Upside of DST

Let me get this right out there. I hate daylight savings time. I hate the sudden rejiggering of my days. I loathe waking up and having it being dark out just two weeks after being blessed with the morning sun. However, it rocks having 3 wonderful daylight hours after work. So, that’s that then.

There used to be a highway here. Now there’s a boulevard. As someone who has used both which much frequency, I was stunned to find out that the highway was not much better. In fact, how it broke up the near Northwest side was pretty bad.

Badger Meter must have been pretty stoked when they got this order.

This church is atop a high hill. When I walk to and fro from work the white stone often appears luminescent. It is a rather impressive effect. A church atop a hill glowing in the morning sun. Honestly, it took me two years to actually go photograph it. Weird.

I would like to go back and shoot this like a tilt shift picture. The building looks more like a model of a building than something we’d actually bother to build full scale. Best I know, it’s a brewery converted to a school. Go figure.

Pipes with hats. We wouldn’t want there hair to get wet.

I enjoy the layering. This part of town almost has the best views of the city. Almost, because the Bradley Center really dominates the skyline. You really get a good concept of just how large it is when you step away from it. It also really pops because of the empty former right away for the highway that used to scar the skyline.

I applaud you, crazy Pabst developer guy. Here’s to your success, however unlikely.

Glazed, hand laid brick grain towers. Seems insane to me. Thinking about how much work went into these. How much sweat and stress. I should have touched it. Brushed my hand against the brick and connected with those before me. Understand the textures of their lives.

Downside of cool rusty sign, can’t clean the birdshit off.

This is actually a different church from the one above. I took this from the parking lot attached to the county jail. I was out there for about ten minutes, enjoying my freedom and camera sort of oblivious about what was really around me. Then I got this weird feeling. Like I was being watched. Suddenly, it dawned on me, I was taking pictures from the county jail parking lot. I looked up and to my right and could see the tiny little windows. Thought about all the people trapped inside, and got the fuck out of there. I never saw anyone staring at me, but still got the willys.

jon

I Should Have Gone

 

Can’t believe I missed it. Actually, can’t believe I didn’t find this flyer before it. Not that I’m terribly sure what it is. But who doesn’t want to party with a dinosaur face rock star.

jon

Buildings. They’re There

As the weather has turned nicer. Well, marginally nicer anyway. I’ve really been out and about much more. It has been a delight. Me and my camera wandering about pretending it really is spring. And not this fake spring where it snows on the 26th of May.

I have trouble knowing how far to take these buildings into abstraction. Mostly I sit back, relax and trust my composition.

Fire escapes are nary to be found on new buildings. I am curious if it is because fire code requires sprinklers now, or because designers prefer sprinklers.

jon

The Pretty City

 

I really enjoy shots like this one. Let us recount the ways. One, the color interpretation of my Olympus camera is excellent here. There is what is called an “oly” feel, and this is it. A slightly metallic interpretation. If I switched systems, I would miss you most of all jpeg engine. Two, I think I actually got the framing right, which is strange. Probably because I actually thought about how I wanted to go to this spot, to take this picture, without my camera. Indeed, I made a special trip just to walk here. Third, I like my city. Sometimes. What I like, all the ways we try. We are not Cleveland or Buffalo or Detroit. Though we did not rise to the same economic and population heights as those cities, we have much more effectively fought the decline. We have reinvested in the river, in the lake, and in bike paths. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that we could be a shallow shell of a city, and that belief in public discourse and works is what holds a city together. Wisconsin’s motto used to be “Forward”, I say we get back to that thinking.

jon

Can’t Fight ‘em Join ‘em

City Hall that is. Though, I’m not sure why you would want to fight a city hall as beautiful as this one. A grand interior, seven open stories with a skylight. The top floor seems to have no offices, but makes a great walking track for the employees. There was not law making in session, so I did not get to visit the common council space. Other than that, it was a delightful visit. Now if the damn thing would stop falling apart, it would be without a critic.

 

I also like the dragon handrails. It took me until I walked up seven flights of stairs to notice them, but it was well worth it.

They also seem to be eating pineapples. Which seems strange. I wonder what the artist was trying to say here.

jon

Moar Puppies!!!

 

It is important to always understand the most important things to fight for. Puppies!!!!

jon

Liberty, lest not we forget

 

I don’t know what exactly to say for liberty. It is actually an incredibly difficult concept to bounce around in the head. Individual liberty seems so obvious, yet any action has a result, and many of those restrict the liberty of others. As much as I would like, I am no theologian, I cannot wax prophetic in writing about liberty and its nuance. Perhaps, my best and final statement is that liberty is nuanced, and that the ideal of its pursuit guides, but fails to give a course of action in reality.

jon