Thursday, December 22, 2011

Underneath a parking lot in Ottumwa, Iowa

Yes, this place was literally located beneath a parking garage in Ottumwa, Iowa.  Not Missouri, I know.  But I was on a road trip up to West Branch to see a David Plowden show, and was amazed to find this neon-bedecked diner crouching in the shadow of a downtown parking structure.  I assume the lot had been built up around and over the canteen.  Its lunches must be notable, to eschew demolition and preserve a most unlikely piece of commercial real estate in Ottumwa.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Graveyard and trees

The juxtaposition of the brightly-colored plastic flowers and the bleak, November day was the hook that compelled me to compose this image, but it is the fascinating contortions of the trees along the fence-row that turned out to be my favorite element in the composition.   Something about it reminds me of a Thomas Hardy novel...