http://ericwalton.com Professional site for Eric Walton. Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:18:44 +0000 http://snappages.com en http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/03/24/on-the-art-of-the-smack-down http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/03/24/on-the-art-of-the-smack-down Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:18:44 +0000 Eric Walton http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/03/24/on-the-art-of-the-smack-down




]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/01/02/new-years-revolution-zuccotti-park-temporarily-reclaimed http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/01/02/new-years-revolution-zuccotti-park-temporarily-reclaimed Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:18:00 +0000 Eric Walton http://ericwalton.com/blog/2012/01/02/new-years-revolution-zuccotti-park-temporarily-reclaimed




















]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/12/02/an-unwelcome-gift-from-lincoln-center-and-no-its-not-a-tote-bag http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/12/02/an-unwelcome-gift-from-lincoln-center-and-no-its-not-a-tote-bag Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:26:00 +0000 Eric Walton http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/12/02/an-unwelcome-gift-from-lincoln-center-and-no-its-not-a-tote-bag by Eric Walton

Lincoln Center has given much to the world of art, and thus given much to the world at large. It’s home to the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, and the New York City Opera and since its inception in 1956, has given the world something it desperately needs: a place to enjoy [...]]]> by Eric Walton

Lincoln Center has given much to the world of art, and thus given much to the world at large. It’s home to the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, and the New York City Opera and since its inception in 1956, has given the world something it desperately needs: a place to enjoy the performing arts. Last night, December 1st, 2011, Lincoln Center gave the world something it decidedly did not need: a new synonym for the word “hypocrisy.”

Satyagraha, the opera by Phillip Glass that closed last night at the Metropolitan Opera, is the story of the early years of Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent protest and peaceful resistance in South Africa. And although I have not seen the opera myself and am therefore open to correction on this point, I assume that Satyagraha casts Gandhi and the tactics of non-violence that he and his followers employed, in a favorable light. If so, that is a view apparently not shared by some at Lincoln Center toward actual, living and breathing non-violent protestors in the twenty-first century.

In a breath-taking display of untrammeled hypocrisy and tone-deafness, the powers that be at Lincoln Center, one of the world’s great cultural institutions, blocked the main entrance to Lincoln Plaza (which is, according to my sources anyway, a public space) with steel barricades in order to keep peaceful, non-violent protestors from the Occupy Wall Street movement from assembling there; and in doing so demonstrated plainly and unequivocally that the principles of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience advocated by Gandhi were to be glorified on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, but scorned on the steps of that very same building. It seems that the basis upon which non-violent protest and, for that matter, Constitutional liberties, are to be tolerated in and around Lincoln Center can be summed up in three simple words: location, location, location.



Naturally, the NYPD, to which Mayor Bloomberg had referred only two days earlier as “[his] own army,” were on hand to contend with those who dared to breach the barricade or defy the orders of Lincoln Center’s director of security, Susan Bick. At one point, the hundreds gathered on the sidewalk used the people’s mic to address Bick directly and by name, asking her politely to approach the crowd and discuss her tactics. In response, Bick folded her arms, turned her back, and then defiantly walked away. I can recall no time at which I have been addressed by name by a group of hundreds of people speaking in unison, so in fairness, I can’t say what my response would have been in that situation; but apparently condescension, annoyance, and dismissal were the best Ms. Bick could manage under the circumstances.

Ms. Bick's feckless response was, just like Lincoln Center’s decision to obstruct the right of free assembly of non-violent protestors in a public space on the closing night of an opera about non-violent resistance, a completely wasted opportunity.


Text and image © 2011 Eric Walton

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/10/12/dispatch-from-zuccotti-park http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/10/12/dispatch-from-zuccotti-park Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:21:00 +0000 Eric Walton http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/10/12/dispatch-from-zuccotti-park
These and other credentials notwithstanding, it would be entirely disingenuous for me to claim to be a career activist. That is a distinction of which I am by no means worthy. I am at best a part-timer in the field, a free-lancer who sometimes (and certainly not often enough) joins like-minded people at rallies or protests either in support of some political or social cause or in condemnation of some injustice or another perpetrated by either my own government, someone else's or by some immense and nefarious corporation or group of corporations. The issues have been many, but the purpose for showing up has always been the same: to affect change and achieve justice through dissent.

I entered the fray once again this week and was, as ever, in good company.

The men and women protesting in lower Manhattan as a part of Occupy Wall Street are performing admirable work and they deserve to be commended for it. How dare Sean Hannity have called them un-American. They are organized and focused and display the kind of resolve, will and personal restraint that are the ingredients of a strong and viable political movement. How encouraging it is to see that that similar protests have begun in Boston, Seattle, San Fransisco, Austin, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. I was especially pleased to learn that the city of Philadelphia offered a permit for the occupation of Dilworth Plaza “in perpetuity”. Apparently the General Assembly is split on the decision regarding the permit, but it should encourage the thousands already gathered in Philadelphia that at least one resource necessary to bring about change is likely to be in ample supply: time.

Below are photos I took at Zuccotti Park at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration on Columbus Day.

















Text and images © 2011 Eric Walton

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/08/06/an-early-education http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/08/06/an-early-education Sat, 06 Aug 2011 01:51:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/08/06/an-early-education
"Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life -- except religion." -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (b. 1949) 

It is inconceivable that I could have reached the age of twelve without being lied to. I had, after all, not been raised in isolation from [...]]]>
"Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life -- except religion." -Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist (b. 1949) 

It is inconceivable that I could have reached the age of twelve without being lied to. I had, after all, not been raised in isolation from other human beings. And as I reflect on it now, it seems altogether implausible that I would not have recognized the perpetrators of at least some of these inevitable falsehoods for what they were and called them out on their lies. It seems implausible, that is, until I consider that as a child I was both extremely credulous and incredibly timid. I was, in the parlance of the midway, an “easy mark”. My childhood timidity, credulity, and tractability also made me an excellent target for religious inculcation, but I'll grind that ax another time.

The very first occasion on which I can recall another person telling me something that I knew to be utterly false and on which I marshaled the courage to confront the liar with the known facts, was, fittingly, on the midway.

The midway in question was at the Oklahoma State Fair, an annual gathering in Oklahoma City of corn-dog, funnel-cake, and cotton-candy vendors; trinket peddlers; mechanical-bull, thrill-ride, and sideshow operators; Alibi agents; lot lice; Flatties; townies; and, rubes like me who just couldn't wait to be separated from their hard-earned cash.



Only on a serious dare made by a good friend or when faced with the threat of starvation, should any sensible person who has reached the age of majority eat a funnel cake.

One of the many sideshow attractions on offer at the Oklahoma City fairgrounds in the summer of 1983 was A GIANT ALLIGATOR!!! MEASURING OVER TEN FEET IN LENGTH AND WEIGHING MORE THAN 800 POUNDS, THIS ENORMOUS AND TERRIFYING, MAN-EATING MONSTER WAS CAPTURED IN THE AMAZON AND IS ON DISPLAY NOW, ALIVE AND ON THE INSIDE!!!

Or words to that effect.

As anyone who has ever visited the midway knows, for attractions such as these, the bally often isn't delivered live, but is pre-recorded and played in a constant loop over a PA system that invariably sounds as if someone had simply placed a bull-horn in front of a gramophone.

The quality of the PA system notwithstanding, I was powerless to resist the hypnotic spiel that promised a rare glimpse of a powerful and prehistoric animal, the likes of which I had only seen on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I paid the price of admission to the attendant, a man in his mid-forties with the leathery skin and cynical demeanor that is either the product of or pre-condition for life on the midway, and ascended the platform to see THE RARE, EXOTIC, AND DANGEROUS CREATURE THAT COULD SWALLOW A GOAT ALIVE!!!

I will now tell you what you undoubtedly already know: the alligator was not real. It was a fake. And a shoddy one, at that. The only claim made regarding this attraction that was not completely false was the one regarding its length: it was, by my best reckoning, approximately twice as long as I was tall, making it indeed ten feet or thereabouts, but otherwise, every word used to describe what was obviously a cheap, plastic simulacrum of an alligator was unquestionably false. I suppose it can be granted that it was “enormous” and “on display”, as stated in the extravagant and misleading description, but it was nonetheless a gross and fraudulent mischaracterization of the attraction and I felt, for the first time, that I had been duped (which I had).

I then had the following exchange with The Man With The Leathery Skin:

Me: Um, sir, that's not a real alligator.
The Man With The Leathery Skin: Yes, it is.
Me: No, it isn't. It's fake. It's totally fake. It's not even moving. Not even its eyes are moving.
The Man With The Leathery Skin: Just cuz it ain't movin' don't mean it ain't real. Don't you sit still sometimes?
Me: Yes, but...
The Man With The Leathery Skin: Well then, there ya go!
Me: Some of the paint is even chipped off of it. Why would you ever need to paint a real alligator? Under what circumstances would you need to paint a real alligator?
The Man With The Leathery Skin: Listen, son: if that alligator was fake, I would have the Oklahoma City police department on my case like white on rice, but I don't see no police around here, do you?
Me: No, but..
The Man With The Leathery Skin: Well then, there ya go!

Or words to that effect.



A clean midway is a happy midway! (Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, the folks at Blue Sky Amusements are upstanding business persons and have never claimed that a bogus alligator is a real one.)

I asked for a refund and was (it will come as no surprise) rebuffed. Never again would I see the two quarters that I had eagerly surrendered to The Man With The Leathery Skin only moments prior in exchange for the privilege of looking at a phoney alligator in a shallow pool of murky water. Oh, the injustice! But if attractions like these gave refunds to every man, woman, or child with enough sense to distinguish an ersatz alligator from a real one, it would make the sideshow a very poor business model indeed. I do not, however, regret the expenditure or the experience, as it marks my first exposure to several aspects of human nature that I have encountered numberless times since and against which I constantly arm myself -- the foremost of which being the willingness of some persons to stake their credibility on claims that they know to be both patently false and easily disproved. “How fascinating,” I thought.

And thus were the seeds of skepticism sown in my boyhood mind. It would take several years and much careful tending for those seeds to bear fruit, but bear fruit, they eventually did.

Perhaps it can be said that I owe something to The Man With The Leathery Skin, though certainly that something is not my gratitude. He had no intention other than to lure me and others like me into his ramshackle exhibit under false pretenses and take our money – to enrich himself (albeit slowly) by exploiting the gullibility of strangers. To say that I should be grateful for the man's fraudulence and conniving would be absurd; but as he was, in his own subversive way, instrumental in my early education, I suppose I do owe him something.

And as he doesn't deserve my thanks and already has my money, perhaps I could offer him something of even greater value: A RARE GLIMPSE OF THE ELUSIVE HIMALAYAN ALBINO TIGRESS!!! THIS AMAZING CREATURE HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED!!! WITH FUR THE COLOR OF PURE ALABASTER, THIS MAGNIFICENT AND FEROCIOUS ANIMAL IS A WONDER TO BEHOLD!!! STEP RIGHT UP, SIR, AND MARVEL AT NATURE'S MAJESTY...

Text and photos © Eric Walton, 2011

Further reading: Eyeing The Flash: The Making of a Carnival Con Artist by Peter Fenton (Simon and Schuster, 2005)

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/05/04/arthropods-rulers-of-the-world http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/05/04/arthropods-rulers-of-the-world Wed, 04 May 2011 00:42:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/05/04/arthropods-rulers-of-the-world Arthropods: Rulers of the World!
by Eric Walton

On a recent week-end in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which is, unsurprisingly, magnificent. The delights began even before I entered the first gallery: I was informed when [...]]]> Arthropods: Rulers of the World!
by Eric Walton

On a recent week-end in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which is, unsurprisingly, magnificent. The delights began even before I entered the first gallery: I was informed when purchasing my ticket that the price of admission, a paltry nine USD, included entry into the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. But the real joy was discovering that the HMNH is a veritable treasure trove of insects, spiders and crustaceans beautifully preserved in glass jars!

From a distance, the three modest cabinets that house these marvelous specimens are not as impressive as, say, the forty-two foot long Kronosaurus skeleton in the Zoological Gallery, or even the sixteen-hundred pound amethyst geode in the The Mineralogical and Geological Gallery, but to approach the cabinets and glance at the dozens of glass jars containing hundreds of motionless creatures suspended in a kind of biological purgatory, their inevitable decay and decompostion arrested for a brief moment in geological time through the glory of science, is to be drawn into a miniature palace of wonders, a tiny theater of strange and exotic life-forms that seem as alien, as beautiful and as rebarbative, as anything depicted in a science fiction movie.

I offer a few photographic samples for your delight and delectation. I took these over the course of about half an hour and the kind folks at the HMNH were gracious enough not only to tolerate my bothersome photo-taking, but also to grant me permission to publish the images here:























Text and images © Eric Walton 2011
© President & Fellows of Harvard College

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/03/24/a-photographic-tribute-to-harry-houdini-on-the-occasion-of-his-137th-birthday http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/03/24/a-photographic-tribute-to-harry-houdini-on-the-occasion-of-his-137th-birthday Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:18:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/03/24/a-photographic-tribute-to-harry-houdini-on-the-occasion-of-his-137th-birthday Photo: Eric Walton
Model: Michelle Berman
Wardrobe Stylist: Eber Zietsman
Make-up Artist: Melissa Rose

©2011 [...]]]>
Photo: Eric Walton
Model: Michelle Berman
Wardrobe Stylist: Eber Zietsman
Make-up Artist: Melissa Rose

©2011

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/02/18/this-is-your-brain-on-card-tricks http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/02/18/this-is-your-brain-on-card-tricks Fri, 18 Feb 2011 20:10:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/02/18/this-is-your-brain-on-card-tricks
It is no secret that magic is an art-form based largely upon secrets – secret moves, secret apparatus, secret intentions. If the presentation of magic is to be successful, the magician must know something that the spectator does not and he must keep that something a secret for as long as he can.

But a secret isn't the same as a lie.

A lie is the deliberate misrepresentation of the truth, perpetrated in order to gain some advantage, generally a malicious one. A lie is always told with the intent to deceive, whereas a secret is merely the concealment of the truth or some aspect of it and may or may not involve the will to mislead. I may have a secret tattoo of Genghis Khan on the sole of my foot, but you are unlikely to consider yourself deceived if I fail to disclose the fact when we first meet.



Maybe I have a tattoo of Genghis Kahn on the sole of my foot and maybe I do not. Is it such a big deal either way? Not really.

And while we magicians must sometimes resort to overt lying in order to present our tricks successfully, most of the deception on which we rely is not in the form of lies that we tell our audiences, but in the fabrications and confabulations that take place within the minds of the spectators themselves. By carefully manipulating the sensory data available to his audience, the magician orchestrates a series of “experiential voids” which the spectator (consciously and unconsciously) fills with his own expectations, assumptions and interpretations. Thus, the spectator is not so much the victim of the magician's deception, as he is both a witting and unwitting accomplice in it.

The unconcious act of filling in experiential voids and sensory blanks to create a full experience of the world is known as “schema-driven” or “top-down” processing and is the brain's attempt to create a comprehensive picture of the world around it, often based on very little sensory information. A commonly cited example is that of seeing a cat behind a picket fence. Though much of the cat's body is obscured by the fence, the brain doesn't assume that those parts of the animal are simply missing. It fills in the blanks based on its many previous experiences with cats and fences and constructs a picture of an entire animal and not a Dali-esque version of one.

What every good magician understands is that the act of perception is also an act of imagination; and that the information he gives to his spectators – visual, auditory and otherwise – is fraught with associations and expectations that have formed over the course of a lifetime of experience and will almost always be interpreted in a way that is consistent with that experience.

Specifically, the magician understands that within the spectator's mind (as in his own) a causal relationship between events has been established; and given or denied the appropriate stimuli, the spectator will automatically and unconsciously impose that causal relationship upon everything he sees and hears.

He will quite naturally expect that if he knocks a butter-knife off the table, it will inevitably fall to the floor. His experience of the world has imprinted on his mind the inescapable link between falling off the table and landing on the floor. And if, a fraction of a second after the knife falls, what he hears is not the familiar sound of metal hitting the ground, but the sound of a startled dog, he will not (if he is sane) assume that the knife has magically transformed into a dog, but rather that it landed on the hapless animal who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.



I include this photograph of a phrenology model because no article about the brain, perception and magic would be complete without one.

Our brains (with some unfortunate exceptions) have not evolved to expect extraordinary explanations when ordinary ones will do. It is the task of the competent conjuror to eliminate the ordinary explanations until only the extraordinary explanation remains. And this we do not by fooling the senses, but by inducing the imaginations of our audiences to fill the sensory gaps left by our carefully choreographed actions.

Thus, it is both inaccurate and misleading to say that the magician has fooled your eyes. In order to fool your eyes, I would have to alter the way photons of light fall on your retinas, a feat of which I am hardly capable. A much more interesting and satisfying and exciting task is to compel the imagination of the spectator to fill in the blanks I have left in a way that is consistent with my intentions and my narrative and to induce him to complete a familiar story from which certain passages have been deliberately omitted.

As Shakespeare wrote in (an early, unpublished draft of) Julius Caesar, “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our visual cortices, but in our reliance on top-down processing.”


This post was originally published on February 16th, 2011 as "The Role of Imagination in Magic" on the Lincoln Center Institute's Imagination Now blog. I've made some minor revisions to that draft because it's my blog and I can do pretty much whatever I want.

Further reading:

Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Imagination First: Unlocking The Power of Possibility
The Brain That Changes Itself
The Oxford Companion to The MInd

© 2011 Text and phrenology photo by Eric Walton. Photo of Genghis Kahn from here.

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/01/04/new-years-eve-in-quito http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/01/04/new-years-eve-in-quito Tue, 04 Jan 2011 02:11:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2011/01/04/new-years-eve-in-quito New Years Eve in Quito
By Eric Walton

It is the giddy aspiration of many otherwise sensible people to spend New Years Eve amid the chaos and cacophony of Times Square and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with complete strangers donning ridiculous hats and silly glasses as the iconic ball descends and the new year begins. And while [...]]]> New Years Eve in Quito
By Eric Walton

It is the giddy aspiration of many otherwise sensible people to spend New Years Eve amid the chaos and cacophony of Times Square and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with complete strangers donning ridiculous hats and silly glasses as the iconic ball descends and the new year begins. And while I am certainly grateful for such people, whose presence helps make New York City the vibrant and culturally important place that it is, as a person who is profoundly annoyed by noise-makers and people who use them, I've never shared their desire to celebrate New Years Eve in Times Square and the event has always struck me as something most New Yorkers contend with, rather than enjoy.

Of course there are many, many other things to do on New Years Eve in New York City, but as a resident of Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood adjacent to Times Square, I find that the sound of those cheap plastic noise-makers becomes bothersome at around four o'clock in the afternoon and totally unbearable by nine.

How thankful I was then to spend this New Years Eve in the beautiful district of La Mariscal in Ecuador's capitol city of Quito.

The festivities began early in the day and included live music, street performers, fireworks, the burning of effigies and the presence of many heavily-armed military personnel. And the closest thing to a noise-maker was a street vendor selling those bird-whistles that fit entirely in your mouth.

And thanks to the miracle of digital photography and the wonder of the Internet, I can share the highlights of this wonderful celebration with you.

Enjoy.



Rio Amozanas is the avenue on which many Quitoans gather for New Years Eve and the apartment in which I was staying was only a few blocks away. The avenue began to fill up at around two o'clock and by seven, there were thousands of people on the streets and dozens of street vendors made sure that nobody who wanted fried pig-skin, exotic fruit juice or cigarettes would have to do without.



This stage-hand is putting the finishing touches on an elaborate display of effigies in which Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is represented as a puppet-master who is controlling the president of Columbia and another figure who was identified as Falso Positivo.



This puppet is like the Justin Bieber of Quito. I don't know if he has his own cartoon show or motivational-speaking franchise or what, but people could not get enough of this guy.



Dudes with guns. This was a very common sight throughout Quito and not just on New Years Eve. It was also common to see a fellow with a pump-action shot-gun standing guard outside any store that sold electronics, or any merchandise that was worth more then forty dollars.



This young man is juggling three clubs and his own hat!



Folks, you have not seen adorable until you have seen a tiny Ecuadorian child in a monkey suit. Behold: The Epitome of Cuteness! OMG!



Perhaps inevitably, the majority of "effigies" on display were basically enormous corporate dioramas advertising the goods and services of various companies. The cell-phone company Porta was responsible for this display in which two little space-chums were riding space-gadgets of some kind. Innocent though the design may have been, tell me that handle-bar doesn't look exactly like a space-penis.



Perched several stories above Rio Amazonas, this balcony-dweller had an enviable view of the festivities. The best I could do, as a humble groundling, was take his photograph and then publish it on the Internet.



There were about a billion or so of these little guys surrounding several larger effigies on a platform. Here's a little cyber-experiment for you: look at the eyes of the one on the right, then move around the room. His crazy little eyes will follow you!



New Years Eve in Ecuador is somewhat like Halloween in America, in that people will often dress up in costumes and wear masks and wigs. This street vendor is selling paper-mache masks and an effigy of a Japanese cartoon character that will later be consumed in the merciless flames of conviviality.



Though there was a city-sponsored fireworks display later in the evening, it was rather modest by American standards. The disappointment was more than compensated for, however, by the ready availability of fireworks on the street. Roman candles were a dollar and were lit up and fired whenever and wherever people felt like it, which is precisely the kind of de-regulation I can get behind!



These children are doing exactly what I would have been doing at their age. This wire frame and flaming paper-mache hoof are all that remain of a once-great effigy of a horse.



While we Americans are accustomed to New Years parties lasting at least until midnight, such is not the case in Quito. By 10:30, almost everyone had left Rio Amazonas and gone home (or elsewhere) to be with friends and family (sans noise-makers) as the clock struck 12:00 and the new year began.

© 2010 Photographs and text by Eric Walton, Copyright 2010

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/10/06/a-prodigal-son-returns-to-florida-with-a-camera http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/10/06/a-prodigal-son-returns-to-florida-with-a-camera Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:05:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/10/06/a-prodigal-son-returns-to-florida-with-a-camera A Prodigal Son Returns to Florida (With a Camera)
By Eric Walton

For a brief period in my late teens, I lived in a suburb of Orlando, Florida. My memories of that time in my life are mostly, though by no means overwhelmingly, pleasant. I was in high school, studying French and drama, enjoying both subjects and excelling at at [...]]]> A Prodigal Son Returns to Florida (With a Camera)
By Eric Walton

For a brief period in my late teens, I lived in a suburb of Orlando, Florida. My memories of that time in my life are mostly, though by no means overwhelmingly, pleasant. I was in high school, studying French and drama, enjoying both subjects and excelling at at least one of them. I had a small group of close friends, many of whom I still know, over twenty years hence. And though I enjoyed my proximity to Daytona Beach and would sometimes go there with my friends and class-mates, I did not, at that tender and thoughtless age, fully appreciate the many majestic vistas of Florida's glorious shores.

Florida has approximately 1,350 miles of coastline, so it's perhaps reasonable to assume that no one, least of all a teenager preoccuppied with the conjugation of irregular French verbs, would ever see, much less appreciate, all of it. However, on a recent trip to the Gulf coast of Florida, I made it a point to see as much beach as I could and to document as many wonders of her magnificent shores as one man traveling on foot in the span of a single afternoon possibly could.

Behold the results of that afternoon:



I took this shot somewhat early in the day. Rain was forecast for the late afternoon, so I thought it prudent to get out of bed no later than 1:00 and take full advantage of what the day had to offer.



I was quite taken by the corona effect created by the sun behind the cloud in this photo, but I think that the phenomenon is upstaged by the seagull that happened to cross the frame at just the right moment. Felicitous indeed.



Observant viewers will notice that on the right side of this photo, near the horizon, is what appears to be a stump of some kind. It is in fact a crane: the very crane pictured below.



It was my hope to get a bit closer to this fine creature before it took flight, but it seems that these things spook easily.



The proper term for a group of seagulls is "wreck". Unlike the crane pictured above, this wreck of seagulls did not spook easily and in fact seemed quite indifferent to my incessant screaming.

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/07/25/marcel-proust-post http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/07/25/marcel-proust-post Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:43:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/07/25/marcel-proust-post Marcel Proust Post
By Eric Walton [...]]]> Marcel Proust Post
By Eric Walton

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a portrait of the famous nineteenth-century French novelist Marcel Proust by the equally French painter Jacques-Emile Blanche. Though I was looking at only a small, black and white reproduction of it in a paper-back book, I found the portrait quite arresting: the expression of worldliness and fatigue in Proust's eyes; the dark, open lips; the elegant Victorian attire; and, the way Proust's face seemed to emerge, specter-like, from the back-ground all gave the portrait a grave, ethereal quality that I found (and continue to find) captivating.



Portrait of Marcel Proust (1871-1922) by Jacques-Emile Blanche (1861-1942)

Fairly certain that Blanche wouldn't mind, I decided to take a photographic portrait inspired by his famous painting of Proust. I suggested the idea to a model named Claudia, whom I slightly knew, and she readily agreed to pose as the novelist. I was both impressed with and grateful for Claudia's willingness to help me bring the idea about and I think you will agree that she did a smashing job channeling the redoubtable and instructable Proust.



Portrait of Claudia Kiss by Eric Walton (July 17th, 2010)
© 2010

]]> http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/04/25/earth-day-2010 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/04/25/earth-day-2010 Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:34:00 +0000 http://ericwalton.com/blog/2010/04/25/earth-day-2010
























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