I came across this statue of a Native American Chief in my friend’s garden and thought it might make a nice black and white photograph.
Taken in mid April 2023 with an iPhone SE II.
A Native American Chief
A Postcard
A while ago a friend of mine gave me a set up cards, each one with a different example of his wildlife photography. I was impressed by this and for some time have wanted to try something similar myself.
I came up with the idea of a collection of postcards, each one showing something related to my village. These could be either a number of postcards all with the same picture, or each with a different picture.
This is my first attempt. Generally I’m quite pleased with it – except for the dotted lines on the rear. If I were to do it again I’d go with solid lines instead.
After I’d finished with this I asked myself: “Does anyone actually send postcards anymore”? I raised this with another friend and he suggested notecards rather than postcards. He may be right. I’ll give it a try.
A cracked sign
Seen at Scarborough Metro-North station while waiting for a train to New York City. The cracks seemed to give it an almost abstract composition.
Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.
Wells Fargo Mural
A while ago we (the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society) learned that the empty Wells Fargo bank on Pleasantville Road was to be demolished, but it wasn’t until just before the demolition was to take place that we learned the exact date. We weren’t all that interested in the bank building itself. Rather we were concerned about the fate of a mural inside the building. It was likely that the mural could not be saved, but we thought that we could at least get a photograph of it so that there would at least be some record.
We rushed over, but unfortunately we were too late! The mural had already gone. Needless to say we were disappointed.
However, our Executive Director, Karen Smith was recently going through some boxes and she came across what we believe is a paperweight. On one side it has a picture of the mural with the words: “Wells Fargo Mural” and on the other side an index to all the elements used in making the mural. Everything is encased in glass.
The paperweight (if that’s what it is)
The front of the paperweight. Challenge to Briarcliff Manor Residents: How many people, places or things do you recognize? Don’t cheat by looking at the index on the rear of the paperweight (next photograph).
The rear of the paperweight provides an index to the individual elements used in the mural. It’s difficult to read. If you’re in Briarcliff Manor you might want to come to the Historical Center and check out the original.
Taken with an iPhone SE II (first two pictures, remaining pictures scanned).
Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again
My friend, Antonio, is an Art Director and and Graphic Artist who likes to create concept art (posters, CD covers etc.) by blending photographs and other graphic elements. He usually gets the photographs from friends and then builds the graphics around them himself.
Lasts night I got a message from him which read:
Howard think of story, novel or poem you have read, and pick one of your images from your Instagram that you think reflects the words. And once you do I will make a design with the image you pick and the title you choose. Take your time it’s a fun project and you act like the art director and I am your graphic designer
My initial reaction was that I would find this difficult. I usually take photographs because there was something about the subject that caught my attention. I don’t think “Oh, that would look nice on a Vogue cover”.
I quickly realized, however, that I did have something that might fit the bill.
The other day, while browsing YouTube videos I’d come across an audio book or Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. I’d read the book and seen the 1940s Hitchcock movie (A 2020 Netflix version is available. I watched it last night and didn’t like it much) several times and liked them both. While browsing YouTube recently I came across an audiobook version of the Novel. I thought I might like to hear someone reading the book aloud so I watched the video. I was really enjoying myself when the video suddenly came to an end. I quickly realized that the audio book covered only one Chapter. This left me feeling frustrated that I hadn’t been able to listen until the end. I found other audio books that contained the full text, but by then I was feeling annoyed and didn’t want to watch any of them.
Over the next few days the haunting words of the first sentence of the book: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again” kept going round and round in my head so when I got Antonio’s message I immediately thought of “Rebecca”.
Now, did I have a photograph that I could use. I quickly realized that I did: the photograph above. While far from being my best work I thought it would do. For those who don’t know it “Rebecca” is a Gothic novel, much of which takes place in a spooky old house in England, the “Manderley” of the first line. The house above is not in England, but it is suitably spooky. It’s the former Jay Gould Mansion, Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY and it was used It was used for the exterior shots in the two early Dark Shadows movies, House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971).
I’m now keen to see what he does with the concept and the image.
Picture taken with a Konica C35 film camera.