Michael Webster

“I thought I’d take a walk today. It’s a mistake I sometimes make.” — Nick Cave

I always take a walk in the woods on Thanksgiving morning. Normally it’s cold and gray. This story took place a couple days earlier, during Thanksgiving week, and it was a bright sunshiny day, but still… the feel of the late autumn air… dark mysteries… spirits loose in the wood… felt like Thanksgiving to me.

I took some pictures. Nothing special. After all the time I’ve spent lately photographing hurricane devastation and Gaza protests, I was just out to appreciate some beauty, perhaps make some pretty pictures, or none at all. No matter.

The above image is the reflection of an old bridge and fall foliage. Beautiful, huh? Kind of has that Hudson River School vibe.

Here’s a man walking some dogs.

A secret garden.

But, as is my wont, if not curse, I was attracted by a dark mystery. School papers scattered in the lake.

I wondered what happened? Did the student get bad grades? Did he or she quit school?

Did bullies or thugs take the binders and throw them in the lake?

I waded out in the lake and looked at the pages. Mostly homework, but then there was this. An explanation, perhaps?

Meanwhile, I eventually notice a loud, long wail from the woods across the lake. A loud keen that had been going on for some time. I get lost in concentration when I’m doing photography, and I’m in Brooklyn so it’s not all that unusual to hear someone wailing, but once I started paying attention, I realized that the guy was experiencing a whole different level of pain. It was horrendous. And it went on and on. Most of the screams were unintelligible, but every now and then I could make out a few words. For example, I distinctly heard “she’s gone,” followed by a truly heart-wrenching keen, and then “forever.”

So much pain in the woods these days. I continued on, went back to appreciating the pretty kinds of beauty. The beautiful day. The fall foliage. The trees.

Couldn’t help but notice the fetters.

But some days it’s best not to look too closely. Best to just be thankful for the good things.

Today is that day.

mw

Here’s a somewhat Harvey-esque photo from Coney Island Beach. Wasn’t trying for that of course, and the color palette is radically different, but sometimes shooting on the beach there are bound to be similarities. No, my focus (intellectually, though obviously not in practice) was the guy on the four-wheeler whom I’ve nicknamed “Scooter.” He is a most zealous enforcer of the rules at the new Coney Island. He scoots around the beach, eagle-eyed, looking for someone, anyone, somewhere, anywhere, doing something, anything, the least little bit wrong. Every day I see him zooming from one group of beach-goers to the next, checking them out. Of course everyone sees him coming from miles away and stashes their beers and/or stash. But Scooter never gives up. And no doubt he’s more than an annoyance for a few poor souls. This is our brave new world. Part of it, anyway. Don’t even get me started about the new cop lookout station they set up where the Puerto Ricans used to dance.

Thinking of Elliot Erwitt’s photos of dogs and their owners, I took a few pictures of this dog. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any good shots of the owner as well, which was too bad because they were an one of those examples of pet owners and pets who grow old and come to resemble each other.

I’m usually not one to take photos of dogs or cats, but I’ve noticed several people having great success with it lately, particularly the dogs in cars and dogs thrown in swimming pool photos that have made the rounds recently. A few of the dogs in cars photos are in the latest Harpers. You can’t believe how much that bummed me out.

Unfortunately, I’ve had less than no success at it. My idea was to throw cats in swimming pools and take their picture from underwater, but the cats didn’t cooperate and scratched the hell out of me. Worse, the crazy old lady down the street caught me throwing her cats in her swimming pool and cursed me something bad. Now I’m breaking out in warts and my voice is turning into a croak. But what could I do? I just don’t see how cats in cars could possibly be interesting.

Just got home from the Spazio Labo NYC student slideshow. Fun stuff. I enjoy seeing how people handle New York in these one week workshops and am almost always positively impressed with each student’s interpretation. There was some really interesting work shown tonight.

This is the first time I’ve ever taken a photograph at one of these things. Kinda sorry I did, but my motives were pure. I wasn’t looking to take a picture. The light, color and composition were intriguing. What could I do? That’s Rebecca and Alex Webb showing some of their Violet Isle photos and Rebecca’s new South Dakota work. Such beautiful stuff. They seem like really nice people. Deeply knowledgeable about their subjects.

After the get together, I walked a long way in Williamsburg, took the subway to south Brooklyn, then walked a whole lot more and then took a bus after going far enough.

Far enough for exercise and inspiration. Didn’t take many photos though. These are pretty much all of them.