Round Robin: Resolutions and Revolutions

It's time for the Round Robin Photo Challenge again, and this one challenges the brain as much as the camera. For the topic "Camera Resolutions," Steven asks us to devise three new Round Robin topics for the new year, and photograph one of them.

But I've been feeling rather bereft of ideas recently, and as of 8 PM had no clue what to photograph. I even took a nap, literally hoping to dream up something. My dreams this morning were haunted by Bruce Campbell, of all people; but my evening nap brought me no dreams at all. So I did what I usually do in these situations. I went to Safeway. Here is what I came up with:

Camera Resolution #1: Fabulous Faces. I resolve to photograph more faces in 2009.

Cliff (anime, sf and Hitchcock fan, DVD collector, joker) smiles for the camera.

Here is my friend Cliff from Safeway, obligingly posing for this Challenge. I very seldom photograph people except at church, and that is usually a group shot or from a distance or both. John doesn't want to be photographed, because he likes his privacy. But I'm not so much of a hermit that I can't find anyone to photograph. I just need to be braver and more outgoing, and make more of an effort. So let's have a challenge that's specifically about photographing faces. I need the practice!

Camera Resolution #2: Safety First. I resolve to photograph things designed to keep us safe.

Multiple safety devices can't prevent people from driving like jerks.

Our everyday lives are full of warning labels, highway safety devices, childproof packaging, and on and on, all meant to keep us from doing something stupid and consequently being killed or injured. Some of it is vital, some merely silly. Let's photograph some of these sentinels of our health and safety. In this case, we have several on display: a speed bump, a street lamp and safety reflectors, not to mention the light of my car's headlights! Some people have no regard for such efforts, though. As I slowed down to photograph this speed bump, a guy honked at me and passed me on the left, speeding past at 30 MPH or more in a residential zone at night. I sometimes drive that fast in my neighborhood, but I wouldn't zoom past someone at a speed bump to do it!

Camera Resolution #3: Wheels. I resolve to photograph some wheels. In fact, I've done it!

The humble shopping cart gets an upgrade.

Let's have a Challenge that all about wheels, and things on wheels. The obvious candidates for such photos are cars, trucks and buses, but there are plenty of other vehicles to photograph as well.

"Wheels" - the choice of young J.D.s everywhere.

And here's where Safeway really got my brain jumpstarted. There were some teenagers who had been harassing people in the parking lot (This was 10:45 on a Friday night), and as I was leaving the store they had come inside, dumping their bicycles just inside the double doors. And there they were: wheels, waiting to be photographed.

Attention shoppers! We've made this cart harder to steal!

But the wheels that really interested me tonight were on another vehicle entirely. Last weekend I dragged John with me to Safeway, and he became fascinated with the new (or newly refurbished) shopping carts there. Each cart has a notice that if you try to take it beyond one of the yellow lines at the edge of the parting lot, the wheel will lock.

How does this work, exactly?

John was dubious. After we unloaded the groceries he examined our cart, even turning it upside down for a closer look at each wheel. He saw no evidence that the "boot" over one wheel was capable of moving to lock the wheel, or any other mechanism that would allow the cart to prevent theft as claimed. He was all for giving a practical demonstration, but I managed to talk him out of it.

Wheels of the future? Maybe! They don't squeak, anyway.

Now let's see everyone else's Photo Resolutions! And remember, you're welcome to join in, too. See the Round Robin blog for details.

Karen

Linking List

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...if we only had a wheelbarrow...

It should surprise no one that I frequently dash over to the local Safeway between 10 PM and the store's midnight closing time. I sometimes do this at John's request, sometimes because we're out of something, and sometimes to, ahem, buy ice cream. It's only half a mile away, the Safeway for which my "Safeway Sunsets" are named. And there's a clerk there, Cliff, who is an attraction all by himself, with his encyclopedic knowledge of anime, sf and classic tv, what's out on DVD and what is imminent, and what web sites can supply the specific info you need. He's smart and funny and friendly, an ex-teacher with a fondness for Hitchcock and Amtrak. I'm certain that many people shop there specifically because he works there.

Recently, though, those nighttime trips to Safeway have been less pleasant. Oh, Cliff is the same as ever, the selection is decent* and the prices are okay. But they're refurbishing this store, which can't be more than about ten years old; and night time is when the bulk of the construction goes on. So far they've replaced the floor in Produce, installed new cases for baked goods, and made a start on a Starbucks counter. Mostly they've been fussing with the floors and ceiling, measuring and marking and (as Steven Moffat calls it) "urgently standing." The sound of jackhammers is not uncommon in this Safeway after dark.


Sometimes I wonder whether I should request a hardhat just to shop there. The place really is a construction site. Just tonight there were three guys on scissor cranes (or whatever they're called) just inside the main doors. The bagel display case was covered with plastic and I didn't want to disturb it, so no bagels for morning. Architectural plans lay on a table, and guys were conferring near the meat department.


The green crane thingy hauling cement by the front door wasn't John Deere, but might as well have been. (Sunbelt was the brand, I think.) A section of the parking lot is blocked off as a staging area. And walking between the main doors and the staging area was the guy who gave me an excuse to quote The Princess Bride, the slender thread by which I hang this entire blog entry: a man with a wheelbarrow.


Pointillist wheelbarrow, sort of

No sign of Inigo, Fezzik or the albino.

Karen

*It is not possible to buy the whole range of groceries and brands at any single grocery chain in Tucson. Generally you need three of them, or to do without this bubble bath, that salsa or the other ice cream. We have no idea why this is so.