The Commonspace > October 2003

Always a film purist, until...

Between a gift certificate, a Christmas check and $12 of my own cash, I was finally able to buy a digital camera. In the Digital Derby arena, it turns out my camera is akin to a balsa wood go-cart.

Rather than get angry with The Crappy Digital for not being able to take photos equal to my Noble Film Camera, I learned how to see the world through a cheap digital lens. As a Libra, I require the balance of High-Brow Nobility and Low-Brow Servitude. Let us now go slumming with The Crappy Digital.

I found a Mondrian painting in downtown Wellston.
On Kingshighway, slightly north of Chippewa, sits a painting of Marilyn Monroe, all alone in an empty storefront.
Screw the puffins; all he wanted was a pretzel!
This is the exact same playground equipment I played on from 1972 to 1978. They've put down a coat of whitewash to freshen it up (beauty hint taken).
Centralia, MO
Downtown Cape Girardeau, MO
I'm obsessed with finding and documenting any remaining Phillips 66 stations with parabolic roofs. At Rock Hill & Manchester there's a "double triangle," the most Mid-Century Modern gas station ever! If I had a jet pack that could lift me about 10-12 feet in the air, I could get the perfect photo of it. Until that invention, I shoot one triangle at a time.
A two-dimensional Pixies video.
My next-door neighbor's laundry. Hee.
On Kingshighway, when Charles Schmitt was changing over from the oh-so-dated hot pink to an ultra-trendy hot lavender. I've titled this shot "Subtle Color Variations."