Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Bad Photos (That Are Kind Of Cool)



"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."

-James Joyce

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Find a picture in your files that is technically bad, but is still interesting to look at. By "technically bad," I mean things like people are partly out of frames, your subject is out of focus, everyone has red eye, people's heads are cut off, there are in appropiate blurs, so on and so forth. But even so, it's still an interesting picture to look at.

Remember: It's called the Monday Photo Shoot, but you can still post pictures for it through about noon on Thursday. That's a lot of time to find flawed photos.

-John Scalzi (By The Way...)


A couple weeks ago, as I was coming back into Berkeley, by way of hwy 13,when I saw this bit of graffiti art on the overpass where hwy 13 meets hwy 24. I only had a second or two to snap the photo, but thank goodness, as it just so happens, I have a camera growing out of the end of my right arm. LOL. That's what happens when your great passion in life is photography. LOL.

Don't fret gentle reader, I was once featured on a news segment on my local ABC news affiliate as a "model driver." So, even if something would have gone horribly wrong, like if my camera went to flight out of the window, while I was trying to balance it on my steering wheel, no worries...see...I have a cell phone growing out of the end of my left arm. ;) An amateur photographer must be prepared for everything. LOL.

A few days later when I drove by the same spot again, I saw that the sign had been removed, and replaced with a lovely shade of gray paint. The town of Berkeley is pretty good about keeping up with clearing graffiti. And that is a good thing, still I appreciated the little smile that the message had brought me that day. Simply... "Follow Your Dreams." You know me, I live for those simple moments of fate. You see, when you love taking photos as much as I do, you learn to recognize how wonderful those little moments of quiet serendipity can be. :)

I let it go, and didn't think anymore of it, until about a week later, when I was again at the same spot, at almost the same time of day, and again there was a message waiting for me...



How cool is that? Isn't that a great message? Like I said, it's those little moments that fate gives you, that sometimes mean the most. Even if they are a bit lopsided and a tad out of focus. ;)

-OndineMonet
"Follow Your Dreams"
"Seriously Follow Your Dreams"
Berkeley, California
13 at 24
June, 2006
10:30 AM

12 comments:

Karen Funk Blocher said...

I loved his even with just the first photo. But with the second, oh, my! How funny and how wonderful! - K.
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com/2006/06/chasing-sunset-with-half-open-lens.html

Bea said...

Carly, truly serendipitous! When a message is as persistent as this one, I would certainly take it personally!! No error, this, however I do see it as a portal of discovery. Are you following your dreams? If not, I'd say this is definitely a sign to make a change. If you are, perhaps this is encouragement for you, and for all the others who notice the words as they hurriedly pass by. That you caught both of the messages attests to your keen talent for observation. Thanks for sharing.

DesLily said...

wow.. how nice to see graffiti that actually has a statement to make one smile!.. don't you wonder why whoever wrote that did it? I find that I do.

Laura said...

how cool!
perhaps it is a message for someone. Maybe you?

Cindy said...

seriously, that is the single best example of graffiti i've ever seen! :)

xo phinney

Wil said...

Synchronicity rules!

Next time you are out that way, if it is still on the overpass, get a close-up of the tagger's signature.

wil


The Daily Snooze

Call me Paul said...

It amuses me to think of the thousands of people that have seen both of those pieces of "art," and I wonder how many of them believed it was a message for them alone. Nice grabs. I just remembered another shot I want to post. See ya...

Becky said...

Now THAT is graffiti I agree with.

Carly said...

Oh but Paul...

Shouldn't all great art make the observer feel as if the the 'message' is for them alone? Maybe just a little? :)

Suzanne R said...

Interesting that the second message begins with the word "seriously", as if the author was slightly chiding those who painted over the first one. :-) I sometimes wonder about the risks taken by those who paint graffiti -- in this case, I appreciate whoever made the effort.

fdtate said...

Cool. Seriously.

Call me Paul said...

Absolutely, Carly. No disputation there. Just the way thoughts swirl around in my head.