Friday, July 25, 2008

We're on the road to nowhere


Causeway
San Francisco, CA, July 2008 [Click to embiggen]

This entry continues this week's Thematic Photographic's theme, monochrome...
Click here if you'd like to join in. I hope you do!
I like simple, stark scenes because I think we remember them best. Like a good photo, life is best enjoyed when you strip all the extraneous garbage out of the scene. Doing so lets you focus only on the simple stuff, the stuff that matters most, the stuff you'll hold onto when things get rough.

As my plane approached touchdown in San Francisco, I looked out the window and saw this simple perspective. Of course, if you think about the engineering that makes this possible, and the complexities of the folks making the crossing, it isn't simple at all. But for a moment, all I saw was a straight line cutting across a vast stretch of monotonous sea. And I thought it made for a simply memorable moment. Don't you?

Your turn: Why do you like simple?

10 comments:

Lynda said...

Thanks for making me have a Talking Heads moment...
...And She Was...

Canadian Mark said...

That's funny. My B&W photo for the day is anything but simple.

To answer your question though, I enjoy simple simply because I find it soothing.

Nestor Family said...

Simple lets your mind be more free.

Dianne - Bunny Trails said...

Ha! Love Lynda's TH reference.

I think that simple is refreshing for me. Life gets too busy, too cluttered, too complicated. Therefore, anything simple - a photo, a room, a field brings a rejuvenating peace.

Love the shot. Also love flying into SF. It's so amazing zipping in right over the Bay, only to touch down at the seemingly last moment. It's especially incredible at night.

Susan said...

I love this simple image because it's one of my favourite bridges (my hometown is at one end of it--not the nowhere end, of course) shown in a way I haven't seen it before.

Makes me a bit homesick, though.

Pam said...

simple requires less thought...it's a distraction from the 'busy' of everyday life.

looks like the bay bridge...i love sf. don't go often though i live about 45 mins to an hour away. the whole atmosphere there is very artsy.

smarmoofus said...

Wow. A single bold line across the frame at an unapologetically skewed angle... I love this shot! It really appeals to my preference for straight lines that I mentioned a few weeks back (how could it not?).

-smarmoofus

Barbara said...

I like simple because it is more restful. That is why I am striving to simplify my life, but it isn't that simple. The photo is awesome, a simple straight line from point A to point B. Lesson learned.

Pam said...

o.k. maybe i'm not getting the whole 'thematic photographic' thing down yet. do we continue doing like a week of photos or do we just do one? i'm on my fourth week, i think. my latest photo was taken w my old palm treo.

photowannabe said...

Memorable, but I lived 20 minutes from that bridge for 41 years.
I absolutely hated going across it. So many cars and no where to go if there was a problem. It really is a road to no where.
Great photo though, Carmi.