Eidolons!

A Walk After the Rain

2006-06-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

The rain's been with us for about a week. Last night it broke for awhile, so I grabbed my camera and sallied forth just as the sun was going down. Here are a set of pictures taken as I walked just a couple blocks near home. In the garden the hygrangea is in full bloom, as are the magnolias around the corner in Miss Willis' yard (she just turned 100). Hygrangea always makes me think of my Nana. The sidewalk was littered with parchment-like shards of bark blown off of the next door neighbors' 200 foot sycamore tree. In the approaching gloam the front door of the Baptist Church glowed with a fresh coat of blood red paint. The brass door knob had a small dash of green....from where I couldn't tell. I found myself, by the time it was fully dark, in front of two local restaurants, La Petite Auberge and Bistro Betham, where outside seating had been hastily set up in hopes the lull in the weather would mean at least a trickle of diners.

Farmer's Market

2006-06-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

Every Saturday morning there's a wonderful farmer's market that sets up a couple blocks away from my house at Hurkamp Park. There are Hispanic families, hippies, Mennonites and local farmers peddling a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, baked goods and plants in the soft diffuse light created by their white and blue display tents. The sidewalk is packed elbow to elbow from first light to just after lunch with customers making purchases, enjoying samples of local fruits and catching up with neighbors.

In the Garden

2006-06-24T19:38:00.000-05:00

New Orleans

2006-06-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

These images where taken this past April while attending a professional conference in New Orleans. In hindsight I regret not having had more time to explore this wonderful city, and for failing to take my camera with me everytime I was able to break free free.

Ramadi Images

2006-06-18T19:32:00.000-05:00

Eidolon Introduction

2006-06-17T23:55:00.000-05:00

ei·do·lon
n. pl. ei·do·lons or ei·do·la
1. A phantom; an apparition.
2. An image of an ideal.
[Greek eidlon, from eidos, form]

Ever the mutable,
Ever materials, changing, crumbling, re-cohering,
Ever the ateliers, the factories divine,
Issuing eidolons.

From Eidolons, a poem by Walt Whitman

In my day job I'm a combat artist for the United States Marine Corps. You can see my combat art and read about my experiences at www.mdfay.blogspot.com. This new site will be devoted to my non-military artistic pursuits, in particular photography.

The world is a magical place ripe with visual flotsam and jetsam and I hope to share my occasional rendezvous, while spelunking in Plato's Cave, with what Walt Whitman celebrated in his poem, Eidolons.

This first set of photos were taken during January of 2005 in Ramadi, Iraq.

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