–we don’t want anyone mindlessly participating in atrocities for the “sake of country”) even when it means sacrifice, perhaps extreme, on your part.
All wars are bad, but some are more righteous or unavoidable than others. WWII takes the top of that list in my book. I just finished reading a book on the war in the Pacific during WWII that chronicled the terrible human toll that occurred during that conflict as well as the unimaginable (to my generation in this country anyway) suffering and sacrifice of those who served in our armed forces during that time.
Memorial Day started as a tribute to those soldiers who died on both sides during the Civil War but has morphed into a time of remembering of all veterans whether they died in a war or not as well as to non-veterans who have died, or to many just another day off from work or yet another meaningless excuse for a big sale at your favorite retail outlet. Because WWII is on my mind, I chose to honor on this particular Memorial Day my father and his six brothers and half-brothers who all volunteered for the Navy during WWII and who fortunately all came back from the war alive and went on to live their lives as quiet examples of what true patriotism is really about.
Patriot’s Dream #19
Bozeman, Montana
2011
Do you suppose that appealing to a person’s patriotism lessens the chance their dog will poop on your lawn?
Date Night at the Steakhouse
Billings, Montana
2011
Dark nights, wet pavement, and neon; hard to pass up as ingredients for a photo.
Electrical Flow
Billings, Montana
2011
Power lines reflecting in rainwater draining down an alley in downtown Billings.
Remodel
Billings, Montana
2011
Another new building construction abstract. This one was actually a remodel of an older building I think. I liked the lines and shapes as well as the pattern on the wall where the darker areas were caused by moisture from the rain storm that had been going on earlier soaking into the wall panels.
Gridlock #14
Billings, Montana
2011
Some balconies at an apartment building. It looks like an outdoor, vertically oriented. cubicle arrangement, a residential cousin to the more common office cubicle environment.
Scaling Up
Billings, Montana
2011
Another view of the new building going up in Billings, this one simply a study in abstract lines.
Apocalypse When?
Billings, Montana
2011
Well, I guess the Rapture didn’t happen the other day, or if it did I’ve been hanging around with the wrong crowd as no one I know has gone missing. And with the Rapture apparently delayed for now, I assume the subsequent destruction of the earth has been put off as well. But it was in the apocalyptic spirit that I created this view of what is actually a new building going up.
What the World Needs Now
Wichita, Kansas
2011
Harper’s Weekly ceased publication in 1916 during the middle of World War I, perhaps due to a lack of interest in civilization at the time.