Simon

We don’t get snow all that often here in Oklahoma, so when the white flakes fall from the skies it’s kind of special. I took my camera with me to work hoping to find a decent photo opportunity, and a coworker and I went up to the top of one of the buildings on campus to try and get a better view of the situation. I happened to catch a photo of him when he was either thinking about how cold it was, or how to best pelt an unsuspecting pedestrian with a snowball from above.

I took this photo on Valentine’s Day when I was walking around for a few minutes looking for a picture opportunity. I saw these guys offering free hugs to anyone who walked past, and at first I thought it might be some kind of promotion for a fraternity or club, but I think it really was just some people trying to spread the love on this particular day. People seemed to be genuinely happy as they walked past and were offered a hug from these dudes, and I thought it was a really fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
On a side note, one of the things with which I often struggle is street-style photography. That is, going around and taking pictures of random passers-by whom I do not know. I feel weird doing it, even though most people being photographed really don’t mind. When I saw these guys I figured if they can go around hugging total strangers, I might as well try to get over my trepidation of merely photographing total strangers.

When I was a kid I spent many nights lying awake at night listening to the sound of cicadas buzzing and screeching in the trees outside, and there were more than a few times in which I stuffed my head into my pillow and prayed they would stop so I could get to sleep. Now that I’m all growed up I kind of miss that sound, though I suppose a trip back to Nebraska in the summertime would change my attitude quickly. But as this photo demonstrates, they are clearly alive and well down here in Oklahoma too, though perhaps not as prominent as back up north. I was actually going for a slightly different photo here, and if you click through to my Flickr page you’ll see a version of this with the sun rays poking out from behind the branch. That was more along the lines of what I was really going for, though I am more pleased with how this version here looks from a compositional standpoint. I went back and forth between the two, trying to pick a favorite, and finally concluded that while I like the sun rays in the other one, the cicada exoskeleton looked more like a yellow bump on the tree limb and thus was not readily identifiable. In this version I like how it looks like the little guy is on the move, though of course he has already been gone for several months.

Something about this bit of kitschy lawn art struck me, though I’m not exactly sure why. Those glass balls have clearly gone out of style in recent years, but I kind of liked the way the angel statue was holding it while sitting in a wagon. You don’t see Radio Flyer wagons like that much anymore, and this one had clearly seen a lot of use in its day. I like to think that this wagon spent years toting kids around and is now living out its remaining days in relative peace and quiet. But if any neighborhood children dared to ask the owners if they could take it for a ride, they would chuck the statue and let them take it out for a spin in a heartbeat.

Another photo opportunity I came across while out walking with my son, this bike rack we found outside a local elementary school has apparently been in use for more than seven decades. A lowly bike rack is the kind of thing one might easily dismiss and ignore while strolling past or chaining up a bicycle, but it’s somewhat inspiring to think that local schoolkids have been using the same instrument to secure their bikes as their grandparents once did. As this metal contraption, donated by the local Lion’s Club, was being installed outside the elementary school, American GIs were off fighting the Axis powers on the other side of the world. Alaska and Hawaii had not even joined the union. Baseball was still segregated. The United Nations had not even been formed.  Suffice it to say, this bike rack has seen an incredible slice of history.  Sure the ol’ rusty metal contraption could use a new coat of paint, but it’s still just as functional as it was 72 years ago. And that’s something we can’t say too often in this day and age anymore.

Pausing to ponder this makes me think about what else around me I take for granted on a daily basis, and how critical it is to preserve the artifacts from our history that tell us so much not only about who we are, but where we have been and ultimately where we are going.