Monday, February 09, 2009

Bad, Bold, and Bodacious!

There's been a little exercise circulating in the blogosphere recently - you get assigned a letter of the alphabet and you have to pick ten words starting with that letter and get creative with it. I read Kim's "K" contribution on mouse medicine and was duly impressed, and since she volunteered to hand out further letters, I raised my hand. I got "B", so here we go!

Of course, living in a summer ocean resort, my first word is

B E A C H !
Easton's Beach in Newport, RI, also known as First Beach, also known as Newport Beach. This is a shot of the beach in January, but even in Winter it's a great place to hang out.






"Bridge" is a good "B" word. This is the Claiborne Pell/Newport Bridge, links Newport on Aquidneck Island with Jamestown on Conanicut Island.













Another apropos "B" word for Newport is "boat". I saw this beautiful schooner hull-down in a stiff breeze off Brenton Point last July.












A "B" word that I have a lot of fun photographing is "building". This is a shot of downtown Providence, RI, taken from Waterplace Park last May. I have a fascination with black & white shots of urban buildings both old and new, and Providence offers a rich treasure of old and new side by side.









Well look at this - now we get two "B" words in one picture: "bowl" and "block". And here we have a beautiful Dansk™ fruit bowl on a bamboo chopping block. I worked for Dansk™ for 11 years, so naturally most of my kitchen and dining table is stocked with stuff I got at work.










The next "B" word is "bottle". This was part of a photo shoot I did to illustrate the four elements, this being a shot for the element Water (you can see the final result of the shoot here). The bottle (yes, there's really only one; it was sitting in front of one mirror and sitting on another) is an antique medicine vial I found in a shop, and it holds water from Gooseneck Cove and sits on my personal altar to symbolize Water.












Of course, considering who I am and what I photograph most, one of my more important "B" words is "bird". You've seen this gorgeous little White-throated Sparrow before, but I thought I'd bring him back for this article anyhow.










Another important "B" word for me is "Buddha". I found this hand-carved Olivewood Laughing Buddha in a booth at the 2005 Newport Folk Festival, and I just had to have it. He now sits in one of my bookshelves. And that's the perfect segue to...












My last and probably my most important "B" word - "books". Here's that same Buddha sitting in his special spot on one of my bookshelves among a collection of books on various world religions. He looks very comfortable there, doesn't he?








And that's my collection of ten words beginning with "B"!

© 2005, 2008 & 2009 by A. Roy Hilbinger

11 comments:

  1. You just know I had to enlarge that last one; great collection of books on spirituality.

    You've got a great eye. Did you do design/photography for Dansk?

    See you; I'll be semi-out-of-the-loop starting tomorrow until Sunday or Monday.

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  2. Beautiful! Especially the water bottle - I looked at that one for quite a while.

    And speaking of Providence, do you 'do' cemeteries there, too? Could I email you some names to look for?

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  3. tut-tut - Thanks! And as for Dansk, I was a sales associate and supervisor at the Newport factory outlet store.

    Megan - I really don't, sorry. I want to go up to the Swan Point cemetery if I can find out where it is, so I can go up to do a photo shoot there - it's the ultimate Victorian setting and H.P. Lovecraft is buried there. But there are a ton of cemeteries in Providence and I have no idea where things are up there. Heck, I've lived here on Aquidneck Island since 1974 and I'm still stumbling over little family plots hidden away by the roadsides.

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  4. wonderful photos, wonderful list and looks like a wonderful place to live!

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  5. Each time I read someone's new post - no matter the "theme" or subject matter, I learn a bit about him/her and file that bit away. I love learning what others are about. I've asked mouse for a letter...

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  6. ...and B for Busy too! Great photos!!

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  7. Roy,

    I can't think of a better letter for you. Just birds alone remind me of you!

    Nanina

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  8. Thanks so much for your comments, everybody!

    Nanina!!! I didn't know you had a blog on Blogger! Thanks for dropping by. And yeah, of all the people around here, you certainly do know about me and birds! LOL!!!

    Kelly, busy is right! I've been busier since I've been unemployed tha I ever was when I actually had a job. Go figure!

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  9. BRAVO!!!!!

    I was so excited when the jar provided a B for you....of course, the first image that popped into my brain was that delightful white throated sparrow.

    I love the laughing buddha....

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  10. What a terrific collection of photos and such an excellent choice of B-words.

    Bravo!

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