Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Prominent evidence

I want to start with this simple tablet situated on the Elk Street divider facing Tulane Avenue (amid a lot of that irregular sidewalk I have written about). I have been walking past it almost every day, schlepping from the office to either the Tulane Medical Center hospital cafeteria (which, I must say, is excellent, and good value too!) or the Walgreens on the corner (or both). Although I no longer work in the building at Tulane and Elk, I did need to walk to Walgreens this evening to pick up the prescriptions that were not ready on time in Albuquerque last weekend. So I walked past it once again, and this time the camera was in my briefcase.

I increased the contrast, so I hope you can read the text. Anything honoring the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution is bound to cheer me up.


My daily commute home along Tulane, heading westward toward River Ridge (near Harahan, if that is more familiar to y'all), I see this abandoned factory. Tonight I pulled over and whipped out the camera. [Tandaina, please note I rose to your challenge.]

I am fascinated by things like twisted shutters, peeling paint, cracked surfaces, etc. as they are visually so much more interesting than fresh coats of paint and smooth surfaces devoid of character. (Sounds more like a pep talk as my own face ages, no?) So you may see a plethora of photos that show what catches my eye. For all the vast challenges of repair and rebuilding in NOLA, please do not take my photographs as representing some accurate sample.
This is a shot from my office window at a slightly different angle, showing how I look toward the Superdome.
Boarded-up buildings seen from a point just a few steps from where I took the factory photo.

And, in the same spot, turning to face east. I work roughly in the center of the picture at a bit above the level, viewed from here, of the tower of St Joseph's Church (the red brick building that runs horizontally in the middle of the right half of the photo).

1 comment:

Josephine- said...

Thanks for the pics. New Orleans looks like its still a real hodge podge of alive and sleeping.