This guy has been sitting outside a furniture store on Route 25 in St. Charles, Illinois, for at least 20 years. But he won’t last much longer if he doesn’t get some medical attention soon. His left leg is rotten almost all the way through, and he’s missing both his arms below the elbow. He also used to have a rifle in his lap. Here’s a picture of him in better times. I am unable to explain the little happy-face creatures that surround him.
It was only a matter of time before I brought my two greatest antique store purchases together. Each of them cost me $10 — is that a couple of bargains or what?
I had to laugh at myself as I walked to the nearby park carrying a red chair in one hand and a ceramic pig in the other.
And yes, I have painted the chair “wagon red.” After looking at the photos I took last Saturday, when it was gray and overcast, I decided it looked too brown. I determined that it wasn’t how the chair looked that was important, but how the chair looked in photographs.
The sun really was this color late on Memorial Day eve. I drove to one of the highest spots in town, set the chair on top of my car, backed up about 30 yards and waited for the sun to reach the right position.
I took another photo the same night that was so bizarre that it looked fake. I didn’t include it when I first posted, but decided later to add it.
Moments after I took the first photo, the sun dipped below a line of black clouds until only the top half showed. I lined it up so the top half rested on the seat of the chair.
My daughter walked in the front door around 10:00 pm and told me there was a huge moth on the porch. I went out with my camera and took several photos. It was back in a corner where I couldn’t get very good pictures. I coaxed it onto my finger and got some some better shots.
Then I had the thought — if it sat so cooperatively on my finger, maybe it would pose on the red chair. I had my wife bring it outside. The moth wouldn’t stay put on the chair — it kept flying back up to the porch light and beating itself against the glass. It finally settled where I wanted it, and I took some more pictures. But something still wasn’t right … I slowly moved the chair over by the steps so the background was the dark of night and not random porch railings. But now I was too far from the light and the flash on my camera was too harsh.
I decided to set my camera on night exposure, but to do that I needed my tripod. By the time I had everything set up — my camera on the tripod, the chair by the steps, the moth on the chair — more than half an hour had past. I started taking photos — and then, unexpectedly as if on cue, the moon rose behind the trees across the street.
This photo is cropped and brightened a bit, but otherwise unaltered. The moth is wild and free-flying. In fact, it got tired of the whole thing and took off moments after I took this shot. The reason the moth looks a bit out of focus is because it was vibrating slightly the entire time the shutter was open.
The Polyphemus Moth has a wingspan of six inches. Its name comes from the spots on its hindwings which reminded people of Polyphemus, the Cyclops in Greek mythology. The adult moths have no mouths and live for less than a week. The male (which I’m pretty sure this one was) spends its time flying around looking for females which spend their time laying eggs.
We went with a group from work to see the Cougars. About half an hour before the game began, I got a shot of a couple friends on the field. I decided, as long as I’d gone to the trouble of dragging the chair to the stadium, I’d try for another shot. I spotted Ozzie, the Cougar mascot, walking across the diamond and called him over. When I asked if I could get a photo of him sitting in my chair, he made hand motions to ask if I was drunk. But then he took the chair and set it up in foul territory down the first base line, near where the Cougar players were warming up. It’s a big costume, so the chair was mostly hidden, but here it is …
Here’s a photo my sister took of me taking the above photo.
The game was a fast one, lasting only two hours and 10 minutes. The Cougars came from behind in the eighth to win 3-2 and break an eight-game losing streak. (Click here for the box score.) I took a few random shots of the action on the field, such as it was.
Here’s the view from our seats, staring into the glaring late-afternoon sun.
