After a doctors appointment (everything is fine) I decided to go to the Japanese Gardens in Fresno. If you go during the summer a couple of things to remember are; 1- wear a hat, 2- bring nd filters and a tripod. Both I’ll have next time. While mid-summer isn’t the best time to visit it was still well worth the small entrance fee.
Nach einem Arzttermin (alles in Ordnung) habe ich mich für den Japanischen Garten in Fresno entschieden. Wenn Sie im Sommer gehen, sind ein paar Dinge zu beachten; 1- Tragen Sie einen Hut, 2- bringen Sie nd Filter und ein Stativ mit. Beides nehme ich beim nächsten Mal. Der Hochsommer ist zwar nicht die beste Zeit für einen Besuch, aber der geringe Eintrittspreis hat sich dennoch gelohnt.
and movie scenes of the “Sleepy Hollow” with Johnny Depp go through your mind … and you are starting to see faces…, then remember it is human nature to fear the unknown…
Another important and beautiful building in my eye was the so-called “Post Pyramide” – a typical concrete building of its time in a graceful pyramid shape. The term “Brutalism” for this style of building since the 1950s derives from the French expression “béton brut” and is today often perceived as an eyesore. I love this style, which may have to do with many years of attending a school of a similar style (Bauhaus meets brutalism) and certainly has an impact on my fotografie. The building was demolished in 2018.
Friedhelms Bild hat mich dazu animiert, auch mal wieder ein Bild mit einer Glaskugel zu machen. Dies hier ist meine 30 mm Kugel. Eine Glaskugel, die nicht allzu groß und schwer ist und die man bequem auch mal mitnehmen kann. Aber Achtung, auch kleine Kugeln sind starke Brenngläser, mit denen man sich schnell die Hand verbrennen kann 😉 Friedhelms picture has animated me to take a picture with a glass sphere again. This is my 30 mm sphere. A glass sphere that is not too big and heavy and that you can easily take with you. But beware, even small balls are strong burning glasses, with which you can quickly burn your hand 😉
Der Seat-Pavilion in der Autostadt Wolfsburg empfängt seine Besucher mit einer riesigen Wand aus Autospiegeln. The Seat Pavilion in the Autostadt Wolfsburg welcomes its visitors with a huge wall of car mirrors.
Poisonville is the town figuring in Dashiell Hammett’s 1927 thriller “red harvest”. Poison stands as a synonym not only for the situation in the town, lawlessness, gangs, labor wars and filth, but also for the environmental damage done by its main industry, mining.
Poisonville is the literary image of the town of Butte, Montana. At its height, Butte was the richest town west of the Mississippi – Missouri. The name stands for the reason of its wealth, the hill full of copper-silver ore which was mined from the late 19th century on and called “the richest hill on earth”. The butte was and still is perforated with a maze of mine shafts up to a mile deep. The mines and its wealth brought a building boom of equally rich architecture. The influx of miners gave Butte a reputation as a wide-open town where any vice was obtainable. Each mine has its story and its victims. The regular mining disasters caused frequent riots, which were crushed with severe violence by bringing in the national guard. The shaft mining was abandoned and replaced by open pit mining, leaving abandoned one of the world’s largest open mine pits which now is filled with a highly poisonous heavy metal rich lake 800 meters deep which threatens to spoil the ground water all around. A new pit was opened close to it, but the mining already declined after 1917 and is a shadow of its former self.
Today Butte is an half abandoned town full of majestic typical American brick buildings, former mining company director mansions and Victorian villas, which all figure in Hammett’s novel. Most of the shops are empty, restaurants, hotels and brothels closed, and a traffic jam will never occur any more on the deserted streets. The villas are crumbling, the paint fading, and only the satellite dishes and the stars and stripes hanging listlessly in the breeze indicate those still occupied. And above all still tower the around 30 preserved mine rigs….
The morbid beauty of the town is far from undiscovered. Wim Wenders, known for his melancholic and scenic movies and always searching for exceptional locations with his big format camera, has published several photo books also including Butte and it is the scene of his movie “don’t come knocking”.
I was recently in the Bay Area and I was able to capture this image of a distant view of San Francisco. I like the vintage effect created by the black and white filter. Enjoy!
