Monday, March 8, 2010

big bad apple

This is Atlas, with the world on his back, bowing down before grace. That is Saint Patrick's cathedral, and these two beauties are in Rockefeller Center, New York City.

On my recent trip to NYC, I took this photo after deciding a year ago that I was going to come back and take it. Last year my team and I were walking the streets of new york and without a blink of the eye, we walked past this. I urged we stop and look, which we did, before hurrying off to the next store.

I remembered this. I remember wanting to back and see, remembering to go back and go into the church this past week. I just did some research and looked at close up photos and I realize that all I was looking for was to take a photo and really did not LOOK. I did not see he was made in the art deco style, or that his abs or trunk seemed much thicker than his arms, or his cool hair. Nor did I see the constellations and stars and moons on his banner, signifying that he was carrying more than just our planet. What was wrapped around his thighs? I did not see that the way the axis crossed, that it was pointing to the north star. How did his toes grasps around the edge of his platform? Here, this colossal titan... and I don't remember his face.

In three months I will go back and really meet poor Atlas, whom I so rudely snapped a photo of without a proper introduction.

It is amazing to me how quickly we adapt and allow ourselves to be completely unconscious in our daily lives, and even when we travel. We all have treasures of beautiful things in our back yards that people travel the world to see... let's make an effort to SEE them, in every detail, in all glory. The present is all we have.

This photo will last forever, but because I was not truly present... I was never really there.

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