Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Few More From the East . . .

Here are a few more photos from the days spent wandering in the steppes of eastern France a couple weeks ago, which I'd like to dedicate to Loulou at Indiaphragme, who continues day in and day out to post some of the loveliest photos out there in the blogosphere, with amazing grace. Namaste . . . Amitiés . . .
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Two hearts in a weathered window . . . casting heart shaped sunbeams into a shuttered room . . .
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Two hearts in a graveyard . . . Even "Until Death Do Us Part" couldn't keep them apart . . .
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They were going to brick up both of these windows, but ran out of bricks . . .
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Looks like they ran out of paint too in the middle of the job . . .
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35 comments:

The Sagittarian said...

Great photos, of course! I like the briked up window one best. So, you got a door prize over here??

Caroline said...

Super series! Love the colours and textures of the two hearts in a graveyard! What a great eye you've got! I also loved viewing Loulou's photos - thanks for that link!

Deborah said...

I love your eye for things!

:: Karine :: said...

owen tu es un magicien ! ces photos sont si belles qu'on aurait envie de les peindre :-)
elles sont intemporelles, légères, témoins d'un passé tout doux !
loulou va être émue de ton hommage, elle si sensible aux autres :-)
bel journée mon ami et si heureuse de te connaître !!!
xxx

Babzy.B said...

Great serie , i like it very much !

PeterParis said...

I really admire your capacity of finding the odd things!

Batteson.Ind said...

All these photos are really quite melancholy, especially the top one, which is like something Disney gone badly wrong.. that happy ending, which really ended in divorce and all the dwarves got their arses kicked out of the house because they couldn't afford the rent and the friendly animals all got shot by a hunter (probably the same fella who helped red riding hood)....
anyway... there is a house near here which for the last five or six years has been partially blue. It always makes me wonder what logistics went wrong to leave it that way for so long....
cool photos :0)

BLOGitse said...

What a great series!
Have a beautiful day!

KING OF THE CAMELS said...

on my way with some brick's and paint!:O)

CiCi said...

Hearts are one of my favorite symbols. Not from a commercial sense. These are wonderful photos.

Nathalie said...

Till death do us part - les coeurs sont restés proches même si les inscriptions ont disparu.

Merci de la chaleur de ton amitié lors de ton passage sur mon blog aujourd'hui.

J'aime beaucoup le poème que tu y a inclus. Je le connaissais mais c'est bon de le redécouvrir de temps en temps. On y lit toujours des choses nouvelles.


Et maintenant je vais faire un tour chez Indiaphragme

J said...

I've been trying to decide which photo I like best...and have decided that they are just perfect as series. I wonder what it's like having a heart shaped view on the world?

Nevine Sultan said...

My favorite for today is the window with the busted glass. I would love to have that on my writer's den, a little aperture to the outside world, an aperture but with jagged lines.

Owen, your photos are all fabulous. You bring us little pieces of how you see things, put them on display, and all of a sudden we are all transported right into your head. It must be a maze in there, but I like a maze that brings us to such artistry at the end of the journey. Thanks, as always!

Nevine

Steve said...

I love the melted chrome texture of the half bricked up windows...!

The Pliers said...

I'm a sucker for hearts in all their permutations. Love the shutters and the grave decor even more!

Amitiés,

Gwen Buchanan said...

gorgeous photos.. and connections to each other... the history that surrounds France must be intoxicating...

jeff said...

Ce n'est point la saison des amours dear Owen ! ! ! Mais qu'est-ce qui nous arrive ?... La douceur de cet automne fait-elle que nous nous croyons encore au printemps ?...

Ciao amigo !
A bientôt...

Unknown said...

Great set of shots, Owen.
Thanks for the link!

Margaret Pangert said...

Owen, those hearts' photos are worth framing! Once again, I'm impressed with the sturdiness of the buildings. The cemetery tribute is so romantic and will be longlasting. It's charming how someone thoght to carve delicate hearts in something of a fortress... The red squares look like a Rothko... Tu manges bien, mon neveu? Ta tante M.

Arnaud said...

I was pretty quiet those last weeks, but I'm happy to see that you kept the pace !
This last serie is stunning ! Well done !

Margaret Pangert said...

Owen, those hearts' photos should be framed! Interesting how the delicately carved hearts are on a sturdy, fortress-like house! The cemetery hearts are so romantic and will be longlasting. The red and white squares remind me of Rothko. Tu manges bien, mon neveu? Just checking... ta tante M.

The Sagittarian said...

In my haste to be first here I put "briked' instead of 'bricked'. Smack me with a brik.

Catherine said...

beautiful evocative photos...

Roxana said...

however do you always find such forgotten wonders, deardear Owen?! i can't stop being amazing at your incredible gift for discovering the most significant and colourful historical detail, which seems to hold within an entire human life.

Loulou said...

My so dear Owen...
You never cease to give us so much, day after day. Thanks for your generosity, your brilliant eye and special taste for old and rusty traces from the past.... I love so much those traces that each time I can see some old boxe in one shop, I wish I could have it but of course they are not for sale, anobody would ask for it...:-) They might find me extravagant or simply crazy foreigner...! funny...
Thank you Owen, hope life is sweet for the four of you and that the MLS will be a source of pleasure and inspiration for you for...a while! Well at least I hope it for US ;-)

Take care
Loulou

Blind Fly Theater said...

Glad you're seeing more than red shoes nowadays! But I think you have it all wrong about photo #3, the structure has a crush on you and is winking... and wrong again in #4, I'm sure there was plenty of red paint (and white primer) back in the day, the question is... how long will it take Mom Nature to finish her job?
David
;)
*
PS -- Nanny goats in panties is just plain wrong (though I'm confused at my arousal).
PSS -- Thanks so incredibly much for your support over the past several weeks. And I'm ever so appreciative of the advice on FedEx Economy... checking into that is on my short list for today.

@eloh said...

Your "eye" for beauty is like no other. Thank you.

Plum' said...

Bonsoir Owen, ces fenêtres fermées, bouchées, inachevées donnent envie de passer de l'autre côté..Avec un peu d'imagination, une craie magique et du cœur surtout, on arrive toujours à dessiner une porte pour traverser les murs, quoiqu'il arrive.
Bises,
K'line

Barlinnie said...

Excellent photies... excellent indeed.

jeff said...

Je sais maintenant pourquoi tu dessines des coeurs sur les portes fermées ! ! !... Pour y voir à travers !...;-)

Owen said...

Dear Sis Saj, yeah, briked or bricked up, it's all one colossally derelict building to this camper; and of course there are door prizes for the earliest of the early birds, which was you ! What's your fancy, dinner in the restaurant part way up the Eiffel Tower ? Or a visit to the New Zealand Memorial that we saw in these pages a while back ? Or how about an evening at the Riviera Ambiance Bar ? Well, you just have to get here first... see, aren't I generous ???
See you soon, right ?
:-)

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Caroline, you are very, very welcome, Loulou is absolutely wonderful, it is well worth paging through her back posts into last year, all her work is sublime...
(and that is not the kind of lime as goes on a gin and tonic...)

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Deborah... thank you ! It's a good thing we live in a universe which is full of "things", as I've got my eye on them...
;-D

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Karine,... quelle gentillesse exquise... je suis perdu et confus... alors, merci... profondement. Alors, es-tu peintre aussi, en même temps que photographe superbe, et graphiste extraordinaire pour tes mises en pages ? Hmmm, oui, c'est peut-être ça, avec l'art que tu manies pour tes adorables montages de photos, peut-être tu es aussi peintre... bon, si c'est le cas, ce serait merveilleux de voir ce que tu pourrais peindre à partir de certaines de ces photos. En tout les cas, merci encore, et encore...
:-)

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Hi Babzy, why thank you !

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Salut Peter, well, I'm not sure that it is much of a capacity, as there are such a multitude of odd things out there just waiting to be found, if one sets out with a little patience and humility...

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Dear Waterkits, crikey Vicky, what got in to your usually joyful self there ??? Actually, I love your grim vision of Disney bloodbaths here; and the wandering dwarves who've been kicked out, wherever will they go now ??? Hope your mysteriously partially blue house stays like that, at least until I can get there to photograph it... or maybe you could do a photo or two for us ? A partially blue house... sounds like song material there... The Halfway Down Home Blues... ?
:-)

Owen said...

BlogItse, so wonderful of you to come all the way here from Egypt, you surprise me every time... many thanks... gosh, wish I could go to Egypt for a few months, just until the Winter is over here...
:-)

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Hey Camel King, well do hurry on over here ! You'll be most welcome, I'm sure... but don't forget your guitar, ok ? Oh, and speaking of painting, I have the tool that all housepainters need... a little metal thingy, on one end is the prying bit you need to get the lids off cans of paint, on the other end... a beer bottle opener ! I'll supply the beer if you bring the bricks ?
:-D

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Hi TechnoBabe, hearts are sure to cause a warm and fuzzy feeling apparently... I'm wondering if that is because we are conditioned to that reaction from our earliest years, or if there is something intrinsically pleasing to the eye about the shape itself... the jury is still out...

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Bonjour Nathalie, c'est toujours un grand plaisir de passer chez toi sur la toile, Avignon visiblement est très riche en matière pour une poéte de photos comme toi... and you are very welcome for the text, couldn't help but think of that in relation to your thoughts... take care...

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Hi J, hmmm, a heart shaped view on the world, lit by heart shaped sunbeams... I think it must feel good. I'd love to have shutters like that on my place. I wonder if they were ever painted... if so, not much paint on them now...

Owen said...

Hi Nevine ... well, maybe one night we could head down to where I found this and extract that whole section of wall with the windows in it, to build them back into a wall in your writer's den... hope it's in a warm climate though, as heating a place with windows like this, even with a nice big fireplace, may be a challenge...

As for the maze, yes, I think you are right. I'd never really pictured the inside of my head like that, but I think it's a good image, and I've been trying to find my way through that maze for years now... Are you familiar with the mazes that were built into the floors in some cathedrals, like in Chartres or Amiens ? It may be something like those ... or maybe with hedges, hedges that hide lots of small creatures like raccoons and hedgehogs and hares and toads... Thank you profoundly for being there... I suspect you may be able to help me discover corridors and turnings in the maze I hadn't realized were there...
:-)

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Steve, yeah, sort of like they spread melted butter over the bricks...

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Dear Pliers, Guess we'll have to keep an eye out for hearts then, wherever they may be...
A huge and happy hola to you, and I hope you're managing to patch together a Thanksgiving dinner where you are, even if that isn't the easiest thing to manage... does the local grocery have creamed peas ? And cranberry sauce ??? Best wishes and hugs...
:-)
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Dear Gwen, intoxicating indeed, in fact, if you ask Lynne, my adoptive big sister now, and/or her cohort in many blogging crimes the Sagittarian, they would probably both have you believe that I'm intoxicated most of the time (as if they aren't !) but it's not so, in fact, I only rarely partake of spirited drinks these days, the occasional bottle of fine wine does it... just surviving and seeking out a little art around keeps me plenty drunk all the time... drunk on life. Hope you had a fantastic show there...

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Salut Jeff,... mais, je ne pense pas qu'il y a une saison pour l'amour, je pense ça pourrait venir à tout moment... bien que, on pourrait se croire au Printemps, sauf ce soir, le thermometre baisse... ah K'line, pourrais-tu me preter une couette pleine de fleurs de rose ? Cela devrait être bien chaud....
Bon, Jeff, guerit vite de ce petit rhube...
:-)
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John, you are very welcome... your latest photos of the asylum are fabulous...

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Dear Tante Margaret, je mange aussi bien que possible, heureusement la grenouille est très prévoyante dans ce domaine... Otherwise, thank you so much, I'm glad you liked the hearts and architecture and Rothko derivative...

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Hey Arnaud... there you are... Well, I'm trying to keep up the pace, it is not always easy with work and a family to feed and all... but there is something good about these blogging exchanges... really good to have met people like you and Loulou and everyone over the past year... Wonder where the coming year will go...

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Hi Margaret, I had an incredible sense of déjà vu just now... at first I thought it was the same one twice, but looking again I see there are differences... hmmm, I'm wondering if you thought the first one had disappeared... in any case, thanks again...
:-D

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Owen said...

Dear Saj, (again) consider yourself smacked... with a brick or with a kiss (on the cheek of course as befitting an adoptive sister...)
:-)

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Hi Catherine, many thanks !

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Dear Roxana, it is largely a question of magic and hazard and chance, this finding of odd places that tell human stories, even if the humans are absent... It's funny, I rarely photograph people, but have the feeling they are very present nevertheless in my work... anyway, you Roxana, you must not stop being amazing, because you are completely amazing as with each chapter in a Floating Bridge we cross into the further reaches of your sublime journey through the mists of mystery... so happy I found your blog...

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Dear dear Loulou, I imagine you must have a collection of objects you are picking up all over India, you may need the Queen Mary II to bring them all home, with a whole ballroom just for the rusty boxes, not to mention a stateroom for the pairs of red shoes ? Quel plaisir d'être tombé sur Indiaphragme il y a longtemps maintenant... et oui, que nous pourrions tous continuer encore un bon moment, un bout de chemin encore, avec toi, et Arnaud, et Jeff, et Karine, oui, et tant d'autres... es-tu allé voir ce que fait Roxana ? Tout ce que je pourrais dire, c'est que ça vaut largement le détour...
Merci infiniment Loulou !
Amitiés....

PS, oui, tous les 4 à MLS vont bien, déjà les filles attendent noel avec impatience...
:-D
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Hey David,
You sure have a fresh take on everything... yes, the window was winking, sort of like what Tom Waits said about the piano has been drinking... and yeah, with every rainstorm a little more paint comes off that door. Now, as for nanny goats in panties, well, I guess we're all confused about that one... have you been to look ? She's a caution... So good to see you out and about again, looks like things are percolating right along at your place... fantastic !

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@eloh, sometimes it's an eye for a sort of forlorn kind of beauty, but it is a labor of love to preserve at least an image of some of these places which are fast fading and falling down...

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Ah K'line, fée magique, j'aimerais beaucoup te voir à l'oeuvre avec ta craie magique, en train de dessiner ces portes, et puis de passer avec toi vers l'autre coté de ces murs, car trop souvent les lieux sont bien fermés à clé, et je suis toujours trop curieux de savoir quels trésors sont cachés dans les ombres dedans... alors, viens fée secrete, en amenant ton baton magique, qui s'allumerait aussi pour donner un peu de lumière... pour que l'on se perdra pas dans le noir...
Bonne journée chère fée...

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Jimmy, a big thank you... a toast to yer... to yer fine writing...

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Oui Jeff, tu as tout vu... imagine les rayons de soleil en forme de coeur, les traces que ça laisserait dans la poussière au plancher dans ces pices...

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Oooooffff, et maintenant, au lit ! ch'suis crevé... à bientôt chères et chers amis....

oooofff, I'm off to get my beauty sleep now, thank you all you wonderful people for stopping by the dark back alley of the Magic Lantern to shed your light as I stumble on home... yes thank you all deeply...

Virginia said...

Owen,
You do have that eye for finding the unusual, the bizarre :), the poignant! What great finds these are. Keeping looking. Can't wait to see what you find.
V