Thematic Photographic 146 - Aerial

Looking into space

Kennedy Space Center, FL, December 2010

Ever been up high? Ever take a picture of the experience? If so, that's the deal with this week's Thematic theme, aerial.

I chose this pic to mark the Space Shuttle Endeavour's final launch this morning from the left-hand tip of the Y (launch pad 39A) in the photo above. The day this photo was taken, her sister ship, Discovery, sat on the pad, awaiting her own launch on her own final flight.

It'll be weird when these places go silent. Doesn't strike me as right.

Your turn: Share an aerial-themed photo of your own on your blog - or find one you've already posted, even long ago - and leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Visit other participants' entries to share the photographic love. For more info on Thematic, click here. The point of all this? To stretch our optical horizons a bit. And to enjoy the experience. Are you game?

Digging deep

Boy underground
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: We're asking Thematic participants to please be seated this week. Learn more about this process - and how you can be a part of it - by clicking here.

It isn't entirely clear to me why children - specifically my children - feel compelled to dig holes in the sand when they go to the beach. They get dirty. Very dirty. And the hholes themselves almost invite adults to learn first-hand how fast 9.8 metres/second squared feels like as they face plant at the bottom.

But saying no to a child at play isn't really part of the plan when we're on vacation. Rules get relaxed. Things they wouldn't be allowed to do back home are, well, allowed. Please don't call Child Services on me.

And so it was on this brilliant afternoon as we wound down our vacation and slowly, reluctantly turned our thoughts toward a much colder home. We knew life and structure and routine awaited us at the other end of the flight. But for now, we were content to just let our kids do their thing.

So they did.

Your turn: When can the rules - of parenthood or of life in general, your call - be relaxed?

Drinking to excess in airports

The cutest bottle ever?
Miami, FL, January 2011

Once upon a time, backpacks came with meshy things on the outside that allowed me to tote along my stainless steel water bottle wherever I went. Flying is kinda bad for the whole hydration thing - airplane air is notoriously stale and dry - so being able to drink my way (come on, stop with the drinking jokes!) through my travels was an important means of arriving in somewhat decent shape.

Thanks to the usual band of ubiquitous cave-dwelling fundamentalist doofii (that's right, Osama, I'm coming for you, man) that luxury is yet another distant memory. Security being what it is, carrying fluids through the checkpoint has become the equivalent of holding a live grenade in your hand. Okay, maybe not so much. But it's enough to get the offending bottle tossed - and you pulled out of line and strip-searched down to your skivvies by Eudora the TSA Security Queen. Not so much fun. For me, anyway.

So no more water bottle. The meshy thing on my backpack is now empty. We buy our fluids now. After we get through security. At prices that approach the GDP of an emerging nation.

But I'm willing to overlook the captive-audience ripoff - "you'll turn into a prune if you don't buy our overpriced drinks" - if all bottles are as cute as this one.

Your turn: How do you cope with ever-tightening airport security? I'm back in the air in the not-too-distant future, so I'm all ears.

One more thing: New Thematic launches at 7:00 Eastern tonight. The theme: Please be seated. No, you don't have to be seated - not if you don't want to, that is - but that's the theme. It'll be fun. Really.

Wondering what will be

Where do you want to go today?
Toronto, ON, December 2010
[Please click here for more window-themed Thematic]

Our kids like to look out the window whenever we travel. And when they do, I like to hang back and watch them take it all in. They're pensive, thoughtful individuals, just like my wife, so while I stand there I can almost see the wheels churning as they wonder about where we're going, what will be when we get there, and what adventures we'll encounter along the way.

On this morning, as I watched Noah observe the endless flow at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, I knew his wheels were spinning, and I knew we'd have lots to talk about in the days to come.

Your turn: So, where do you want to go today? Why?

Windows by the pool

Microsoft Office
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010

The scene: It's 5:29 p.m. I've just filed a piece to my editor back home and am enjoying the view of the not-so-little folks in the pool (that's munchkin-the-elder making sure I'm still conscious of the fact that I am, actually, on vacation.)

My netbook (it runs Windows XP...a not-so-subtle reference to this week's Thematic theme) is sipping the Internet through an open WiFi access point. Thanks to the kind folks who decided to generously bathe the deck in wireless goodness, I'm as connected here as I am anywhere. Technology is indeed a wonderful thing: As long as the battery holds out. And as long as I remember when to shut it all off.

Which I do shortly after taking this picture. Because having the ability to work from anywhere also comes with a flip side: Knowing when to close the lid and call it a day.

Your turn: How do you set boundaries between mobile technology and your day-to-day home life?

Who watches the sunset?

No one's home
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2010

About this photo: It's Thematic's windows week, and we're focusing our lenses on windows of all kinds. Please click here if you'd like to share in the fun.

Disclosure: This is the development where my in-laws spend their winters. It's known as Century Village East (wiki), and at various times, many of their generation have made this place their winter home.

When we visit, I like to walk the grounds and drink it in. Not because it's great architecture. It isn't. Imagine 1970s-era concrete repeated, almost identically, thousands of times over. It was cheap to build at the time - Red Buttons, who was the development's advertising spokerperson back in the day, would doubtless agree - but it can be overwhelming to the senses, a sad comment on the victory of economics over common sense and basic humanity. A little creativity could have made places like this so much more than what they ultimately became. Oh well, live and learn.

[My mother-in-law reads this. I am so going to get an earful next time we speak!]

Of course, there's beauty in everything if you look hard enough. When we're here, I like to take walks late in the day, when the golden hour sunlight bathes the typically drab concrete in somewhat softer tones. On this particular night, I had been standing here on one of the outdoor walkways for a while. I'm not entirely sure why: I tend to linger in places when I'm on vacation and don't have a clock dictating my every move.

I must have been there for 10 minutes when it dawned on me that I had been completely alone the entire time. No one came in or out. No one passed by on the street. Even the birds seemed to have stayed away.

I stared at the line of windows - I said at, not in...I'm no Peeping Tom, folks - and wondered if anyone was on the inside looking out. In all our time here, I had never seen a face in a window. This isn't a place that invites residents to just sit by a window and take in the scene outside. Which is a bit of a pity, because on this night the sunset was lovely.

Missed sunsets. Life's too short for too many of those.

Your turn: Do you sit by the window and just drink it in?

Living in another world

Masters of the planet
Miami, FL, January 2011

You don't have to look far for evidence that humans have rather spectacularly reshaped the planet. Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends largely on your individual perspective. I don't have any preconceived notions, and I don't think it's a simple enough equation that we can assign "good" or "bad" labels to anything. Life is rarely that clean-cut.

These rather spectacularly linear spits of land just off Miami are a great example. They were definitely a wow moment for the kids as we flew over them. We wondered how they came to be, and what it must be like to live there. I pessimistically mentioned their vulnerability to hurricanes and sea level change. Our son agreed, but still said the coolness factor could outweigh the risks for some people.

I rather like his perspective. Life doesn't always have to be rational, does it?

Your turn: Does it? Why/why not?

One more thing: This picture wraps up our "By land, sea or air" Thematic theme. New one hits the airwaves tonight at 7:00 p.m. What will it be? What would you like it to be? I'm all ears.

Full of ship

Cargo
Delray Beach, FL, January 2011

About this photo: It's Thematic's "By land, sea or air" week, and we're asking everyone - including you - to share whatever comes to mind. The fun starts here.

My daughter always spots them first. Dots on the horizon, slowly crossing the shipping lanes than run north-south just off Florida's coast. Where they're going is a mystery to us, as is their cargo. But for a moment on a sunny, sandy beach, I get to stand with her and wonder what is and what might be.

It's another one of those small slices of parenthood that make me glad I became a parent in the first place, because it shows me just how wide her eyes are, and how far she's learned to cast her gaze.

Your turn: Looking far. Why does that matter?

Destroyers of worlds

Ick
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010

When I thought of this week's Thematic theme, By land, sea or air - click here to share your own - I didn't think I'd be focusing on discarded cigarettes in a dimly lit pharmacy parking lot. But the more I looked at this picture, the more I realized how much it fit.

We really aren't such great shepherds of our land, of the tremendous resources we've been gifted. This moment in the shadowy light reminded me that there are others out there who still don't get it.

Your turn: How can we become better shepherds of our planet?

Sealed under glass

Small world
Miami, FL, January 2011

About this photo: Thematic celebrates all things land, sea or air this week. You can, too, by pointing your mouse here.

I seem to remember there being far more of these models-under-glass in the world when I was a kid than there are now. The spread of virtual reality, wireless-everywhere and mobility in our pockets seems to have taken the magic out of these three-dimensional representations of what might be. Which is a pity, because I can still remember how much fun I had every time we stumbled across one in a lobby somewhere. I'd look at these microworlds and wonder what they'd ultimately look like when they were really built.

So when we saw this one while checking in at Miami's airport, I half-expected my Internet-savvy the kids to walk on past. How could plastic models of now-out-of-service aircraft (look closely, those are Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and first-generation Boeing 747s) possibly be compelling to them?

Yet they gravitated to the model like moths to light and excitedly explored it for what seemed like an age. They were so enamored of the thing that we finally had to tap our watches when it was time to head to the security line.

Maybe there's something to these supposedly outdated model-things, after all.

Your turn: What's the appeal here?

Final approach

Dropping out of the sky
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010
Click all photos to enlarge

About this photo: Thematic. Transition. Here. Much fun. Really.

Birds are designed to fly, with bodies that, thanks to countless generations of evolution, have been remarkably optimized for flight. So when they're efficiently cruising through the sky, everything about them is precisely as it should be: Light, streamlined, agile.

But what goes up must eventually come down, and all birds will, at some point, have to land. And when they do, the nature of these incredible flying machines changes radically. Wings go from streamlined and tapered to draggy and curved. Legs go from tucked in to fully extended. Airplanes do the same thing as they prepare to land, with flaps extended, gear down and nose flared. But birds do it so much more purely. As they should. Because they invented it.

When I watch the gulls prepare to return to terra firma, I realize how tenuous this period is. A breeze, a mean-spirited neighbor-bird, a curious child...anything can throw the bird's careful balance off at this critical aerodynamic moment. Yet somehow they always manage to recover from whatever it is that hits them, and they always manage to hit the ground in one piece (seriously, have you ever seen a bird crash-land?)

We would all be so lucky to handle transitions - flying or other - so gracefully.

Your turn: How do you handle tricky transitions?

Crash. Then gone.

Nature's power
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2010

About this photo: We're exploring transitions this week as part of our latest Thematic theme. If you're got something that even remotely connects - and we're hoping you do - just click here to get the proverbial party started.

As images from Japan continue to dominate news coverage across the planet, I can't stop thinking about waves, and the power they have to change everything around them.

The tsunami that rewrote the landscape of Japan's eastern coastline and literally wiped entire cities off the map is an extreme example of the power of nature. I've spent too much time standing at the edge of the sea, staring at waves as they crash ashore, shooting them with my camera in a near-vain attempt to capture what makes them tick. I can't quite explain my fascination with this place, but it keeps drawing me back every time we're on vacation, and I'm entirely too glad to go along for the ride.

I've always been struck by how much energy these things carry with them, and how quickly that energy is turned into history. They're here, spectacularly, and then they're gone. Just like that. Most of the time, this process repeats itself routinely, essentially ignored by the rest of the world. Most of the time.

I hope I never witness anything approaching the scale of a tsunami. I hope the communities devastated by the one that followed the mega-quake can find a way to rebuild themselves. I give thanks that I have what I have.

And sometime soon, I'll return to the edge of the planet. And once again I'll point my lens at the pounding surf. And maybe in the churning waters I'll see hope for a better future.

Your turn: Why do waves fascinate us?

He was a good frog

Jump no more
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010

About this photo: We're winding down the latest Thematic theme, late (click here to share), and preparing for the next new theme, transitions. It launches tomorrow...watch for it.

The scene: I'm shooting pictures around the edge of the pool while the kids wear themselves out in the water. They're old enough now that I no longer have to sit high up and watch them, hawk-like, like the lifeguard I once was. I'm still hyper-vigilant, of course, but I can also afford to pick up a camera and multitask a bit. One of the benefits of age, I guess.

I come across this frog floating in the pool. I carefully remove its clearly lifeless form because even frogs deserve to not end up sucked into the skimmer basket. I'm trying to avoid drawing attention to myself, as I don't want to upset the little folks. As I try to quickly remove the frog from sight, our youngest son notices what I'm up to and swims on over. I'm not going to fake this one: I have to admit the poor little fella is dead.

Noah pauses. In that moment, I can almost hear his mind churning, wondering what we do next. When he starts talking again, he's no longer the frenetic munchkin excitedly sharing Every Last Detail of his swimming adventures. He's quieter, more thoughtful, almost as if someone flipped a switch in him. He seems older, somehow, as he suggests finding a quiet spot to bury him. We both agree on the landscaped cedar-shingle bed behind the bushes at the edge of the pool.

"But you're going to take a picture of him, right Dad?"

I do. And we carefully walk behind the bushes and find a nice spot for him. "I bet he was a good frog," says Noah. I nod quiet agreement, thinking to myself that the growing boy who made this moment happen is pretty good in his own right.

Your turn: How do you explain death to a child?

Kicked out of bed

Chasing shadows
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2010
[Click all photos to enlarge]

About this photo: We're sharing late-themed scenes all week long. Click here to share your own. It'll make you smile.

This wasn't my finest hour as a parent. We were on vacation in a warm, happy place, and I learned of an impending lunar eclipse. Since these are much more kid-friendly than the solar kind - the whole going-blind thing always scared me - I got it into my head that the kids should watch it.

Slight problem: I'd have to wake them up at an ungodly hour, like 4 a.m.-ungodly.

Much to my pleasant surprise, the boys insisted that I wake them up and haul them outside. So when the happy hour rolled around, I rousted myself out of bed with no fewer than three separate alarms, then quietly ushered them onto the front lawn for a celestial show.

As they stared at the strange scene of the moon with a chunk bitten out of it, we talked about the orbital mechanics that made this possible, the differences between lunar and solar eclipses - they liked the not-going-blind part - and the relative rarity of events like this. They were tired, of course, and soon trundled back inside for a few more hours of zees. But the buzz around the breakfast table later that morning confirmed the fatigue was worth the middle-of-the-night wakeup call.

Sometimes, it's worth losing sleep to see something special. Sometimes, I guess it pays to be a lousy parent.

Your turn: What interesting things have happened to you in the middle of the night?

Rorschach test?

Water, metal and cold
Bowling Green, OH, December 2008

It's been a while since we did a first-three-words-that-come-to-mind exercise. Since it's Friday, I thought it would be nice to reintroduce it.

So...what three words first come to mind when you see this pic?

P.S. New Thematic theme is coming. Tonight. 7:00 Eastern. What would you like it to be?

Thematic Photographic 136 - Doubles

Twin towers?
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010

Remember when Thematic Photographic covered "singles" a few weeks back (here)? Well, y'all had such a good time with the number thing that I thought I'd give twosies a shot.

So for the next week, if your picture has two of anything in it, then it's fair game for inclusion in Thematic. Because it's always more fun when you share.

Your turn: If you've got a two-themed pic, please share it on your blog, then leave a comment here letting folks know where to find it. Repeat as often as you wish, and bonus points go to anyone who brings a friend along. The rules, such as they are, may be found here. But the only real rule that matters is this: Enjoy it. Just because.

Forget the Oscars...the Impala's the thing

Red hoodie
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010
Click all photos to enlarge

About this photo: We're sharing letters this week as part of our latest Thematic theme. You can get involved, too, by following your mouse this way.

The scene: My wife had taken the kids into the pharmacy to get the stuff kids always need when they're on vacation. For reasons that still make no sense to me, I lagged beyond for a few minutes so I could take pictures in the darkened parking lot. In retrospect, it may not have been the smartest move, but at the time it seemed like a good call.

And why was I shooting alone in a nearly deserted South Florida parking lot that was barely lit by the fluorescent light spilling out of the adjacent pharmacy? Because I somehow got it into my head that I could make our rental car - a bright red Chevrolet Impala that anyone's fedora-wearing grandpa would have been proud to own and drive - look sexy. I've done this before - indeed, the first Thematic ever featured a Toyota Yaris - and I wanted to give it a shot here, too. I'm ridiculous that way.

I grabbed a few reflective snaps before I packed the camera away and rejoined my brood inside the Walgreens. Where I promptly cracked the camera back out and resumed shooting. But that's a story for another day.

Your turn: How do you make the ordinary - in photography as well as in life - seem extraordinary?

Let your kids play with fire

Mr. Sparkle
Deerfield Beach, FL, January 2011
[Click photo to embiggen]

There's a conventional wisdom that compels parents to keep their children from contacting, thinking about, initiating or even being in the room as anything remotely combustible. If my parents taught me one thing, it was to not play with fire.

So I had to ask myself if putting sparklers into my kids' hands just after the year ticked over from 2010 to 2011 was my smartest move as a parent. Sure, sparklers are supposedly considered the safest form of fireworks (at least according to the guy on the street corner who sold them to us.) But as I coached them to wave the burning sticks around in front of them while I stood there with my lens open, a couple of things dawned on me:

1. These things burn hotter than the surface of the sun. Or at least they seem to.
2. My children had absolutely no training in the use of hotter-than-the-sun combustibles.
3. Neither did I.
4. Neither did any of the other adults gathered around for this impromptu celebration of orbital mechanics.

Did that compel me to slam on the brakes? To grab these things out of their hands and stomp them out before they turned our kids into charcoal briquettes?

Nah. At some point, the parent-nanny-state needs to stop. So I quietly let them go about the business of being kids, minor risks and all. Because eventually they'll need to learn how to navigate the planet. And if they run into some sparklers - or worse - along the way, it'll be handy to know what it feels like to get a few stray sparks on their skin.

Your turn: The difference between being protective and being smothering. Please discuss.

Angry bird

Low level flight
Delray Beach, FL, December 2010
[Click photo to embiggen]

I haven't posted the new Thematic theme because life's been getting in the way. Nothing onerous, mind you. Just a trip to a semi-faraway place and the inevitable upset to life's routine that results. I had pre-posted a bunch of stuff before I left, but in retrospect I probably should have had a few more days worth of content in the pipeline. I guess I'll get to Thematic by the weekend. New theme suggestions welcome.

I've chosen to share a bird photo because flying on planes always makes me wish I had the ability to take to the sky without Air Canada's help. After my flight home last night, where our friendly Dash-8 captain had to reject takeoff after misconfiguring a switch in the cockpit (I tweeted it here, here and here...it was quite the adventure), that wish to be more bird-like became that much stronger in me.

I've chosen this particular bird because he has such a focused look on his face. And in this era of Angry Birds - seriously, everyone was playing it on their phones at the airport - I thought it might be nice to see a real angry bird instead.

Your turn: Should we give him (her?) a name? Are you getting tired of my bird pics yet?

You looking at me?

Oops
Deerfield Beach, FL, December 2008
[Please click here to share your own pictures of strangers]

I'll likely never know if the woman in this shot knew I was taking her picture. I think she made eye contact with me, but beyond the furtive glance pictured here, she didn't respond more overtly. No screaming. No jumping out of her chair. No chasing me down the beach or trying to rip the memory card from my camera.

Still, I thought it was sweet that these two were having such a relaxing day at the beach, and I didn't want to forget what it felt like to stumble across a moment like this. You see all sorts of people at the beach, and some of them, even if they're total strangers, deserve more than just a passing glance.

Your turn: What makes a stranger worth remembering?

One more thing: I'm back in the air again today...heading to Minneapolis for a couple of days. Never been there. Don't know what to expect. Likely won't have a whole lot of time to explore, anyway, but I'll probably find a quick moment or two to snag some images on a memory card. As ever, I'll use the Internet to connect with home. I can't imagine being far from home and not being able to reach out with such ease.