Ice and Industry by Chipka
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Description
Some boys dream of becoming sailors or pirates. Others dream of following in the footsteps of fathers or uncles and becoming artisans. Still others don’t dream at all, but simply wander through life, taking what fortunes fall their way, or enduring what hardships greet them. Some boys follow their dreams into manhood and become sailors or pirates. Others, of a pedigree scarcely understood, find life in the offshore Autonomies where strange magics belch steam into daytime air, or odd, diaphanous glows into the night. The Autonomies are new. They occupy old and abandoned places: air factories, observatories, and desalinization plants as old as humanity’s presence so far from the Ancestral Planet. There are twelve such artificial islands just north of the city: none serve their original functions. One is extinct. Boys who dreamed of becoming pirates grew into men who moved there. As pirates, they raided and pillaged, and in retaliation, the city destroyed them, scattered them; and now—if they exist—they dwell elsewhere, and in harsher conditions. We do not know what they are likely to become, or if we will ever see them again.
The world is rich in mysteries older than humanity itself and the vanished pirates are a part of those unsolved puzzles. In truth, the Autonomies are equally difficult. They are independent of the city, but friendly (or at least neutral) to it. Some say that scientists live there, that alchemists have claimed the ancient machines and set them to work in ways only an alchemist might understand. Some say that the city is a mistake and that those who live on the artificial factory islands are attempting to correct the disasters humanity has wrought on the face of this world.
In the long run, it doesn’t matter. There is the city and there are the remote island factories, alive in ways no city-dweller might understand. The world is a mysterious place and only the future will reveal the direction in which these mysteries flow.
--Renzo Ven Unpublished diaries
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After an accidental hiatus from posting (and doing anything creative) I’m glad to be back with…well…with whatever this is. A fragment to be sure: a part of something that may (or may not) grow into a larger piece.
This is a composite image of…Lake Michigan ice and a power plant photographed in that remote/southern part of Chicago that turns into Indiana when you aren’t looking. It’s an odd, industrial region of the city, a bit dirtier than Chicago admits to being. I was quite taken by the power plant, and not so taken with the Jewel supermarket standing in front of it, declaring itself as only an overpriced supermarket might. Rather than edit the sprawling grocery-store on steroids out of the initial photograph, I just took the power plant out and transplanted it. I like the incongruity of a power plant in the middle of Lake Michigan. I like the possibility of new tales sprouting from this piece, like…well…like fuzz on a fungus gone reproductive. I’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope as the weekend evolves, that I can catch up on viewing and commenting.
Comments (24)
NefariousDrO
I like this! It's like the classic movie "City of Lost Children" or something. It also reminds me of that strange island off the coast of Japan where they used to mine coal: it looked so much like a battleship with all the buildings clustered on it that a submarine even tried to torpedo it during the war! Very cool!
jmb007
bonne image!!
sandra46
superlative picture!!!!
Bothellite
Thanks most of all for explaining this odd image. It is very cool indeed. The words leave you wanting more. Nice. And therein lies a hell of a lot more to say.
mbz2662
Oooh, I like this. It caught my eye right away. Then of course, I am captured by your words. A little entertainment for Melinda, from Chip :) It's cool to put the power plant out there in the middle of the water. ( I need to learn to do that )
starfire777
Excellent icy scene!!!
RodS Online Now!
Fascinating capture!
jocko500
dreams come and go and this is a wonderful shot
KatesFriend
Ah! More random acts of Stalinism - the superstore vanishes. I like this approach to story telling, it generates the feel of a much greater universe beyond the perspective of the author.
Sepiasiren
whoa powerful composition here--love the treatment and the starkness of it--
danapommet
The old, dirty ice is the star in this shot. It looks like it has been there since ancient time. Great POV and capture. Dana
MrsRatbag
Eerie and beautiful image, Chip; I know exactly the part of town you mean about turning into Indiana when you're not looking, I got lost driving there one night and seemed to be stuck in a time-space warp continuum. Kept coming to the same exit with no apparent logic to it!
auntietk
Oh, VERY cool! I love what you've done with the power plant. I'll have to remember to take more shots like that as I have the opportunity! Excellent manip. I like it a lot!
durleybeachbum
Terrific, Chip! A great composition and a brilliant idea bud.
flavia49
wonderful image and prose!
alanwilliams
isolated, cold and extremely beautiful
helanker
WOW ! This is a fantastic shot. This ice looks incredible and reminda me og cheeps. The Power Plant looks enormous out there. Like a big threatening ship coming at you. Great shot.
kgb224
outstanding work my friend.
Orinoor
I probably wouldn't have noticed anything odd about the power plant in the lake if you hadn't mentioned it, so nicely done with your alternate reality! I love the snippet, just a taste of stories to come no doubt.
minos_6
Very nice seamless merger of some very disparate elements that make up a strangely compelling whole. I really like this! I have images of new work set on an alien world.....
beachzz
Oh, this is so cool---there are all kinds of offshore drilling platforms right off Huntington Beach and they look much like this one. No ice to be sure, but this gives me lots of ideas!!
jac204
I didn't realize the powerplant didn't belong there until you mentioned it. Great editing and great image.
myrrhluz
Wonderful words! I like the idea of places filled with mysterious activity far different from their original purpose. Familiar structures and the passage of time not quite letting go of the past. I like the activity of the steam, in this cold, still world. Excellent image and postwork!
snakemove
this is an impressive image