Night on Muhlenberg Lake
Uncle Frank and I watched CJ squat and stare at the camera while he waited eight seconds for it to take the picture.Uncle Frank held a cigarette like a laser pointer in a lecture hall as he spoke of aesthetic. CJ struggled to find a place to set his camera to get a good picture. Uncle Frank lamented the missing tripod he had acquired sometime during the sixties in a haze of boxing, Dylan, and New Direction paperbacks.
I thought of how unlikely this all was. Standing outside, no snow to be seen, after such a long cold and brutal winter; the air smelled of life for the first time in months. On the water, light shapes distorted by current, duck paddles.
How thankful I was to be standing with Uncle Frank and CJ without freezing. CJ said “check this one out”. Uncle Frank pointed out the curve of the sidewalk, the possible capture of an image.
I thought of nights to come. I watched thick shadows float and quack, a male duck chasing another male trying to steal his female.
* All photographs by Christian Olsen
I thought of how unlikely this all was. Standing outside, no snow to be seen, after such a long cold and brutal winter; the air smelled of life for the first time in months. On the water, light shapes distorted by current, duck paddles.
How thankful I was to be standing with Uncle Frank and CJ without freezing. CJ said “check this one out”. Uncle Frank pointed out the curve of the sidewalk, the possible capture of an image.
I thought of nights to come. I watched thick shadows float and quack, a male duck chasing another male trying to steal his female.
* All photographs by Christian Olsen
Labels: Muhlenberg Lake
posted by Andrew Kleiner at
12:06 AM
7 Comments:
Someone needs to learn to adjust their hue and saturation values. Just sayin'.
Are these with your fancy schmancy new camera?
These pictures were taken by CJ with his camera.
Dear Anon 11:46,
Go to hell, I took them with a crappy point and shoot. I also advised Mr. Kleiner that they needed to be adjusted a bit but he is stubborn and impatient and did not give me the chance.
Morning Call
"during the sixties in a haze of boxing, Dylan, and New Direction paperbacks."
Just to set the record straight (my nephew is prone to conflating and exzzzagggeration)
1. I was a lover not a fighter (boxing)
2. As for the Dylan reference, folk music gave me ocular migraines
3. The publishing house started by James Laughlin, New Directions, published many counter-cultural and experimental writers who (given my basically conformist temperament) made me queasy and doubtful of our shared consensus reality; which led me to shun the entire catalogue of books published by the aforementioned publishing house.
My wayward nephew romanticizes and stereotypes my past
out of a deep need to divert his aggressive Oedipal conflict away from my brother, his father. This is quite normal.
uncle frank
Andrew, I would guess you know Lake Muhlenberg is a complete #%&*$@ mess. How about filling your readers in about the great need there? The Recreation & Park Dept. has a small office staff, and we all know about the 20 empty positions of Parks workers. Given this, even if the City had "free money", lets say an outright gift, they can only handle, barely, routine maintenance plus one significant project at a time,barely. If they go with the Trail Plan, whatever one thinks about it, everything else major will be pushed back....and THAT IS A FACT JACK! Just the way it is. If they are writing TRAILS grants, they won't be writing for other important grants, like fixing the mess at Lake Muhlenberg. They just don't have the staff to oversee work, even if they farm it out. [ Uncle Frank, I'll bet your a plenty cool dude!]
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