This week in pictures: “Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights…”

This post is a little redundant, as you’ve already seen nearly half the pictures in my post about my trip to Toronto this week, but I’m a creature of habit, so pardon the repetition.

I’m continuing to enjoy the simplicity of using my iPhone for daily pictures. Funny how it seems to be the next step in the continuum from film through digital. Back in the film days, you had to bring the film into the lab and wait for the prints, a painstakingly long process by digital standards. With a digital SLR, the process was streamlined to transferring the images from the camera to the computer via the memory card, editing them in Lightroom, and then sharing them. With my phone, I can do the editing and posting to Flickr within the phone, making the computer the cumbersome process. (Especially with my aging, cantankerous laptop – oy!) I think I’m just getting lazier. Mobile pictures are the path of least resistance!

Like this one. Truly a throwaway photo, but I liked the raindrop pattern on the glass and it was the kind of day that didn’t leave a lot of room for seeking out a better alternative.

And this one. No doubt, I could have taken a better quality picture with my Nikon, but by the time I grabbed it, the moment would probably be gone. I like to think the grain and blur add character. 🙂

I like the serenity of the early morning that comes through in this picture of the morning light just starting to illuminate the National Gallery and MacKenzie Avenue.

This one was about the light and the shadows, and the refraction through the vase. It was *exactly* this kind of day: “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” (Charles Dickens)

And a few repeats, from the Toronto pictures. The skyline, a few seconds prior to landing at Center Island airport:

A rather spectacular night view from my hotel room:

And finally, this one. This is on approach to the Ottawa airport, somewhere south-ish and west-ish I think. A minute or two after this, we flew over the Rideau Carleton raceway. The picture is sort of uninteresting, but any time I can incorporate Rush lyrics into my photo of the day, I’m going to have to take that opportunity. 🙂

Subdivisions

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone
Subdivisions —
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions —
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights…