Neon Snacks - A Picture A Day #15

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I enjoy photographing real neon. If there is a reflection, all the better!

Some of my previous photos, as well as others still to come, were taken in and around the Cleveland Clinic. This photo was taken at Grandview Hospital in Dayton. It's the sign above a bank of vending machines available to visitors 24/7.

Part of the reason I'm so far behind on this "picture a day" business has to do with spending so much time with family in hospitals lately.

I'm going to try and post enough photos tonight to get caught up with the idea of a picture a day. Thinking about how and why I was able to get these photos has become something of a choke point. To speed things along and avoid thinking about them too deeply I'll refrain from adding text to most of them, if not all them.

Enjoy the images. I do... really. I wouldn't post them if I didn't. It's just the how and why behind them that's getting under my skin. Feel free to comment or ask questions about any of the upcoming pictures. Some of them are pretty nifty... Catharsis Photography

Breaking the rules

Not that anyone is paying close enough attention to notice but, I'm way behind on posting a picture a day, I'm cheating by posting pictures I took in one day a couple of weeks ago, and I've given up on posting strictly photos taken with my (very unsatisfactory) phone camera.

I'll still post from my phone now and then but it's not a rule any more.

In truth, this Picture A Day project is an exercise meant to (slowly, over time) train me to blog on a regular basis. The treatment isn't quite taking effect yet but I'm sure it will, eventually.

Compelling Sculpture - A Picture A Day # 14

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A rather interesting sculpture

Inside the main entrance of the Cleveland Clinic sits this sculpture, this man of letters, this Letterman. I photographed the placard describing this work but I doubt it will be legible here... Enjoy.

Hospital - A Picture A Day # 13

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An architectural model of the Cleveland Clinic campus.

When I was a kid I remember wanting to be an astronaut. I also remember wanting to be an architect.

What does a little kid know about being an architect? I knew they helped make houses, I had a neighbor who was an architect and designed his own house in a sort of modernistic style (for the day), but what's the appeal of that to a little kid? Well, in junior high I learned I was a terrible draftsman and that I couldn't build a useful bike rack out of pine. Both were valuable but discouraging enough to turn me away from pursuing an architectural career. Even so, I still have a very strong appreciation for design that I explore through photography. Confession: My favorite part of "The Sims" is building houses. I've been trying to replicate the places I've lived in "The Sims" and with Google SketchUp, the latter actually having purpose... I'd like to SketchUp my former residences and import them to Google Earth. So terribly exciting.

RidingPretty-Bicycle Chic California: DIY Vintage Bicycle Care and Repair...Guest Blogger: Old Bike Blog

I've got an old Schwinn Twin that I've wanted to fix up for years. Perhaps I've finally found a source of inspiration. Once Old Man Winter's frosty ass gets outta town I'll crack the seal on the storage bin and post a few pics of my Ol' Blue Built-for-Two.

RidingPretty-Bicycle Chic California: DIY Vintage Bicycle Care and Repair...Guest Blogger: Old Bike Blog

Sculpture - A Picture A Day # 12

I didn't get the name or any other information on this piece, but WHERE it is played a big part in urging me to photograph it. This is one of many shots I took while visiting the Cleveland Clinic. This sculpture is in the clinic near a bank of elevators servicing the food court.

Hospital, health, nutrition, food court...
The shape and colors of this work, in this setting, simultaneously reminded me of a human heart and healthy fruits and vegetables. The green stem emerging in aortic fashion from the strawberry atrial chambers which, in turn, rest upon the blueberry ventricles. The red squiggles reminded me of muscle tissues which, along with the general shape of the piece, helped me form the "heart" idea.

Anyway, I liked it, brightly lit, colorful, meaningful (to me, particularly then and there). So here's A Picture A Day 012.

The End of LaserDisc - A Picture A Day # 11

A Picture A Day 011 - Pioneer combo LaserDisc/5-disc CD changer.

I didn't know it, but Pioneer has still been making these things. They've announced that they will discontinue production very soon. I adopted this one from my dad.

Dad has always been a hi-fi kinda guy. He's had dozens of tuners, record changers, turntables, equalizers, and all sorts of other moderately high-end equipment over the years, much of it still around. He introduced my brother and I to the idea of home theater long before there was any such thing as multi-channel surround sound. I currently also use a pair of his very nice old Acoustic Research speakers (AR's) as the front right and left channels in my 5.1 system.

Once again, Dad is primarily responsible for my passion for home entertainment. It began with a Show-N-Tell, led to a nice portable stereo record changer with attached (removable) speakers, then to a marvelous tuner/amp with a flywheel tuner. I loved using that thing.

I'd spend hours and hours, all hours of the day, carefully trying to find and log every signal it could pick up, no matter how faint. I'd listen to each station at least long enough to get the call letters. This helped me build an appreciation for a very wide range of music and broadcast styles. There's no satisfaction to be found trying to do what I did using todays digital tuners. You can't find those faint distant signals hiding between frequencies. And all this auto-seek push-button nonsense... there's just no fun in it.