Monday, May 26, 2008

Dish network


Searching for life in deep space?
Montreal, QC, May 2008

The neighborhood surrounding the hospital is old, relatively densely populated and not especially memorable. Once upon a time, my parent's generation aspired to live there, but these days, it's clearly past its prime. Yet anyone who knows what tickles my photographic funnybone knows that it's just these kinds of environments that get my mind racing. It's easy to find something pretty when your canvas is new and pristine. It's a whole different ballgame when you're walking through a run-down landscape.

I wasn't in an especially good mood as we walked from the parked car up to the hospital. Visiting your hospital-bound dad is never a happy scene. So I suppose I was looking for very temporary relief through the friendly barrel of my trusty lens.

I found it here, in a nest of satellite dishes on top of an utterly forgettable apartment building. I dismissed thoughts of TV addiction and highway-robbery subscription rates and instead thought about the voodoo-like ability of a small dish to receive signals from a bird hovering 22,300 miles overhead. After watching the Phoenix lander touch down successfully on Mars last night, I seem to be looking at this picture from an even broader perspective.

Weird, I know. All from a walk through a neighborhood I didn't want to be in, on my way to a place I'd rather not have been.

Your turn: Something plain. Why do you look?

Wait, don't leave just yet! Please hang around and suggest a caption if you haven't already done so. Just click here. I promise you'll be amused.

6 comments:

Anna said...

THAT IS THE FUNNIEST PICTURE I HAVE EVER SEEN...It reminds me of London, England with all the old buildings and then all these dishes to bring them into the right century!

Megan said...

This is where I think we differ. I love to go through run down neighborhoods. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, and at the same time a cold prickley feeling.

It's like, this is with out a doubt a place that houses a lot of stories, gatherings, and intrigue.

I love the old houses, it lets you take a glimpse back into our past and what the future has done to it.

Very unreal feeling. I love it.

carrie said...

that's hilarious! Gotta have that dish, I guess.

happy wednesday.

Beverly said...

That photo reminds me of my last trip to Haiti, the poorest country in this hemisphere. Satellite dishes could be seen seemingly everywhere...on the poorest houses.

Qtpies7 said...

It is kind of funny why they all have different dishes, lol.
Great catch!

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