Lens Is More

Category: Structure

  • Reminder, Berlin

    C. Thompson
    Its breadth still fails to capture the enormity of the crime.

    Berlin is a gritty place, both beautiful and ugly. Some of the older buildings are still pocked with bullet holes that reveal the angle and placement of their shooters. Hitler’s bunker is now a nondescript gravel parking area/dog run. The outline of the Berlin Wall is a bike path in spots. The Jews who were exterminated are remembered with little brass plaques outside those houses where they used to live and by this monstrous memorial near the Brandenburg Gate. Despite my usual reluctance toward nationalism, on this day I was glad I was born in the U.S. (2010)

  • View from Château de Verbust, Saint Mamert, France

    C. Thompson
    Pairs well with wine.

    (2009)

  • Passive rivalry, New York

    C. Thompson
    Peaceful coexistence

    Presumably, one had no use for the other. (2009)

  • Vineyard, Saint-André, France

    C. Thompson

    Le Granier looms.

    We went out for a walk, Cécile and I, from her house in Les Marches. Down to the lake, with teens hanging out by the water fountain and families expanding their lives on the lawn. The vineyards encroach up onto the side of the mountains now, thanks to technology, but this slope seems more natural. (2008)

  • Mystery establishment, Tokyo

    C. Thompson
    Everything else on this street looked normal.

    This place sits on the little side street that runs along railroad tracks. I had no clue what lay behind those doors, but it looked naughty. (2007)

  • Twilight, East Orleans, Mass.

    C. Thompson
    To the right, which is east, waves tell stories of tomorrow’s fishing.

    My mother’s parents built this house on some high ground about a quarter-mile from the beach for their retirement in 1967. In September’s final weeks, there’s a peace that settles over the land, which juts out about 35 miles into the ocean off the mainland. By this time of the evening, my back is sore from spending all day wading with a fly rod in hand, and, if memory serves, there’s a bourbon on ice just below the bottom of this frame. (2007)

  • Sunrise, Singapore

    C. Thompson
    Low tide is better for fishing.

    Even at this hour, the tropical heat will leave you drenched. Soon the small fishing boats will arrive, giving way to the tourist boats that course up and down this vein that cuts through the city-state, revealing a quilting of old stucco and soaring glass. (2007)

  • Near the Col du Galibier, Savoie, France

    C. Thompson
     
    The air looks cool, but the sun was hot.

    Driving in a foreign country heightens the experience. I drove the family’s Renault minivan, pulling over every 15 miles or so to wait, while my wife and her parents attacked the mountains on their bikes. Bicyclists are given the right of way on France’s mountain roads, perhaps because it’s understood they’re attempting a fair fight. (2007)

     

  • Next to the train tracks, McCloud, Calif.

    C. Thompson
    Once in a while, something came down the road.

    (2007)

  • Old Colony Tap, Provincetown, Mass.

    C. Thompson
    Late morning, mid-September

    The usual drill is to wait for the rainy day that always comes. Let the fishing rod and muscles rest. Arrive around 10 a.m. It’s a shot-and-beer bar, and by noon you’re ready to wander Commercial Street. (2006)