The Glimpse by Chipka
Close
Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.
Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
What began with Mexican children playing in an alley ended somewhere between worlds. It was hot and muggy. There had been rain the previous night: virulent flashes of arc-welder lightening followed by indolent, rolling thunder. There are nights when rain in Chicago is a polite whisper. What the city endured that night was a tempestuous, hammering rage. It lasted until daybreak. It lasted until well after daybreak. By the latest hours of the afternoon, the clouds, torn and ragged gave way to the sun. The scent of charcoal and meat filled the air. Mariachi trumpets kept time with hasty accordions that gave shape to the strange, rapid-tempo polka that defines much of popular Mexican music. I can understand the relationships between the waltz and the polka; they are cousins, one slower than the other, and upon weekly immersion in a neighborhood now dominated by Mexican culture, I can hear a third cousin to this venerable musical family. I don’t know the name of this music in the Spanish of Mexico, but I recognize it as it wafts from storefronts and gaudy, hyper-polished cars, from apartment windows, or some distant park. I heard it yesterday, as children played in an alley, skipping over a puddle wedged discretely between the bare concrete of a parking area, and the blacktop of the alley.
Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood holds numerous charms. It is also—like any neighborhood in any major city—a paradox. It is interesting. It is mind-numbingly dull. It is an inquisitive anthropologist’s endlessly-intriguing experiment trapped in fail-on condition. It is nothing worthy of notice. So much of human life is mundane, after all, no matter how interesting the language in which such life might find expression.
With my cigarette finished and sunlight appearing for the first time yesterday, I went back into the apartment and roused Corey from his contemplation of newspaper, duct-tape, and a window in need of modification. I was thirsty. He was thirsty. We both wanted something not contained in the nearest refrigerator. We agreed to find cans of something cold at the nearest open store.
Chicago’s Albany park neighborhood holds numerous charms. It is also—like any neighborhood in any major city—a paradox. It is interesting for the tinges of Arabic, Korean, and Romanian that spark through the streets like strange, sentient energy. It is mundane in the conversations of fruit vendors, or plump, black-haired ladies selling chalupas and steamed corn, flavored with mayonnaise, powdered cheese of Mexican pedigree, and powdered hot pepper. It is sometimes garish and red, like peppers, or softly green like the skin of fresh chayotes(the seed is the best part.)
After the rain yesterday's rain, Albany Park was something else. Where children played, bare moments before, the puddle-dappled alley was empty. The puddles were still, though a toy car sat patiently for its owner to retrieve it. Ahead, I saw something dream-like. I saw a puddle. I saw the different textures of asphalt and concrete. I saw bricks: face-bricks and back-bricks, and telephone lines. They were not a part of my world, though I recognized them. They belonged to someone else, and I—by the accident of an late afternoon walk—saw them and thought that they—like a child’s toy car—were momentarily abandoned, and waited for their owners to come back for them. I knew a lot about the bricks, the telephone lines, and even the blue sky above them all; but I recognized them as something separate from me and from the world I inhabit. I saw another place: not a reflection, but an inverse-world, crammed into the strange, shifting space on the surface of a puddle.
What I saw is what I have presented here. There is minimal post work done, aside from resizing and a tiny increase in contrast.
...As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting!
Comments (31)
jmb007
bonne photo!
anaber
Very interesting...! All what you saw and all your thoughts and all the feelings you could express here. I love the view... and the life between the views, the likely alleys of the real life that exists there, so suffered, among all that we can imagine after read you...But, what i think.. and that is so Good, and so wonderful after it all, is the confort you met when arriving! Great:) when we meet someone , with the same feeling: thirsty and ready to go outside in the next minute, searching for something fresh, around!! Something i should remember with such caress ...and with a very big smile :)
sandra46
stunning composition, i really love it, a crack in the surface of reality to give a glimpse of another owrld
flavia49
sublime capture!!
StandsInAwe
Good eye! and super capture!
MrsRatbag
Ah, I love the glimpses we get from puddles; the world is somehow more interesting than the original when all you get is a reflection. Wonderful shot!
Str4wB34ry
Blue sky and a puddle, that's all you need to frame a fabulous shot like this, well done.
Sepiasiren
the colors, sky the building -- this is magnificent -- another fave
geirla
Great image! I looks like a bridge (puddle?) between worlds.
bmac62
This is so good. At a glance this appears to me to be a crack in the street. An opening to another world. Love the way you can write an intriguing descriptive narrative around the picture of a puddle.
danapommet
WOW!!! I love this Chip with these colors and contrast. Wonderful! Dana
beachzz
Kinda like Alice--I feel as though I could fall through that reflection and end up in a different universe. But then you mention that Mexican corn and I know I'm still here. I've had it, with all the condiments you list, and I would rather have something else. I love walking the city with you and Corey, you find such amazing things in the mundane, everyday streets!!
Faery_Light
Excellent story to go with this fantastic photo.
costapanos
Amazing capture and narrative! I always look forward to your next image.
whaleman
Excellent!
durleybeachbum
FABULOUS pic! Splendid narrative! And the two together...marvellous.
Meisiekind
Most amazing find Chip in the strange yet familiar world described so vividly in your narrative! I just LOVE the image and combined with the narrative it makes for a powerful combo!!! Bravo!!!
kgb224
I like what you saw in this puddle my friend.Stunning capture my friend.
helanker
WOW This is such a stunning shot. At first I thought it was a collage, but now I realize it is a reflection in a puddle. Awesome. Just a shot for my taste. I love it.
romanceworks
You always bring something quite marvelous to the mundane ... yourself. CC
Valentin
Superb and original work of art!
lucindawind
wow stunning shot !
jac204
Great capture.
Bothellite
You saw.... and neat capture. It isn't real. It is. The depth and angle and perspective and - wow. Water climbing a hill.
praep
WOW nice idea and a great shot.
gonedigital
Wonderful. I love those unexpected little "glimpses" of life.
auntietk
The reflection is so real, so perfect. Just for the photograph, simply for the visual impact, I love this. Of course you guild the lily with your narrative ... and of course I love it ... but wow. The photograph in and of itself is absolutely spectacular! In a moment you will see something going by in the reflection that does not exist in THIS world.
CoreyBlack
Nice shot! Great narrative. It's always interesting to see something that you're overly familiar with-almost to the point of stuptification-with another pair of fresh eyes. The Romanian church jumps out here amid all the textures. If I didn't know what it was I'd think it was a crack in the world. another great one.
myrrhluz
This has been a very hectic week and I'm off again in a couple of hours to go downtown (where all the lights are bright) and where I will probably hear a lot of Mariachi bands. You've put up some wonderful posts since last I commented on, but this one drew me in from first look. I have only just finished reading your narrative and the words and thoughts are still finding nooks and crannies in my brain and joining forces with the thoughts previously brought forth by the image. I love reflections! I don't know if "Through the Looking Glass" read so long ago, was the first time I thought of entering another world through reflections or if it just heightened the feeling. When I see reflections I see the magic of another place and fairly itch to put my body through the surface and visit. Reflections are beautiful in their own right, with rich, deep colors and fascinating skewing of lines. One of the things I love about this image is the textures and fascination captured in an image that occurs so often. Rain and water are such magical things. Even when destructive as in the flash floods here and the tragic one recently in Arkansas, they never fail to awe. I work in a second floor office with an entrance to the outside. After our frequent heavy rains, I'll walk out and see the parking lot surface turned into the appearance of a lake. Then the irregularities in the surface will become known as the hot sun dries the tarmac leaving fascinatingly shaped puddles. OK, I'm in a mood to ramble, but your work does that to me. I love the different textures of the pavement. The one side is a fairly constant texture and color, the other is rough and pitted reminding me of the lunar surface. The slightly seen road surface under the water adds to the feeling that I am seeing two worlds as does the shape of the puddle like a crack in reality. I could go on and on (and have a bit), but I'll boil it down to I love this image and narrative and the journey they took me on. A fav!
mermaid
wow Chip, this is an excellent shot, it has erverything, it is clear, very well composed and special!