by douglas john imbrogno | september21.2024 | the STORYistheTHING.com |
In my weekly woodland wanderings, I routinely encounter the tall tapestries of slim communications and cell-phone relay towers. These massive, elongated lattices of metalwork are striking up close. From their brawny, ground-level struts, the eye tracks the immense structure upwards into the heavens, diminishing to a point in the sky like an arrow shot at a cloud.
I wonder at how they must be piecemeal assembled, often on perilously high hilltops in the Appalachian outback or up some remote walking trail where I have followed my footfalls. Then, there are the complex physics and mechanics of erecting them, and for some of the biggest ones, holding them firmly in place via guy wires and thousands of feet of taut cable.
‘TOWER OF POWER’ | Barboursville Park, Barboursville WV | Stand Tall Photo Bureau of theSTORYistheTHING.com | september21.2024
I have shot many photos of such towers through the years, attempting to capture some essence of their pleasing geometric symmetry. And just the weirdness of their bigness, receding into tininess while your eyes go up, up, and up. I have never liked any of these photos and tossed them all.
I had a meet-up with one such tower in Barboursville Park yesterday. Unable to sleep last night, I thought to stitch together a triptych of my photos, melding them into one another. The result captures, for the first time, some of the oddness — even the grandeur — of such towers, however one might rue them mucking up the sightlines in forests and woodlands. Yet, shooting in black-and-white and creating collages at various angles while zooming upward in my video editing program, turns the figure and shapes of the tower into what looks like architectural drawings and dreamscapes. Take a look at the short video above and let me know what you think.
‘UP THERE, IN THE AIR’ | Barboursville Park, Barboursville WV | Stand Tall Photo Bureau of theSTORYistheTHING.com | september21.2024
PS: ART and CHAOS
Whenever I spend hours on what I dub such ‘arthouse’ video creations, a part of my brain taunts me. It critiques this arty expenditure of life force as the privilege of a comfortable First World existence, even while so much of the world is in flames, ruin or despair. Shouldn’t we be at the frontlines? Or raising consciousness about what’s going on there?
That’s not to mention that we are weeks from an election that will — I don’t think this is hyperbole — determine America’s future. If not, it should be stressed, the planet’s fate, given how pressing and catastrophic the climate crisis morphs each day into becoming. What a calamity for the Earth a second Trump reign would be! Coming to work each morning, his primary aim would be given over not to remediation of what ails our hurting globe, but retribution for all the people Donald Trump hates. Which, along with Taylor Swift and Oprah, now seems to include anyone to the left of Genghis Kahn.
NotesBeforeYouVote.com EPISODE 4: ‘Chaos IS the Campaign’
CLICK TO VIEW
Yet working on artful things can revive one’s spirits, girding you to acknowledge the struggles reflected in news headlines. To that end, now that my mind and soul are refreshed from crafting this arty ode to ladders to the sky, I will later today return to another project which answers Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention plea a month ago: ‘Do something!’ I encourage you to free subscribe at the link to my hypershort election series, ‘NotesBeforeYouVote.com.’ Above is the latest video in the series — each of them 60 seconds or less — which speaks to what appears to be Donald’s main campaign theme. Chaos. You’ll find more commentary, cartoons, and quotes below each video at the site.
The series is one small effort, intended not just to preach to the Harris-Walz choir, but to reach out to several groups. These include undecided voters and people thinking of sitting out the election or protesting by not voting. Plus folks thinking of voting third party (in effect, casting a vote for Trump). And, importantly, individuals in Trump-supporting households and communities whose healthy conscience steers them from voting for such a dark-hearted man. You are free to follow your heart and mind in the private space of the voting booth! Pass the link and videos onward to people you know. I welcome collaborators and supporters, plus fresh takes and new ideas.
P.S.
Some favorites memes and election themes. Feel free to borrow.
'ARTHOUSE' VIDEO