Tag Archives | sky

No Parking to See the Sun

By Bes Zain on June 8, 2011 in Observations Comment

No Parking to See the Sun

Looking at the sun is a very interesting thing for me. Sure, it’s one of the stupidest things you can do to go blind or get an awesome headache. I know whenever I look at it even remotely I become dazed and confused. The reason I find it interesting is because when given the chance, I tend to naturally and instantly look at the sun only to realize what I’ve done. The funny thing is, when I’m blinded by it, I don’t blame myself but I always end up blaming looking at it without caution. I usually like wearing sunglasses not to hide from the sun but to protect my eyes in case I look at it. I never even realized I looked at it so much until I started writing about it in this post.

This picture was taken near the highest tip of Mount Diablo in Clayton, California. My first focus was taking picture of the sun, which the camera wouldn’t do to my satisfaction. Then I decided to take a picture of this “No Parking” sign. The sun was behind, and the rest is history. Or the rest is what you see here. The contrast is beautiful. I love a certain kincontrasts, and this

I simply love how even looking at the sun in this picture at full brightness makes me go a bit blind. It could be my laptop’s brightness setting, though. I have to stop and take some rest now. And close my watery eyes for a while.

Do you usually look at the sun or take pics of things against the sun?

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Architecture Curvature Helps Vegas

By Bes Zain on April 17, 2010 in Observations 3 Comments

Architecture Curvature Helps Vegas

The weekend of Katie’s birthday. In Las Vegas, people usually focus on having fun through two things: drinking, and gambling. We went out and start having fun visiting all the different hotels on The Strip. And walking by this one was part of it. I do not remember if we went inside this hotel, because I cannot remember which hotel this is. For me, it now looks a little bit like the Vdara Hotel & Spa, though the sides of the Vdara appear smoother than the sides in this photo.

The main thing, or the best thing, about cornering the corner of something, like in this picture, is the idea of realizing not just how it stands out against the background, but how after the photo has been taken, we still focus on our emotion related to the photo, without being able to realize which single element prompted us to take the picture. It probably has to be the building. The sky is always there. And many times it is simply a dull piece of object laying around, waiting to sneak into almost every picture taken above your head level.

While the usual focus is on a silhouette or a background, I think this is basically taking picture of a corner that you think is awesome. I do not know which Hotel this is. I do know that it is big for its era of today. And that it is a physical, offline element added to a world that already proclaims the death of many things offline in favor of an online world. Will places to live be some of the only remaining things in the future that will be physical and be completely offline? I am not sure.

How many construction workers tweeted while building this? How many people will tweet from this building? How many people will tweet about this building? How many people on Facebook took pictures of this while it was being constructed? How many people send e-mails from the lobby of this hotel? Was this building built so that it could be Tweeted, Facebook’ed, BirghtKite’d, or MySpaced? Did the origins of this building have anything to do with the online world? Did it solely exist in the mind of the architect who got paid to build something? Or was it built solely to make money? Yep, it was.

In addition to walking around, Katie and I also drank. And we hit the slots too. It’s interesting how the visual expressions of photos usually focuses on a subject that is not us. I am beginning to think I should focus more on personal portraits again, and maybe for a long time. Like the Night Series. Or maybe I can consider the subjects that I portray in my photographs to be part of me, or to be me.

Thank you for looking. And reading. If you could let me know which Las Vegas Hotel this is, I would really appreciate it.

Update April 19th, 2010:

After seeing a billboard of it yesterday in San Francisco, I found out that this hotel is the Aria Resort & Casino. :)

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“Electric Towers Fading Against The Sky.”

By Bes Zain on December 13, 2009 in Observations 5 Comments
Electric Towers Fading Against The Sky.

Electric Towers Fading Against The Sky.

Electric tower against the sky,
what are you doing?
You stand there flaunting,
where are you going?

The sky looks at you,
wondering why you cry?
You start gesturing back,
enabling civilization to survive?

No one comes near you,
for the fear of death by you.
Everyone wants the sky,
for the fear of mortality in you.

You are all alone in the deserts,
and in the backyards of those homes.
Your loneliness is hard to notice,
even though loneliness is in your bones.

So there you stand,
all alone and against the sky,
fading away with civilization,
wondering why no one else cries.

Location: Unknown. Somewhere in the Californian Deserts.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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“Sky watches Sun and Clouds battle.”

By Bes Zain on October 18, 2009 in Observations 5 Comments
Sky watches Sun and Clouds battle.

Sky watches Sun and Clouds battle.

Get the popcorn and buy a ticket,
for the sky is sitting around,
the greatest battle of the day is here,
between the sun and the clouds.

There is no need for special effects,
this move one has a natural feel,
light and shadows collide brilliantly,
to create the wheel of life and zeal.

Funny, that this may not be mentioned,
on your social networks and in e-mails,
Facebook and MySpace will not hold their breath,
and Digg and Twitter will simply talk about whales.

Come, living creatures,
you can also watch if you want to,
figure out if the sun will come up,
or if the clouds will push it down the view.

This happened when Window 95 came out,
and this happened way before it too,
this happened when apples fell to the ground,
and this happened way before that too.

A big battle is raging on here,
one that affects you all everyday,
the clouds and the sun go at it repeatedly,
like life itself praying on preying on the prey.

You can watch this while you drive,
and die while marveling at the beauty,
you can take pictures to hold on for a while,
and feel like Flickr memories are your duty.

So sit and enjoy, for what you are about to see,
may keep on happening, even after you are gone,
or maybe it will stop, and an outcome will be seen,
in your lifetime, to this battle for the night rages on.

Location: Sparks, Nevada, USA.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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“Paris moved to Vegas?”

By Bes Zain on September 15, 2009 in Observations 4 Comments
Paris moved to Vegas? - by Bes Zain

Paris moved to Vegas? - by Bes Zain

French tourists I see,
waiting in line to see Paris?
everyone wants to go inside,
and be on that elevator ride?

What is this place,
if it is not the real Paris?
That tower in this blistering heat,
is this is not the real Paris?

Why go to Europe and freeze,
when you can come to hot Nevada and play?
Here they have the entire French revolution,
and also many forms of French toast at the buffet.

Play poker here, and slot machines too,
drink the French wine, and look at French signs too,
look at everything in blue, and think it is France,
dine, smoke, relax, let yourself be in a French trance.

The famous Eiffel Tower is here,
and it is yours to conquer for a small fee,
you can ride up to ponder and look at the moon,
and look also at the surrounding tourist sprees.

You can come as a tourist to feel at home,
while living in a room or a suite that is a dome.
You can marvel at what lies in front of you,
and you can pay up to enjoy a French life too.

This is Vegas, and it has all that you need,
the famous city of romance which is bitter sweet,
come to Vegas, if you want to go to Paris,
for Paris has moved to Vegas, so your money can bring you fun for free.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

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“Contrast is life support.”

By Bes Zain on August 7, 2009 in Observations 1 Comment
"Contrast is life support." by Bes Zain

Contrast is life support. by Bes Zain

It may possibly be the color,
that seems to seduce,
it may be the trend,
that wants to reduce,

“What makes life?”,
I ponder sometimes,
Is wondering about life,
the only life sometimes?

Is it the journey,
that excites the life,
or is it the destination,
that finishes the strife?

It is simply the contrast,
which makes up everything.
Being similar is not the answer,
being anything can be everything.

So here sits the thought,
deep in the open trenches,
thinking whether to get out forever,
or to stay out in the open for a bit.

So there is the building,
high up above,
showing me how contrast it is,
in and against life to define life support.

Also on Facebook, BrightKite, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

1 Comment on “Contrast is life support.”

“See it, sometimes.”

By Bes Zain on August 2, 2009 in Observations, Personal 3 Comments
See it, sometimes. - By Bes Zain

See it, sometimes. - By Bes Zain

Looking to the side,
is what it takes sometimes,
to realize that I can look,
at other things sometimes.

It seems the focus is all around,
and that the focus is never around,
“Can you see it?“, says the thought,
“Should I see anything?“, thinks the thought.

Observe this, analyze that,
Bes tells Zain,
look at this, look at that,
the thoughts drive me Inzain.

Slowly, it seems,
that the focus can be undone.
Focusing on things is nice,
however, not focusing is so much fun!

Talking about being better,
is a good talk for many.
Talking and looking, and only sometimes,
is and can be a real good thing and life for me.

Photographer: Katie.

Taken in Piedmont, California.

Also on Facebook, BrightKite, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

3 Comments on “See it, sometimes.”

“Observing looking away…”

By Bes Zain on July 7, 2009 in Observations, Personal 4 Comments

"Observing looking away..." - by Bes Zain

It does not matter,
if you look that way,
for looking at something,
you may simply be looking away.

“I must observe this like others or feel dead”,
many people say,
though I rarely see anyone,
wanting to look away.

For looking at everything,
is not always the answer,
and looking at specific things,
is not always an answer.

So get higher, or lower, or move a bit,
whether physically or mentally, into orbit,
simply distance yourself from the distance,
and see what is dark, and what seems to be lit.

It can be good to sometimes,
look away from what everyone looks at in the day,
it can be very relaxing to just be there,
without actually looking or looking away.

Photographer: Child labor.

Also on Facebook. On Flickr. On BrightKite. On MySpace. On Twitter. On TwitPic.

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“I’m turquoise too”

By Bes Zain on February 14, 2009 in Observations 2 Comments

The Half Turquoise Double Light Lamp Post - by Bes Z

Full version. Also on Flickr.

I was outside Target. Interest in shopping, capitalism, stickers, summer clothes, commercialism, specials, food, discounts and more: whatever the reason, people were probably in the Target shopping lot because of some reason. I was taking pictures of everything around me when I came across this dual light lamp post.

Taking pictures of anything when others are watching creates different assumptions in the minds of those people. Why would this person be taking pictures at Target? Why is this person taking pictures in a parking lot? Why is this person using a Canon PowerShot A410 camera to take pictures – aren’t those cameras just point and shoot designed to take pictures of birthday parties and smiling people? What could possible be captured in that camera that cannot be seen simply looking up? People kept looking at me from left and right, and through glances too. If I had an SLR with an optical lens the size of a hunting rifle, many people would have wanted to be in the picture. However, with the smaller, silvery camera, people simply wonder why such a camera holder is allowed to take pictures.

In my view, the only one not to have any assumptions was the lamp post itself. The dual-light lamp post did not have any assumptions about me or my camera. It just had one thing to say: “I’m turquoise too.” It looked very powerful and complex against the very elegantly smooth, yet confusingly simple, sky.

It was only after I took the picture that I realized that the left part of the light was actually appearing to be turquoise. I have more than one picture and the left part appears turquoise in all of them.

This was taken in Albany near a Target parking lot.

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The Lebec & Gorman Moon & Hills before Nightfall

By Bes Zain on January 10, 2009 in Observations Comment

The moon & the hills in Gorman before nightfall

Full version. On Flickr.

I was driving from Irvine, Orange County, CA to Pleasant Hill, Bay Area, CA. I was hungry. And the mp3 cd I had burnt for the trip wasn’t working. So I decided to use my laptop on the passenger seat to listen to the cd. It would run for a while, maybe an hour or two. So I stopped at the Gorman exit in Lebec to enjoy the cold weather and then to maybe eat something, and start Winamp on my laptop. There was a Carl’s Jr to my right, when I took this picture.

I love how the hills and the moon looks. We always talk about different places where there is good scenery, yet such hills are not only in our backyards, but all around us. And at the same time, we love talking about metaphors and imagination, without actually doing anything. All we need to do is to go to them and have them come to us too.

It was very cold when I took this picture, and I did not have a jacket on. The mere thought of the cold weather, this picture, the drive, life, and some yummy food on its way made me realize that the jacket can be avoided for as long as possible.

Thanks for looking! :)

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