Ubiquitous

Looking like some odd portrait for a family

of circus acrobats, these chairs are stacked in a backyard

on Indy's Old Northside neighborhood.

The neighborhood is made up of numerous homes

in various stages of restoration, renewal,

and remodeling.

These pictures were taken Wednesday evening

as I walked a couple blocks from 

the bus stop to the Indiana Landmarks Center.

At one corner, a contractor who obviously

 took pride in his work, had embedded

a small plaque in a sidewalk he had installed.

While I couldn't find information

related to the sidewalks in this neighborhood,

Mr. Foster was responsible for the

construction of sidewalks, about a half

mile away, in July of 1893.

Here, nearly 125 years later, the quality

of the man's work is still apparent

in that it is still in use.

Autumn in the Streets

November Theme Day: Out of Focus

My little camera is too small to take super-sharp 

action pictures. It's too dark in the Natatorium to get

clear shots of the swimmers at speed: 

in natural light, they appear blurred, but when I

adjust the shutter speed, the light goes away.

However, I actually like some of the results, which I

use as reference for my drawings.

At times, the swimmers seem elongated,

 becoming even more a part of the water.

I like to watch how the liquid moves and flows

around their bodies, separates and then

rejoins its fluid self as the swimmer

passes through.

When I am swimming myself, I like

to see the water flowing past my goggles

when I turn to breathe; the more correctly 

I am able to swim, the more

quickly the water seems to pass.

I actively look for it and know to adjust 

my technique if it isn't happening.

And then ... and then, when I look at the bottom,

the water breaks the gridded tile into

facets and even the long black stripe becomes

diamonds, drifting away into a blur.

The theme for the first day of November, 

in case you haven't figured it out,

is Out of Focus. To see how other members of

the City Daily Photo portal have

interpreted the theme, just click on the

nearby link, or on the CDP badge

to the right of this post.