Monday, August 02, 2010

Staring out a hotel window


The road below
New York, NY, November 2009
[Click photo to embiggen]
About this photo: We're sharing shadow-themed pictures this week. You can, too, by clicking your mouse here.
I took this picture at 7:22 a.m. from the window of my hotel room. I had been up for hours, staring out at the darkened street corner, wondering why my eyes refused to close despite my overwhelming fatigue from the minivan-full-of-people drive in from Ontario. As the shafts of near-horizontal light began to paint the dull grey streets a brilliantly textured shade of brighter grey, I got my camera out and wondered if asphalt was worth shooting.*

The kids were still asleep - I wish I knew their secret - so there wasn't a whole lot I could do except watch my little slice of the big city slowly return to life. As the light continued to transform the streetscape, I wondered how long it would take before the traffic returned. As it turned out, I didn't have too long to wait, and a few minutes after I shot this, our youngest munchkin rubbed his eyes, got out of a strange bed in a strange bed and wandered over to the window for a hug.

We watched the traffic build for a bit and made plans for the day that would be. Before long, some of those shadows below would probably be our own as we began to explore this place for the first time.

Your turn: Every street has a story. Care to share one for this stretch?

* I'm thinking it was.