Spring isn’t just daffodils, muscari, tulips and swans. It is also spring clean-up. I wish there was a contest for best looking waste container.
AMERICAN WASTE, no less. That got me thinking, of course.
The decision to release the CIA documents is a controversial decision as is the decision not to prosecute.
Some against this disclosure say, “We are letting our enemies know what we do”. Do they really think our enemies did not know what we did? It’s the American people who are in the dark about this subject. Publishing these documents gives each citizen the opportunity to know what darkness looks like in a legal brief.
Our American waste is all there– sticking up and out of the trash can like jagged, diseased branches from a sturdy oak.
©Pat Coakley 2009
PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
I think the administration did exactly the right thing. Obama seems to be pulling the perfect political balancing act, and at the same time he is gently nudging this nation towards the left.
About the photo — great edit. The white letters pretty much glow. Nice work finding a picture to suit your post.
The funny thing, Dave, is that my regular routine is to just go out and shoot something that catches my eye with no narrative in mind. I also shot a pair of port a potties against the same dramatic sky! It was only when I came home and read some of the newspapers that I thought there was a connection with the American Waste Container!
What I find hilarious is that people actually think they’d release the REAL dirt. What a Spring cleaning that would be . . .
Well, Chris, I must be making your laugh out loud, then. I really do feel that’s the power of this current administration: attempts at transparency seem genuine.
I don’t think that container is big enough.
I agree. Nice picture!
Not big enough? Didn’t think of that, Don. But, you’re right!
the essence of vision in your art/photography is the capture/allowance of the unplanned accidental so to speak beauty in the images you see, there is something ‘connecting’ in the process, as well as the ‘surprise’ when you are able to see a tender fit with other important perceived elements, such as the newspaper, such as your writing, it fits = magic. thanks, i think larger it may be more of a political poster or something where here it is more subtle, both ways would work, albeit differently.
Tipota, “a tender fit”…hmmm…some days that is exactly the right phrase to describe the connection between my image and words. Also, I didn’t think of the poster vs small size question, but again…you are so right. Larger this would have been more “opinionated”. You always give me something to think about!
The second I saw that white printing, I knew you’d be struck by some message other than trash hauling.
I’m keeping my optimism about the job that lies ahead in turning this monstrously derailed nation into a model for how it should be done. But I wonder how realistic it is, given the me me me philosophy that’s preceded these short few months.
A next post for you: Obesity in the US- American Waist.
American Waist….oh, that hits too close to home for me to do anything good on that subject!! I’m currently pretending I’m on Weight Watchers!
But, I did go back this morning to see if the trash container had been filled up and sure enough! It was overflowing with goodies. Sunday was a town clean up day!
I am not an American, its weird and yet somehow so lucky that even the waste is so clean :(
Mental Mist, I went back this morning and the trash container doesn’t look so pristine any more! Welcome, by the way.
Ha. The release of these documents was purely political. It provides the administration an opportunity to claim transparency without revealing any legitimately sensitive information (C’mon, do you really think the CIA is going to let out anything that isn’t more or less public already?). Of course it also provides the right an opportunity to claim the administration is soft on national security. It’s like one of those body building show-offs where all the huge guys on stage flex and look mean, but in fact accomplish nothing outside of reminding the world of how strong they appear to be. A waste of time if you ask me. I despise politicization.
On to the important part: the photo. It’s very, good. Framed appropriately in the center to convey the centrality and impact of the statement with a shallow depth of field and sharp vignette to make one stop and think about the statement after the just-looking-at-it phase is over. The cold, stark, real color makes it feel familiar. The late-or-early day setting indicates either the dawn or the dusk of the era of American Waste. And then there’s the orange cone. The tiny little warning sign, usually reserved for keeping people safe in the presence of potholes or wet floors, left all by its lonesome with the gargantuan duty of letting the world know of the colossal hazard of American Waste beside it. Brilliant. It makes a characature of the scene.
The only part I’m undecided on is the cropping. The utility pole to the far right doesn’t add anything, and somewhat distracts one from the critical content of the image. If it were going in a gallery, I’d want to print the image with it and without it and compare them side-by-side.
Whoa. Chris. “Ha?”…. ” C”mon?”…. If you were in my living room saying those phrases to me, I’d do a quick pirouette and do my Aunt Bea in Mayberry imitation, “Want more pie, Andy?”. I’d change the subject to how rhubarb is poisonous if you eat the wrong part and leave you guessing whether I’d baked the pie with the wrong part or not!
But, photography we can talk about because I always enjoy your photography thoughts. I never really thought about the orange cone in quite that way. Nor the utility pole on the far right. I didn’t crop this image at all so now I’m looking at it again with your thoughts in mind.