I took this one as I wandered back to meet my wife after shooting my railroad images (here and here). Porches speak to me because they remind me of a lifestyle, a neighborhood that no longer exists.
People used to sit in front of their houses, actively contributing to the life of the streetscape. Now, they drive up, hit the remote control garage door opener and drive on in. Front porches have all but disappeared from new homes. The few times that we do go outside, we use the back deck because it ensures privacy. Community has been replaced by isolationism.
At first glance, this was a quick shot of a predictable geometric pattern. It was so cleanly pretty that I just had to have the picture. But after I got it home, I looked more closely at the image and discovered that uniformity often hides details.
Your turn: I hope you'll explore the picture a little more closely (click on it to enlarge). Not all is as pristine as it seems.
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18 comments:
Another interesting picture. I like the colour too. And I did the click in to see the paint job and the splinters. Its amazing that Custom Blur in Photoshop can fix that in a photo, wouldn't it be great if someone could invent a custom blur paint too, for those awkward moments of stray pixellation?
I always knew Porsches were a lifestyle statement(!)
(Hee Hee) re today via Michele's.
rashbre
Hi Carmi, did you notice the optical illusion your photo creates? Look closely and the spindles seem to move...
And well done on your perceptive narration, honey :-)
Happy Saturday from Michele....
cq
It's so symmetrical and I'm a symmetrical gal. Imperfections are the spice of life. It's too bad that we don't intermingle like we used to, maybe our crime rates wouldn't be so high.
Carmi, I totally know what you mean about the life that no longer exists. That is why my wife and I decided to camp. We have a camper that 'lives' year-round at a campground only 40 minutes from our house. But it feels like a world away. Everyone cooks and eats on their decks which are visible from the street! Everyone walks to the store for ice cream. Everyone walks to the lake or the pool. And it is certainly safe enough to give the kids a dollar and send them on their way. The little photo on my profile is the street that runs in past our camper taken just this fall. That community life is not 100% - just on life support.
it's like an optical illusion...the horizontal siding makes the vertical posts appear to bend in the middle...I actually had to close one eye to view it more accurately!
Nice tone on tone, as always.
From far away and with a new paint job, you can't always see the little nicks and dings of life... in porches or people.
My grandparent's 100 year old farmhouse had a huge front porch with a hanging porch swing. It was my favorite place to be, next to the little cloudy window of the stone smoke house that is. My smoke house window was for reading in silence and solitude. The front porch was for noise and swinging and pitting cherries gathered from the tree in the front yard. It didn't have spindled railings though, so it was also for jumping off and rolling down the grass lawn as well.
This picture almost looks like one of those optical illusions, with the horizontal lines competing with the vertical lines, And I did see the dings and scrapes in the larger image. It could almsot be a before and after image, too!
ooh i like the wiggly :)
as a child i always loved the whole anne of green gables thing and porches on houses. we rarely have them in the uk. i still dream of a house with either that or a decent stoop we can sit on. though i recently make do with my balcony and yell at the fruit sellers to shut up and for the simitci's (round sesame bread sellers) to send one up in a little basket we lower on string, as we throw down our coins in plastic bags as payment.
it's close.
I don't see any mention of it in the comments above but it seemed to me like there was some dark stain, maybe soot from a grill, on the wall past the porch railing. It was only on the right-middle area at the very bottom. Of course there were also painted over splinters etc but I'd not call that un-pristine so maybe you did mean that slightly darker area.
I noticed the optical illusion quality also. I almost got dizzy from looking at the small picture.
Michele sent me over, Carmi.
I have wanted a front porch for the last 43+ years, ever since I moved away from my last childhood home, where there was a well-used porch. We spoke to our neighbors and passers-by, dated on the porch, entertained on the porch and just whiled away the time with a good book (and a way to keep an eye on the neighborhood). I loved it, imperfections and all.
Michele sent me
I love that Carmi! I enlarged but couldn't see an imperfection....???
Here at dial-up boyfriends place - could that be it?
Is the imperfection in the bottom right corner, on the last vertical piece of wood?
Seeing as how so much of the dry wall has been ripped out of the flood-saturated walls in my hallways, it doesn't seem so bad.
When I enlarged the photo, I did spot Waldo.
I love front porches, but when it's warm enough to use one around here, you get eaten alive by mosquitoes. We have a back porch that's screened in. Sometimes it's nice to sit out there in my pajamas, with a cup of coffee--which I probably wouldn't do on a front porch.
Cool photo, as always, Carmi!
Great picture...I love the wear and tear on the porch, you can only see it when you look up close but it's there just the same.
We've never really had porches over here...unless you're a rich person with a big house! lol
It's a shame though because I do think they are beautiful!
Here from Michele's tonight! Hi!
Okay. I see a minor flaw, but that's what makws life interesting. thanks for your comment today. As far as unusual names go---I'm right there with you.
I absolutely love the juxtaposition of elements...it is stunning. The lines and slight imperfections...I am blown away. Wonderful shot.
This is another great shot. It's interesting how you don't notice the imperfections in the wood, until you enlarge it. Personally, there is nothing like a wrap around porch. I miss them.
Michele sent me back here, my dear...
Well, I looked very carefully at the picture and all I found thatwasn't perfect were a few imperfections down on the right side...if that isn't what you mean...Well, I honestly don't know!
Do tell me Carmi!
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