“Being virtually killed by a virtual laser in a virtual space is just as effective as the real thing, because you are as dead as you think you are.”
― Douglas Adams
Dallas Aurora 2015
Just As Effective As the Real Thing
Tag Archives: street photography
Enjoy the Ride
“your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Klyde Warren Park
Dallas, Texas
Happiness is the Longing for Repetition
“And therein lies the whole of man’s plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Downtown Dallas, Texas
He Who Can Stroll
He who can stroll by his fellow man deep in need without batting an eyelash, like a ghost passing through a shade, proves not only a miserable human being, but also possesses a great power, a person that can do anything they want.
—-Armando Vitalis, From Hell’s Heart I Stab At Thee
Belo Garden Park
Dallas, Texas
Willing to be Jaunty
“Some hats can only be worn if you’re willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you’re only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.”
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys
Klyde Warren Park
Dallas, Texas
Jean-Michel Basquiat on the Wall of a Liquor Store
I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I’d draw a big ram’s head, really messy. I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.
—-Jean-Michel Basquiat
This last weekend, I dragged myself out of bed… if not exactly very early, then rather earlier than later. I thought of what I needed to do with the rapidly slipping away day and I thought, “I need some miles and some photos.”
So I packed my camera into a handlebar bag and rode to the DART station – intending on taking the next train that pulled in, no matter which direction it was going. The Red Line came first, going south, so I headed downtown.
The day was warming quickly and I didn’t feel very good – so I wasn’t going to be able to get as many miles as I wanted. I rode to Klyde Warren Park and picked up something to eat from a Food Truck, read a book, and rested for a bit. Then I headed to Deep Ellum to see what I could see.
Sometimes, it’s important to be able to trust fate, to follow your nose and see where you end up.
As I crossed Ross I saw someone up on a ladder spray painting a mural on the back wall of a building. I’m a big fan of urban murals but have rarely been able to see one actually being made. The artist was working off a photoshopped photo of the site with the design, taped to the wall. I parked my bike and dug out my camera.
The mural was being painted by an artist from Denton, Eric Mancini. He said he was Velcro-ing some artworks to the building when the owner came out and told him he had been thinking about placing a mural there. Eric was glad to comply.
The mural was a stylized Technicolor portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat. “You can tell by the hair,” Mancini said.
We chatted a bit about art, about Denton (“Denton has become what Austin thinks it is” – one of my favorite sayings), this and that. “I’ll finish this later today and then do one of my tree paintings on the rest of the wall,” he said. He needed to get painting and I needed to get some more miles so I packed up and rode off – he climbed back up his ladder.
Now, this weekend I’ll go back and take some photos of the finished work. More photos, more miles.
Eric Mancini painting a mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Downtown Dallas, Texas
Eric Mancini painting a mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Downtown Dallas, Texas
Design for an Eric Mancini mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Downtown Dallas, Texas
Eric Mancini painting a mural of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Downtown Dallas, Texas
The Delicate Toil Of the Needle
“Women derive a pleasure, incomprehensible to the other sex, from the delicate toil of the needle.”
― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Working on freeform embroidery,
Klyde Warren Park
Dallas, Texas
When I Do Not Succeed I Get Mad With Anger
“I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.”
― Simone de Beauvoir
Streetcar Line
Dallas, Texas
Mayan Frog Sculpture
“The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It’s not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It’s encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way.”
― Carlos Barrios, Mayan elder and Ajq’ij of the Eagle Clan
Fan admiring Mayan Crouching Frog Sculptures
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, Texas
I’m Just Trying to Make Some Sense
Watching girls go passing by it ain’t the latest thing
I’m just standing in a doorway.
I’m just trying to make some sense.
Out of these girls passing by, the tales they tell of men.
I’m not waiting on a lady, I’m just waiting on a friend. Mm.A smile relieves a heart that grieves, remember what I said.
I’m not waiting on a lady, I’m just waiting on a friend.
—-Waiting on a Friend, Rolling Stones
Plano, Texas
Bill Chance 