Standing at the door
London, ON, October 2007 [Click to increase shoe size]
I like doors (see here and here), especially old ones that wear their years with weathered pride. As I walked through East London last week, I came across this door that begged to be remembered.
Problem was, its ultra-reflective window made my shoes (Adidas Gazelle...same as my middle name) kinda mandatory. I tried every possible angle and perspective to get rid of my offending feet. But in the end, I gave up and figured fate was telling me it was time for a self-portrait.
So here are my feet, reflected in an old door in the middle of a run-down street. I'm sure the drug addicts who watched me do the sidewalk two-step were mildly amused.
Your turn: Why do doors hold such appeal to us?
Quick update: Sorry for being so cryptic with the name reference. My middle name is Zvi. It's pronounced tz-VEE, and it's the Hebrew word for gazelle. Given the speed with which I move through life, I've long thought this name is highly appropriate for me. For more background on my crazy name, please click here. Thanks, Shane, for calling it out!
I don't know. I know there's a door I want to go take a photo of. I went by and forgot my camera again yesterday. It's got such character and personality reflective of the layers of people who lived there, I think, more than bricks or siding, on a more human palpable scale than the structure. It's our size and it can even reflect us literally, or in this case, your feet.
ReplyDeletebtw, like the pic you did and Michele reminded me to come by tonight.
ReplyDeleteYour middle name is Adidas Gazelle?
ReplyDelete(said in my best Groucho Marx voice)
doors just beg to be opened don't they
I love the symbolism of doors. For me, they represent possibilities. I have a few pics of doors I've been thinking of posting lately so I hope you won't think I'm a copycat when I get around to it. I really like your pic by the way.
ReplyDeletep.s. I've just added you to my blogroll.
ReplyDeletewell before i answer your question with my own half baked Jung like insight, i will point out that until you told me the feet were reflected i was trying to figure out the light lines, as it looked like the feet were on the other side of the open door from you. kind of neat optical illusion...
ReplyDeletedoors are like opputunities. to learn, to eat, to seek, to know, to work, to survive, to take one more step on the road of life... through another door as it were.
always a pleasure to visit you, Carmi, michele sent me.
I love the door and your feet. I took a photo of the light streaming through my son's front door the other day, but I haven't uploaded it yet. Or is it downloaded? Anyway, I will. I found it quite striking as I do your photo.
ReplyDeleteI love RED doors. In feng shui red doors are supposed to bring success and prosperity to the home. I'm not sure about that, but I'm seeing a lot of them in the neighborhood lately.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you have very photogenic feet. There's nothing wrong with having them in the pic.
Doors tell me about peole who have passed through them. Sometimes a door begs to be opened. A few stay shut. It is like our minds.
ReplyDeleteSo Michele is to blamed if I am stalking you.
I love the photo, and to answer your question, I guess I don't know. Perhaps because it's the mystery of what is behind the door?
ReplyDeleteMichele sent me! Have a great weekend!
I love to take pics of doors as well. On a recent trip to Charleston SC I have frame upon frame of doors. I'll have to try a reflection one.
ReplyDeleteI bet the druggies thought you were on something and probably wanted some!
The fascination with doors only occurs because of feet. Will your feet approach? enter? pass by? or slow down for a few pictures before moving on? If only there was enough time in one lifetime to open more of them and see what's inside.
ReplyDeleteGlad to have found you, Carmi. I love questions more than answers.
Hello, Michelle sent me!
ReplyDeleteI think doors hold an expectation of action... in or out... hello or goodbye... close or slam...
ReplyDelete(Nice shoes, btw, Carmi! I DO like the photo, too!)
Hey Carmi Michele sent me. I think doors represent opportunities to open or close a new chapter. To open a door and find something new or start a new adventure or to close the door and safely hide away.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Carmi.
ReplyDeleteDoor represent a new beginning or change every single time you open one. Wheather it's a familiar door or a new one, you can never know for sure what's on the other side.
Lovely picture, too.
Good door; with that pic and your portrait, it all clicks together. Michele sent me here.
ReplyDeleteregarding your comment on my blog, no, I know you're not stalking me. (but you'll have to blogroll me ;)
ReplyDeleteWhich GWL do you take your family to? We've been to Poconos and Williamsburg.
Door mean you can open to thing you enjoy (like the kid selling coockies)or close them on thing you don't want (creepy guy selling his religion)
ReplyDeleteThe also represent the opening of new areans in your life (the school door at the begining of the year) or to close off other aspects of our lives (leavign that place in college after graduation)
Hello from Michele.
The door looks 1950's vintage...and the gazelles on Mr. Gazelle take us to present day. It's a wonderful contrast in time.
ReplyDeleteI've been SO busy and havent visited...here catching up and enjoying all of your photos and reflections! :)
TGIF!
For me? Doors hold in the contents of a room. For example, closet doors. We talk about "coming out of the closet" or the "anxiety closet" (made famous by Berkeley Breathed). In each case, it's a door that holds either the person or the anxiety inside.
ReplyDelete(shrugging)
I guess that's kind of weird.
Doors. I have been taking doors for granted lately...when they don't get in my way, that is. :) I tend to bang my head or stub my toes with doors.
ReplyDeleteBut what is behind door number 2?
BTW, Hello, Michele sent me.
hi carmi! i love this shot... feet and all.
ReplyDeletei think doors hold such interest to us for all the possiblities that are contained on the other side of them.
thanks for stopping by my place today.
Carmi, I'm thinking that your parents had a good sense of humor. I like your name!
ReplyDeleteI like doors too and I think they have appeal because they shield the unknown - and also allow us into the unknown.
Your middle name sounds cool to me. Going by your posts, you do seem like a gazelle.
ReplyDeleteI read your post about your name too. I kind of related with that. I too have lots of nick names. A few I like , others I simply detest. What gets at me is when people start addressing me as GT, Gaut, tammy and worse is Gauts.
Misspelling is rampant...Guatami, gautmi or guatmi.
And yes, my surname ends with Y. Most Indian spell it with i.
Don't blame me. Michele got me started.
Sorry for any TYPOS if any!!!
speaking of nicknames... my name is spelled in an unusual way and people are always mispronouncing it. it used to bother me but, after almost 47 years of saying no it's just ..... i don't mind so much anymore. my sister has it worse than i do by far because my mother took part of my sister's fathers name and part of her name to make up my sis's name so its a name no one can even guess how to spell or pronounce.
ReplyDeletemichele sent me on this visit. :)
I love doors! I hadn't noticed that the feet were a reflection at first. First impression told me it was a child standing just inside the doorway. I wouldn't have known the truth without your explanation.
ReplyDeleteDoors with windows are especially appealing, though I can not explain why.
P.S. Michele sent me!
ReplyDeleteCarmi, since you commented on my writing (and thanks again for that), I have a meme for you: list your five greatest strengths as a writer.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice second name, I love a name that means something, especially if it is appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is the unknown that makes doors intriguing - you always have to wonder what lies on the other side.