A Most Welcome Visitor
When I put together my post, “Common Ground”, I was hoping that I’d get a little positive feedback or perhaps some discussion surrounding the concept. I honestly was not expecting to inspire anyone else creatively. So, you can imagine how pleased I was when my friend Ruth e-mailed me several of her own paired photos! Viewing her unique and wonderful interpretation of the overlapping themes in natural vs. man-made structures and scenes was a real joy for me. I loved the thought of this idea evolving into a community art project of sorts. I promptly asked Ruth if she would mind my sharing some of her images on my blog. She was gracious enough to agree and I am thrilled to present them here…
[NOTE: *Click on any of the photos below to see a larger version.* Quoted captions are excerpts from Ruth’s e-mails. All of the photos in this post (except for the ant) are the property of Ruth Gravanis. If you are interested in re-posting them or using them for any other purpose, you must ask her permission first. You may contact me via this blog if you wish to get in touch with her.]
(top) “while waiting for the bus on a rainy morning on a street near my house”
(bottom) “looking across the Golden Gate, from the Presidio of SF to Marin County”
(top) “partially de-constructed aerial bus ramp in downtown SF”
(bottom) “polypody ferns on YBI [Yerba Buena Island]”
And last, but certainly not least, she sent me an image of hers to pair with one of mine from a previous blog post:
(top) “Transbay Terminal demolition, 10/25/10”
(bottom) big unidentified ant, foraging 5/27/10
I hope that Ruth will continue to send me her photo pairings as I truly do enjoy seeing them! All of her images were taken in the City and County of San Francisco. The added dimension of “place” — photos taken in geographic proximity to where one lives — makes these all the more special I think.
Of the small (but very loyal) band of friends that read my blog, many of you are also naturalists and photographers. It would be great fun if anyone else feels like joining in and trying their hand at pairing some photos of their own!
Ruth: these are really cool! I don’t think I commented on the original post, but I really like this whole idea of juxtaposing the natural world with the human world. Look what you started, Harsi! I wouldn’t mind seeing more of these. Hmm, the system seems to think this message is spam for some reason and won’t let it go through. Hope it works this time…. *crosses fingers*
What an honor to have my attempts at photography posted on Harsi Parker’s blog! And I’m so pleased with the way you presented them. Thanks, Harsi.
~ Chris ~ I thought you might like this idea! Living in an urban area yourself, I bet you already have plenty of great photos to work with. You should definitely play around with it sometime… I’d love to see your take on things! Sorry the system gave you difficulties… wonder why that was?? If it happens again, let me know, OK?
~ Ruth ~ I assure you, the honor was all mine! I loved doing this and I’m very glad that you were pleased with the way it turned out. Sorry for being a “bad influence” and distracting you from your duties. 🙂 Though, personally, I am loving the results of you playing around with your photos and I hope you continue to find bits of time here and there to devote to this.
HAH! Just realized that I ended both of those comments with apologies. Sorry about that. I’m really trying to stop being so apologetic all the time. Whoops! Darn it! I just apologized again… sorry. Oh, man. *sigh* It’s hard to stop. *GRIN*