"Disappearing Endeavor," March 2008

Disappearing Endeavor

I've posted this photo before, but considering that I've let this blog slide a bit of late (a little over a month, sadly), I thought it was worth reposting the image now that it was selected for a New York Times gallery of reader-submitted photos. It's only 12 images of shuttle launches -- no contest or prize or anything -- but cool nonetheless. Not bad for my one and only launch and a less-than-ideal viewing point and low cloud cover. Not my best night shot, either, but considering the timing, I'm happy to include it.

"Corvair headlight," Florida, January 2008

Corvair headlight

Shiny.

"Start-finish line," Daytona, January 2008

Start-finish line

One of the great perks of purchasing the garage pass for the 24 Hours of Daytona is the chance to walk out to the finish line on race day. Or, the start of the race day.

"Beneath a Florida lamp," Titusville, March 2008

Waiting for T-minus 0

People await beneath a Titusville park lamp for a space shuttle launch in the early morning hours.

"Shuttle launch," Florida, March 2008

Taking the shot

Back in March, I checked off another item on my list of life goals and attended a launch of the space shuttle in Florida. "Attended" in the sense that I saw it live -- it's hard (or at least requires plenty of advance planning) to get to any of the viewing points at Kennedy Space Center.

What was for me a pleasure trip, a photo opportunity and a vacation was -- for the astronauts aboard, engineers in Mission Control and scientists involved -- a job, a research mission, a chance to learn more about our world and the universe it inhabits by breaking the surly bonds of earth and soaring into the heavens.

"Women go fast," Daytona, January 2008

Women go fast

Daytona, Florida: Where you'll find fast cars ... and fast women*? Maybe that's no secret.

*In their CARS, people. In their cars.

Though my secret could also be that I established a new personal record in being the seventh to post this week's Photo Friday.

"Outfield green," Florida, March 2008

I never get tired of reading it...

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

-- A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind"

From the cold gray-brown Northeast, I flew to Florida for a Spring Training spring break and wasted no time enjoying the warm sunshine. From the plane to the car to the ballpark -- no dragging my feet. Beneath a blue sky and upon a green field, a touch of summer under the Florida sun.

"Morning light, Florida," February 2006

Morning light

The morning was as warm as it looks. The blinds were drawn to within two feet of the floor on this floor-to-ceiling window, and as I knelt to pack my bag for the flight home, I noticed the light coming through the leaves on the plant. They weren't even necessarily that pink, but they came across that way at this time of day. It was among the last photos I took on that trip, getting in a few more shots before the drive to the airport and a few hours confined to the plane. It's one of those shots that, to me, doesn't show anything of note, yet I still remember the mood and the feeling of that morning.

It's been nearly a month since I've taken the camera out and captured anything fresh, and I'm growing restless, itching to do so again. Today would've been perfect had I had more time when I headed down by my parents, where they got more ice than we did and the trees were encased in ice and glistened in the sun as if they were glass. With the light at the right angle, the trees twinkled as if strung with lights at Christmas. Gorgeous.

"Meat technology, Cocoa Village, Florida," February 2006

"Meat technology, Cocoa Village, Florida," February 2006

OK, so maybe it's not meat, but there's some sort of technology involved in taking a bacon-tasting slab of something and not only making it (marginally) edible, but unnaturally durable. Come to think of it, it's probably more technological than it is natural.