I didn’t have much time today and I spent much of it stalking this little guy until I almost got the shot I wanted.
The head of my college theater department had a saying about the work posted on his office wall: “It’s not the vision I had”.
He would remind you, however, that just because it wasn’t the vision you started with didn’t mean it might not be better than what you had envisioned.
Your collaborators always bring something to the table and you have to listen to them.
It seems to me that as human beings we are always trying to impose order on the random chaos that daily surrounds us. Much of what happens during a day, be it at work, school, home or out among our fellow beings, while logical in the moment, does not really make a whole lot of sense in the larger context of our lives. So we create a narrative to explain what we are seeing and doing. We tell ourselves a story to make our day, or our lives coherent.
So, here is my question. What story do you create around this shoe and this engine mount and engine?. Are they related or is it a coincidence that they came to the riverbank in such close proximity? I wonder what story or stories the owners of this detritus are telling?
I took this image this morning not knowing how appropriate it would seem after watching Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood play the Macbeths in Rupert Goold’s filmed adaptation of the 2008 stage production of Macbeth which has just been released on Netflix and DVD. Macbeth -PBS The interpretation is very much focused on the internal needs and lives of the leads and the bitter coldness and power of their imaginations and the society they create. Both performances are extraordinary as are the performances of most of the supporting players, especially Christopher Patrick Nolan as the Porter, Michael Feast as Macduff, and Martin Turner as Banquo, and I cannot recommend this film enough.
Ah, okay boss, but what does this have to do with the Quotidian Hudson? The power of the mind. Yesterday was a lovely, spring like day. Today was very February. It was not a special day, cold but nothing extreme, windy but not excessive. We have had many worse days as recently as last week but everyone on the river was grim. The runners looked pained, the dog walkers (but not the dogs) looked unhappy and were complaining.
Why? Well, I would suggest it is because we are human beings, we are very adept at adapting and utterly brilliant at developing false ideas. I can’t tell you how many people told me yesterday that it could hit 60 degrees on Friday and so…it only stands to reason that if it is 56 on Monday and will be 60 on Friday then all the days in between must be similar and indeed, (Hosanna!) winter is gone! No more freezing days, no more ice on the path. Why? My mind has decreed it so!
Oops.
This was the little storm that followed the post Christmas snow. While we only got a couple of inches Bloomberg made sure that all the plows were out before flake one.
Today is the first day I really regret the one picture a day rule. I was on the NY Waterway ferries at 8:30, snow was swirling, fog was everywhere, the river was in a gray out and I have some really good shots but I hopped the 1 train up to the George Washington Bridge and that is where today’s shot comes from. The wind was howling up on top of the bridge, snow kept changing direction, keeping my lens dry enough to shoot was a major challenge and I frequently could not even see the river below. I was there for about 45 minutes and only saw one other person. He was crossing from New Jersey to the city. We met right in the middle of the bridge, held eye contact just long enough to communicate “are you nuts – why are you here” and moved on.
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