Everywhere: People: seanie blue

Excalibur uploaded on 26 November 2007

Just down the street, they've blown up a couple of old casinos, like the Stardust, to put up billion-dollar wonders for an economy we all think will grow forever. This particular hotel, the Excalibur, keeps re-making itself. Some floors are off limits as construction updates the needs of tourists on a budget who nevertheless wish to gambol in the lap of luxury. The windows are designed to open only an inch. To prevent suicides? Or just to stop drunken revelers from littering the courtyard with trash?

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Bwindi Baby, Uganda uploaded on 26 November 2007

This gorilla is the youngest in his group. The rangers in Bwindi call it the M Group, but to the baby the group is simply his group. He is clambering for half an hour, and when he sees me separated from my group, he quickly scrambles over the branches to get close and watch what I am doing. Whazzup? We have a one-sided conversation, with me doing the talking, as I shoot his breakfast portrait. He is looking at my feet, or my equipment, until I whisper "Hold it," when he looks right at the camera and poses.

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Rose, Tinted B&W (No. 5) uploaded on 25 November 2007

This is from the Rose Test Center at Washington Park, in Portland. As I shoot it I cannot help thinking about the root of the Latin word for our genitals: pudere, which means to be ashamed of or to be modest about, from which we get the term pudenda. Still used in textbooks today to avoid using naughty words on impressionable minds, pudenda is weighted by the sour wish of the high priests to make something nasty of something beautiful. What if our genitals were named rosa instead of pudenda? A sweet-smelling invitation, rather than object of scorn!

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Rainbow Mountain, Glacier National Park uploaded on 23 November 2007

Taken on a rare clear and hot late October day, Rainbow still manages to chill the memory. I know somebody who's been to its summit 13 times, and he says you can walk up there with your hands tied behind your back, but other locals scoff at this, and admire him for his accomplishment.

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Flamenco Player, Glacier National Park uploaded on 23 November 2007

G. is an old-timer from Glacier, although he stills talks about other old-timers as if to exclude himself. He went away to college, and found himself in Andalucia, learning guitar. An artist and craftsman of the highest order, it is hardly surprising that his guitar playing would seem so polished but not as exotic to Montana as the visitor might think: You learn to do a lot to survive here.

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Glacier National Park Larch Trees uploaded on 23 November 2007

The subalpine and western larch are conifers common to the mountains of the Northwest USA and Canada. Huge stands of this species make Montana's hillsides yellow, sparkling in autumn.

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Birch & Larch on Bowman Lake uploaded on 23 November 2007

A hiking trail stretches northward along the narrows of Bowman Lake, and an hour's long walk might fail to bring you to the shore, since the woods are so dense. Bowman Lake is probably the quietest part of Montana's Glacier National Park.

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao uploaded on 23 November 2007

Shown from beneath the spider, the museum glistens even on cloudy days. The first sight of it is always imposing, since it bulges out of Bilbao as an exotic shrub, a rainbow you've never seen before. But just like a rainbow, no matter how many times you see one, Gehry's building in Bilbao causes huge awe every time you glimpse it. I've been a dozen times, and it doesn't matter. Each visit is an astonishment. You smile and look around to see if everyone else notices the unique sight, and everyone is smiling, too, of course.

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An Angle on Abe uploaded on 23 November 2007

Many ways to see him. Tortured, compromising, principled, strong. What would he think of lawyers today? You can shoot from all sides, and he looks different from each. Grandfatherly, or frustrated, calm or connected. He is as all great persons are: complicated, doubting. His brood shows though even in stone, or marble. The maker of Lincoln is a man named French, who went to MIT and also designed the medal given every year as the Pulitzer Prize. Wonder what he thought when he was finished? Did he know this stony countenance would be his best work? He was aged 72.

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Rocks of Zipolite uploaded on 23 November 2007

The rocks jut into the ocean, and become impassable at the north end of Zipolite beach. On the other side of the rocks, turtles, crocodiles and birdlife enjoy existence without humanity, save the occasional boat or airplane. The rocks are sharp, and demand early morning agility as you clamber through them to walk down to the chiringuitos or palapas to get pancakes and fruit shakes. At night, the rocks are treacherous, almost a total barrier to getting back to your hut; but under the moon they glisten beautifully.