Showing posts with label Circus Poster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Circus Poster. Show all posts

Monday, August 29, 2011

Out Wandering Around...

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Yesterday afternoon I was out wandering around
I set out specifically to go photograph a poster of a clown
Seen the day before on the way to work
For if not photographed, things like this tend to disappear... forever
A red traffic light in a small town had forced me to stop
Right next to the clown, with time to see it out the side window
With time to make a mental note to return with the camera soon
And somehow despite all the distractions of the ensuing day
On the way home I remembered, so yesterday on waking up I went
Out to wander around, to photograph a clown
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Sometimes I wonder whether a given photo is better in black and white . . . what do you think ?
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Here is the full scene as seen along a local road . . .
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On the way back home from the clown town, I couldn't resist the temptation to stop at a nearby cemetery, which I've stopped in before, but I wanted to take another look. As is almost always the case when going back to a place already visited, I saw details there yesterday that I hadn't noticed before; a few of them follow here.
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A decorative ceramic cross from years ago, decorations made these days seem decidedly lacking in heart and soul when compared to the crafts of yesterday.
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For some reason these fake plastic flowers really grabbed me . . .
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This next one made me think of Bob Dylan's "Everything is Broken" . . .
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If you've been following these pages for any length of time, you may recall seeing some other fading faces from graveyard photographs. Old photographs like this one that were printed on a ceramic oval, and then which have faded over the years in the sun and rain and frost and fog, never fail to captivate me entirely, to entrance, to enchant, and to inspire me to take the photograph, so as to remember this face before it is entirely gone. Will my photographs also fade away into oblivion one day ?
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To quote from the Dylan song mentioned above :
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"Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you're chokin'
Everything is broken"
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More plastic flowers. We live in an increasingly plastic world. Even some cemetery memories are left in plastic.
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Rust eats away slowly but surely . . .
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Even angels are not left untouched by rust . . ..

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Flowers, real and plastic alike, end up in the detritus bin. I always liked that word : "detritus". I wonder what detritus I will leave behind when I go, before I too end up in the detritus bin ? A pile of photographs, a few poems, an echo of a song played on an acoustic guitar ? .


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Footnote added to this post Tuesday night : ... my gut instinct to go back quickly on Sunday and do the above photos of the clown poster with hip hop rappers coming out of his head was justified, as when I went by this afternoon on the way to work, the rapper poster had already been torn off to make room for a new ad poster for the Club, leaving the clown with half his head torn off. After taking this photo on my cell phone I tore off the rest of the remaining clown face, brought it home as a souvenir of this post. It just goes to show, you should always photograph something when you see it if you think it is worth a photo, because it may not be there tomorrow.
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Saturday, April 3, 2010

When Zebras Roam In My Dreams . . .

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Last Sunday morning, just after posting the piece about Karine Arnou's lovely zebra painting under the title of Blue Zebra Moons, la Grenouille and I went out for a walk through the village. Imagine my total stupefaction when I found myself face to face with a real live zebra, a realio, trulio, zebrio zebra. Zebras are not native to this region of northern France . . . but the circus was in town ! Which only happens once in a blue moon . . .
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So, for your ultimate zebra viewing pleasure, you get the front view, the side view . . .
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And the rear view . . .
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There were even painted portraits of zebras (not as nice as Karine's though) . . .
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And not only zebras, but llamas and camels too ! A menagerie . . .
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Send in the clowns ! (quoth Switters !)
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After leaving the circus, and walking quite a way up the road, in an unexpected place we stumbled upon an ancient and beautiful automobile, from back in the far-gone days when things were actually built to last. Now I know from experience that there are one or two experts on old automobiles out there, so I'm going to give you three details of the car we saw, to see if these are enough clues for anyone to identify the beast . . .
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A tail light gleaming like hard candy . . .
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And finally a tailpipe like the paw of some strange animal . . . a chrome covered ostrich maybe ?
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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Clown Eclipse . . .

Spotted a circus sign on the way to work today, well, yesterday now, and the first thought that crossed my mind as I drove by was : "Wow, a partial eclipse of a clown !" Have I gone totally stark raving bonkers ? Or am I just a sucker for primary colors ? Sunday is a good day to head to the circus. . . right ? Anybody care to join me ???
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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Circus In Town !

Faded and weather worn remains of public posters are sometimes a source of miraculous visions from the back of beyond. This decrepit decaying poster held magic for me. . . clowns ! zebras ! the circus is in town ! (photographed in July 1999 near Cahors, France)
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Zavatta !

This photo, taken in Perpignan, France in July 1985 is probably the first wall-covered-with-posters photo that I ever took... and it remains one of my favorites. I think that is due to the girl wrestling with the crocodile... or is it an alligator ??? Wow, like something out of Crocodile Dundee... the suspense generated by this image has been killing me ever since I took it... who wins ??? The girl ? Or the crocodile ?
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Monday, December 15, 2008

The Joker

I don't know about you, but the circus poster posted earlier below, of which this is a small detail, just hits me right in the solar plexus with its beautiful artwork and colors... helped out by a little sun and wind and rain of course.
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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ephemeral Posters


This poster was right next to the other one just below here, same day, August 2008. This one didn't last long either. I love the leopard and the rich colors...

IL CIRCO ROMANTICO


Somewhere in the distant mists of earlier postings below, in one titled "A Day In the Life", I put up a photo taken that day, just a couple of weeks ago, of my favorite poster place, and said I would get around to posting a picture from the first time I photographed this place last summer, on 3 August. This is one of the greatest circus posters I've ever seen... I love the clown riding the gaping-mouthed hippo, while a lovely lady sails along in a gondola, against a turquoise backdrop. Beautiful, but it didn't last long... like everything else good in life...