The Photodiarist

Romantic Love

New York:  Union Square

Inspiration:  Romantic Love.   "It is the sweetest thing; it is a red red rose; it is a battlefield; it is a drug, a delusion, a lunacy.  It is the answer, and the question.  It is a balm and a piercing arrow" -- Backwards in Heels.  Whatever it is, it seems as if there is nothing else in the world that people want more.  There are so many opinions about romantic love.  Plato called it a mental disease. Pat Benatar famously likened it to a battlefield.  Shakespeare called it "a smoke made with the fume of sighs . . . a sea nourished with lover's tears . . . a choking gall and a preserving sweet." I've read recently that MRI scans show that falling in love requires a very small part of the brain -- smaller than that needed to use your computer -- but the exact part of the brain that responds to hallucinatory drugs. George Bernard Shaw said: "When two people are under the influence of the most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part."  After a break-up, we swear that we will never love again, but then we do.  What is it about being temporarily insane that we all crave so much?  Rhetorical question, but you can answer if you want to.

Woodland Fairy Redux

New York: Central Park

Inspiration:  Today's weather was fantastic. So, I wondered around the city and ended up in Central Park again. . . where I ran into Woodland Fairy (we've met before -- see 8/24/2009 post). So, it turns out that Woodland Fairy isn't just living her dream of being a fairy in the Central Park forest. That may be a part of it, but she certainly isn't doing it for free.  This time around, she was standing on a small dais like a mannequin - immobile and expressionless. Her Mary Poppins-like duffel bag (see 8/24/2009 post) was wide open and filled with money (and not the fairy kind). When someone dropped a few coins or bills into the bag, she suddenly beamed, squeezed "fairy dust" from the rose and sprinkled it into the outstretched hand of the giver.  Once I got over my ridiculous sense of betrayal that Woodland Fairy was not actually agenda-free, but indeed out there to make a living, I made a donation and received my fairy dust.  The stuff immediately stuck to my palms, face and camera. I am still picking some of it off my arms as I write . . . Lesson learned:  No one is untouched by this recession.  And fairy dust is no longer free.

"Together with myself"

New York:  Washington Square Park

Inspiration:  Sometimes, one's company is all one needs.

"Still there?"

New York:  Washington Square Park

Inspiration: Yesterday, at Washington Square Park, an artist was creating an elaborate mural in the middle of the park.  This little girl was enraptured by the process.  She boldly left her family and sat right in front to watch the work in progress.  But she kept looking back with a somewhat uncertain look on her face, as if to say "Are you still there?"  Then once certain, she would look back at the work, only to peek back at her parents to make sure once again.  I guess this is how some of us develop independence.  We take steps outside of the "safety zone" while turning around periodically to make sure that it remains available and ready to take us back.  As long as we can see it or feel it, we venture further away from it.  But once that safety net is gone or not immediately visible, we start to doubt ourselves.  Does that feeling ever truly leave us?

Deep Sleep Pt. 3

New York:  Union Square

Inspiration:  All I thought when I took this shot was that this guy was so exhausted that he couldn't even get himself on a bus or train to get home.  He just stumbled upon an empty spot at the park and crashed, pinstripe suit, shiny loafers and all.  I've read that Americans get so much less sleep than people in the rest of the world.  Why are we so hell bent on wringing so much out of our waking moments that we consistently sacrifice the thing that keeps us sane and healthy?  I am a bit of a hypocrite.  As I write this, I realize that I am operating on fumes having spent almost every day of the last four weeks working until the wee hours of the morning.  

Deep Sleep Pt.2

New York:  Second Avenue & 18th Street

Inspiration:  Other than when we are completely in love, we are at our most vulnerable (in my opinion) when we are asleep.  Our bodies relax, mouths open, some of us make the most ungodly noises, our hands curl inward like they did when we were babies, and our minds are in another world entirely.  

Deep Sleep Pt. 1

New York:  Times Square

Inspiration:  I am fascinated by people who can sleep in public.  Not just drift off with some vague cognizance of what's going on sufficient enough to react if need be.  I mean fast asleep. REM-land.  

Alone while Together

New York:  Central Park

Inspiration:  This moment reminded me of that feeling one sometimes has in a relationship - that one is alone, even when together.

Summer Music Pt. 4

 

New York:  Central Park

Inspiration:  He was blowing that trumpet so passionately that his eyes almost popped out.  

Summer Music Pt. 3

New York: Union Square

Inspiration:  The summer brings everyone outside, including the musicians.  On any given day, you can hear someone playing an instrument at a park, square or street corner.  It's one of my favorite things about summer.