Reflecting Pool, Arts District, Dallas, Texas
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Reflecting Pool, Arts District, Dallas, Texas
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The shallow pool is so still that it becomes a perfect mirror, especially on a calm day. Until someone runs by, children’s little feet, stirring up the water in a series of overlapping sets of concentric ripples, mixing and refracting each other until the image blurs and breaks up. It doesn’t take long to settle down and everything is sharp again. Back to normal. Or… what is normal? surely not the clear reflection. Maybe the confusion of little feet is the normal – only through great effort by the designers, constructors, and maintainors of the vast black stone slab with its thin slip of water… is the illusion of clarity created.

Reflecting Pool, Dallas, Texas
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Awning stretching out from the Opera House, Arts District, Dallas, Texas
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This thing is a lot bigger… and a lot higher up in the air than it looks in the photo. During the heat of the day the gigantic aluminum louvers provide relief from the deadly Texas sun. Toward sunset, once the firey orb has descended below the level of the shade… well, it’s just plain cool to look at.