ECC 2014 Gallery

Members of the ECC 2014 advocacy panel prepare to go on

Later I may actually have time to write something about ECC 2014, which was overwhelming, exhausting, and generally very worthwhile. For now I’m just going to post the photos, which aren’t going to win me any prizes but should give you an overall impression—of how thick the air in the expo hall was, if nothing else.

Breathing it was not a problem, but seeing through it—never mind photographing through it—was something else again. I can’t imagine what such an event would be like if that were actual smoke in the air, but then, I wouldn’t be attending an event with that much smoke in the air, and I’m sure California wouldn’t permit one.

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The Haunted Highway

Photo by Joe Mud

It starts as soon as I see the sign that tells me I’m entering Kern County, whenever I drive south on Interstate 5 to Los Angeles. I know I was well past the county line when it happened, but my eyes dart off to the right, gauging the thickness of fence posts, checking to see whether the ground behind them is flat or hollowed out, then looking hastily back at the road in front of me.

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Lost Days

Chagrin Metropark in January 1992

These days I’m rarely even conscious of having myalgic encephalopathy, until I wake up and realize that whatever I’d planned to do will have to wait until I emerge from the sucking void of weakness and oblivion that takes away my brain and body at unpredictable intervals.

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Chagrin Metropark in Winter

branch-across-the-frozen-river

I pulled these photos out of an old album while pondering an upcoming blog post. They are all very vertical, which makes creating a 16 x 9 featured image a bit tricky. I was quite surprised at what Photoshop’s “Auto Tone” function did to them, and restored the original effect of the early morning light on the lens.

This Metropark is near my father’s (now my brother’s) house on the Chagrin River, and I used to walk there fairly often when I visited them. I have a summer series of photos as well. Strangely, I can’t remember how to get there… Continue reading →