June 2015

Measures of Anonymity #29
Denver, Colorado
2015

Empty Conversation
Denver, Colorado
2015

Concrete Abstract #2
Denver, Colorado
2015

Long Flight
Denver, Colorado
2015

I don’t know how far the crow’s flight was but this flight of stairs at the Denver Convention Center was really long.

ET Roadkill
Denver, Colorado
2015

I guess this poor little alien didn’t grasp the concept of crosswalks and walk signals, so got plastered on the pavement of busy Speer Street in downtown Denver.

It took me three or four tries to get the photo the way I wanted it. I had to wait for the walk signal, go out into the middle of the crosswalk, kneel down with my back to the stopped traffic, and take a couple of quick shots before it was time to scurry on across the street before the light changed. Even though I was pretty sure I was getting the timing right, it felt darn uncomfortable kneeling in the middle of a busy street with my back to the oncoming traffic that might or might not stop if I stayed too long where I was. And what if someone was turning right at the intersection so didn’t have to wait for the light to change? I felt too much like I might become roadkill myself, but anything for the shot!

The winner of the the Freeman Park Fog print in my newsletter drawing is Jo M., a follower of my POTD since 2008. Thanks for all your interest in my work Jo, and thanks to everyone who entered for a chance to win.

I hope to have another newsletter issue out toward the end of summer and will include a new print drawing at that time. If you’re not already a subscriber to my newsletter notification and want to know about the next drawing when it is announced, sign up here.

Don’t Always Think
Denver, Colorado
2015

Lectio #55
Denver, Colorado
2015

Part of Zippy’s summer fitness program.

Being a photographer isn’t a particularly physically demanding activity, especially when you consider how much of the effort is spent sitting in front of a computer screen. So I have to look to other tasks to get some exercise. In this case I’m digging back the hillside that we built our garage into, something I’m quite an expert at anymore as this is the third time I’ve at least partially dug it out.

When we built the garage into the hill, I designed it to have dirt back-filled clear up against the wall. I had to do the backfilling by hand since I couldn’t get my backhoe in there to fill it. After about 10 years I noticed the pressure of the dirt had bowed in the wall an uncomfortable distance. To relieve the pressure, I dug it down part way–by hand.

Then last year I decided it needed be dug out further, so I dug down all the way to the base of the garage, about seven feet–by hand. I lined the exposed dirt with rocks to prevent erosion. Last winter that all collapsed, so I’m now digging it all out again–by hand– and trying to slope the hillside back more to prevent another collapse.

Through this relatively Sysyphean task I’ve learned a couple of thing: there’s not as much conservatism in structural load calculations as you might think safety would dictate, and I really don’t have as good a grasp of the practical aspects of angle of repose as perhaps I ought to. (Angle of repose is a geological term, and also a fine novel by Wallace Stegner.) Until I grasp these concepts more fully, I imagine I’ll be getting plenty of exercise.

5th Floor
Denver, Colorado
2015

Turn the right half of this image 90 degrees clockwise and you’ll see the original shot I took. It shows the spot on a concrete wall where a sign used to be next to the door of the 5th floor of the Denver Art Museum. I’m guessing as to what the sign actually said, based on extrapolating from the intact signs I saw in the stairway on floors 1-4 as I was walking up. (Oh, and the left side is a mirror image negative of the right side.)