Topic: American Image Gallery -- Good idea? (Read 6233 times)

JimH · « **on:** September 08, 2002, 05:02:09 am »

Last year, after the September 11 events, I thought it was important to just keep working, just help get things back to normal. So I discouraged talk here about the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters.

This year, I'd like to ask if you will help put together a series of pages that reflect what you know and love about America.

[If you live in another part of the world, I apologize. If this works, maybe we'll do a World Gallery later. For now, we need to do something for the country we call our home.]

If you're willing, you can send me pictures and I'll start adding them.

What I'm looking for are pictures that speak about the beauty of the place, the unique and quirky mix of people and customs here, and anything else you think is special. A picture of your grandparents, for example, or a giant redwood tree, or your friend with a fish.

If you like the idea, it would also be nice to have a few words to go with the picture. Your name and where you live, at least. A little description of the picture. Whatever you think is appropriate.

By the way, the idea came from the Museum of Modern Art. The museum had an exhibition this last winter of New Yorkers' pictures of New York, just tacked to the wall. It was very moving to see.

Open for discussion. Feedback welcome.

Here are some examples:

Fastyves · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2002, 05:54:02 am »

Hi Jim, nice idea.

"If you live in another part of the world, I apologize"

DON'T - Show us your country like you see it and feel it, so we can have a counterbalance to what we get through TV, Magazines and other medias : the poltical, economical and social facade of US.

Waiting for it.

Yves.

KingSparta · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2002, 06:30:08 am »

And The Project Is Called

'Living in America' Charted At 04 In 1986

Listening to: 'Living in America' from 'Rocky Story' by 'James Brown' on Media Jukebox

ChicoSelfs · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2002, 07:20:09 am »

Agree 100% with Fastyves...Take Care

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2002, 07:40:25 am »

You can send images to jriver @ jriver.com (no spaces), or you can post them here and I'll grab them.

Thanks,

Jim

lee269 · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2002, 11:57:30 am »

Jim - please just delete this if I am interfering.

Will you accept submissions from non-US citizens?

On Sep 19 2001 I was due to fly to San Francisco for my holiday. As it happened the airports were opened again a day or two before we flew. We agonised about whether we should go or not - it felt like we might be intruding on a country in mourning.

In the end we went - and we shouldnt have worried. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and we did not feel ashamed to enjoy ourselves, although the nation had obviously been deeply affected by events on 9/11. In a small village store in Yosemite I saw a note posted on the wall, remembering a guy who had previously lived there but who was killed in the World Trade Centre. It brought home to me how this thing had touched people throughout the country (and the world).

Next Thursday I am coming back to California for my holidays again. In the UK we have suffered the effects of terrorism many times, although thankfully I do not have first-hand experience of it. I am grateful that people instinctively understood that although you never forget, life must go on as before. I expect that next week I will arrive in a country that will welcome me openly, a country that I have come to admire enormously.

I hope this all doesnt sound too saccharine. I have only holiday snaps of tourist destinations. But they are photos of things I know and love about America.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2002, 12:11:54 pm »

Lee,
Please send anything you think is relevant. I didn't mean to make it exclusively for Americans. The struggle for understanding is borderless.

Thanks for thinking of us and for the nice, thoughtful note.

Jim

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2002, 03:42:27 pm »

So for comments, so far it stands at:

Europeans 3, Americans 2.

Sounds like a game of football.

Pictures above are:

An island on Lake Superior in the fall, shot from the cockpit of a sailboat.

My two daughters, Anna and Katie Rose, about ten years ago, at a birthday party at our old house, a rotten old log cabin 17 miles west of Minneapolis.

The dirt street my grandparents lived on in Rising City, Nebraska, population 400. One of my earliest memories. My grandparents lived in the house (to your right) from the time they were married until past their 50th wedding anniversary. It was built by grandfather's carpenter, a carpenter who was still building barns when he turned 80.

John Gateley and John Norris, both of JRiver, enjoying a quiet break at Rockefeller Center in New York City, after a meeting with Warner Music, who probably still thinks we're a lower form of life.

Scronch · « **Reply #8 on:** September 09, 2002, 02:59:15 am »

I'll play, by providing some imagery local to here.

The famous Cedarburg Mill, built in 1855.
It is on the National Register of Historic Places here.
In the Great Indian Scare of 1867, the locals gathered
to hide in the basement of the huge mill.
larger image

Modern day view of same, taken by yours truly.
larger image

The building happens to be the site of Silver Creek
Brewing Company, so I am intimately familiar with it.

Scronch

Scronch · « **Reply #9 on:** September 09, 2002, 08:52:27 pm »

Another nice pic of the mill. larger image

A 4th of July float. larger image

I guess no one else is feeling very patriotic.

Scronch

Mirko · « **Reply #10 on:** September 09, 2002, 09:03:10 pm »

The more pictures I see, the more I thinking, that the picture I have in mind from the US is not very accurate.

Thanks for letting me see all of this. Quite impressing.

JaredH · « **Reply #11 on:** September 09, 2002, 10:35:26 pm »

Main street in my hometown, Covington, VA. larger image

The freshwater falls about 5 miles north of Covington, VA larger image

Looking over the bridge that goes across the main river in town right after a heavy snowstorm. larger image

And finally, Humpback Bridge, about 5 miles west of Covington, VA. One of few covered arch bridges left standing in the country today. larger image

Economically this city is a dead zone, but there is enough beauty here to last a lifetime and beyond. I may move away, but Ill always find myself coming back to visit.

JaredH · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2002, 10:44:26 pm »

If i had the room, i would post pictures of some of the 150|PLS| different iron forges throughout the county i live in and the surrounding 4 counties. They have long since grown over with weeds and fallen into disrepair, but the historical society here has gone to some lengths to restore a few of them. This is one of the many, the Roaring Run furnace.

larger image

larger image

That happens to be one of the extremely well preserved ones. Some restoration has been done, but it is mostly original work i believe. Dont quote me on that though. Im no historian, though I am a little ashamed i dont know the whole history of my area.

zevele1 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 10, 2002, 06:07:28 am »

I am VERY surprise that hundreds and hundreds of pictures are not here,like kind of things people do for deads,or deads from AIDS,i do not remember the name :kilt?quilt?
Just doing one dedicated to life,in this case'my life his here'.An individual answer to the fact to be a target as a whole

Looked like a very good idea,but.....

Anyway,just now i want to wish you only one thing:a even-less 11th of september

JimH · « **Reply #14 on:** September 10, 2002, 07:36:25 am »

Here's a picture machinehead sent of his Thanksgiving dinner a while back. The arm about to be slapped is his.

larger image

JimH · « **Reply #15 on:** September 10, 2002, 09:32:23 am »

I've been trying to think of images that are part of what we think of as American but that might be less well known to people in other countries. Here are a few.

larger image
Both from rodeos in Wyoming, a western state.

larger image

larger image
Some of the oldest houses in the U.S. Lots of dignity. The first is the Fairbanks House, in Massachusetts. The second one is from a historic village called Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a small east coast town. Here is another from the same place.

larger image

larger image

Three views of the fantastic sky over Nebraska, where I was a boy.

JimH · « **Reply #16 on:** September 10, 2002, 09:49:28 am »

Then there are a lot of car shows and other celebrations of the Machine. Here are a few from a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota (middle of a big big empty space):

larger image

This last picture is typical of what you see on the highway for several hundred miles in any direction from Sturgis before and after the event.

Here's a link to a guy's page on the rally a few years ago.

http://www.movinon.net/Whatsnew/OldNews/August99/August1999.htm

lee269 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 10, 2002, 09:56:51 am »

Still learning how to use my new scanner, but heres a very blue tinted stitched together version of a landscape unchanged for centuries

larger image

JimH · « **Reply #18 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:06:11 am »

Hi Lee,
I grabbed your picture and made a thumbnail for it. It's a beautiful image. It's a picture of Yosemite Valley, with Half Dome on the right. It's a perfect American image.

Harry the Hipster is spending two weeks there about now.

Thanks for the contribution.

Jim

lee269 · « **Reply #19 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:16:08 am »

Jim

Thanks - Im still new to images, I tried to reduce it - the original scanned was about 2.5MB

HTH is a lucky guy.

JimH · « **Reply #20 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:26:34 am »

Then for some of us there is snow. Here in Minnesota it only lasts about ten months each year.

larger image
That flat land there is a lake with ice thick enough for cars to drive on it.

zevele1 · « **Reply #21 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:49:06 am »

No one living in the desert?
Would like some pictures

JimH · « **Reply #22 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:51:41 am »

Yes, if they are American. Well, hell, just send them and I'll say they are from Arizona.

JimH · « **Reply #23 on:** September 10, 2002, 10:58:02 am »

There is a lot of space here and still a lot of wild land. These pictures are typical of Northern Minnesota.

larger image

larger image

Two more, sent from Phoenix by an old member of the JRiver team:

larger image

larger image
Keith says: "These are photos of Rainy Lake in International Falls, MN. The forest you see marks the border between MN and Ontario."

Thanks, Keith!

JimH · « **Reply #24 on:** September 10, 2002, 11:09:36 am »

larger image
Christmas is a celebration here. It's more about commerce than religion. We drag a tree inside and decorate it.

Well sometimes, it doesn't fit.

lee269 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 10, 2002, 11:18:18 am »

Z

Sure: but I cant figure out how to get a thumbnail |PLS| 'larger image' in a post. Some large badly scanned pictures (sorry Jim I didnt want to risk screwing up images again):

larger image
A road on our way to Death Valley

larger image

A giant sequoia in Yosemite. We have a sequoia growing in our front room, a present from Wuksachi lodge. Its 1.5" high.

I wish I could get my photos to realy show how beautiful the landscape is. No more from me, unless I can find my photos of Fort McHenry from 2000. Anyway I must pack my bags for my trip to Arizona - we fly Thursday

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** September 10, 2002, 11:23:29 am »

A lot of people outside the U.S. know about Los Angeles and San Francisco, but how many know about the village of Mendocino, several hours up the coast from San Francisco?

larger image

zevele1 · « **Reply #27 on:** September 10, 2002, 11:36:15 am »

I mean people living in Texas,New Mexique,Arizona,south California,south nevada.

No MJ freaks in this parts of the country?No one to post me some pictures from Joshua Tree?

Place links to one of the most truly american musician,who understand that roots are something to be proud of
and need to be mix with today to give some of the more 100% american music records

Listening to: 'Buddies In The Saddle' from 'Wildwood Flower' by 'The Carter Family' on Media Jukebox

JimH · « **Reply #28 on:** September 10, 2002, 11:58:27 am »

Friends of Zevele:

larger image

larger image
Southern California

larger image
Sonoran Desert near Tucson, Arizona

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** September 10, 2002, 12:17:40 pm »

Perhaps because of the diversity of our people, we also have a lot of creative energy. Sometimes it may seem too much. Here are a couple pictures from something called the Watts Towers , built near Los Angeles in the 40's and 50's by a tile setter from his leftover materials and other scrap.

larger image

zevele1 · « **Reply #30 on:** September 10, 2002, 12:19:04 pm »

Thanks!

If one day i do again a long trip to USA,i want to go to all the south of the south,near the mexican border from Texas to the sea.

As we say in french:'mon Amerique a moi' kind of 'my America,mine' to state the very personal-99% of the time out of real America- picture,feeling who mades this 'mon Amerique a moi'

Of cause there is no need to have been there.

Can be an after 11th new post.

Mon Amerique a moi' is :route 66-Larry McMurtry America-Faulkner-San Francisco 1967\68

But first of all Larry McMurtry America

Listening to: 'East Virginia Blues' from 'Wildwood Flower' by 'The Carter Family' on Media Jukebox

JimH · « **Reply #31 on:** September 10, 2002, 12:22:29 pm »

Zev, try Jean Ritchie, for haunting mountain tunes.

zevele1 · « **Reply #32 on:** September 10, 2002, 12:23:50 pm »

There is in France a place where a men built a house and garden like it :facteur Cheval

Here a link in english

http://sadtomato.net/cheval.html

JimH · « **Reply #33 on:** September 10, 2002, 12:28:14 pm »

And all sorts of other "roadside attractions".

larger image

larger image

In the 30's, railroad cars were converted into diners. Here's Mickey's Diner in St Paul, from a postcard. More postcard diner pictures.

larger image

larger image
This is a place called Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, that has hundreds of old cars and a lot of other stuff.

zevele1 · « **Reply #34 on:** September 10, 2002, 01:00:40 pm »

Listening to: 'Baby-O - Jean Ritchie' from 'The Riverside / Folklore Series Volume 2 Singing The American Roots' by 'Various Artists - Fantasy / Riverside' on Media Jukebox

Found 9 songs-some with the Oscar Band - on 2 compilations on Emusic.

Thank you for the tip!
Sent already an email to my country music dealer who is .....in the english country side!

In Europe they make country cds who cost around $5.Good one i mean,not no-sense compilation.

I got the 2 cds Garter Family for under $10 the set at Virgin London

zevele1 · « **Reply #35 on:** September 10, 2002, 01:52:00 pm »

Where is the place with the kind of sculpture with cars?
There is few pictures on the Bruce Sprinsteen The River album

JimH · « **Reply #36 on:** September 10, 2002, 02:12:34 pm »

Some car sculpture here:

http://gabe.com/photo/index.asp?evt_id=3

sekim · « **Reply #37 on:** September 10, 2002, 03:43:24 pm »

I'm gonna add a couple here now. Guess we can't forget the ones we care about either. Here are a few that I care about...

larger image
Ryan And Zoie a few years ago in Halloween garb.

larger image
My Dad & niece Olivia at Christmas last year.

larger image
Ryan and Zoie once again. At a zoo down in Nebraska from a trip about a year ago with Grandparents and Mom. The pose is most unnatural!!

RemyJ · « **Reply #38 on:** September 10, 2002, 04:30:41 pm »

A few more from Yosemite.

I took in these on a trip in '91

Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

The view from my house most evenings

A few of my dad's friends. He doesn't remember where he
took the picture but it was somewhere in Europe
in early 1945.

A few of my friends.
This pictue I didn't take.
I was having a hard time just walking that day.

Scronch · « **Reply #39 on:** September 11, 2002, 01:50:14 am »

larger image
An image from the
real America's Team.

[edited by Matt for accuracy]

DeathRider · « **Reply #40 on:** September 11, 2002, 05:43:34 pm »

[links removed because they gave an error -- JimH]

I tried to post the image by the info in the help section but it wont work so I left the links instead.

zevele1 · « **Reply #41 on:** September 12, 2002, 07:58:22 am »

The loghorns one is great!

If i am not wrong ,Lise was in south of spain few months ago.
There is few places with hudge bulls in the midle of the countryside[=brown dust].They breed bulls there,the ones for racing-bull

JimH · « **Reply #42 on:** September 12, 2002, 08:21:52 am »

If you like the Longhorn, you'll also like this...

In the Western half of the country, where it is drier, there is an animal called the Jackalope. It is a cross between the antelope (something like a deer) and the Jack Rabbit.

larger image
This is one in the wild.

larger image
Here's one of the larger variety that have been domesticated for use in rodeos and other Wild West shows.

zevele1 · « **Reply #43 on:** September 12, 2002, 10:28:33 am »

I saw a Jackalope once in my life when huting a Dahut in the Pyrenees moutains.

To see both at the same time is even more rare than peace in middle-est,to tell you how lucky i am

The Dahut is kind of jackalope with 2 legs shorter than the others.
But 2 legs from the same size of the body.Like it he is very fast and stable when running on the mountains slides.
The only problem is that it is not easy for him to turn back.He needs some time,cannot do it fast.

Huting a Dahut is quite a hard task.Not only you have to find one,but you have to face him by surprise.He wants to turn back fast and fall.And you catch him.

Me and many others kids hunted the Dahut when in summer camp.Of cause at night when raining.

The most incredible thing is that we did it one year after one..!!!No one told us the true,first our parents.

zevele1 · « **Reply #44 on:** September 12, 2002, 02:06:30 pm »

I am going huting the Jackalope until sunday
Sunday evening Yom Kipourt starts.
So see you on Tuesday.
I hoppe the pictures still here,i would like to save some for Slide show

It was great to get all this pictures from US friends.

JimH · « **Reply #45 on:** September 13, 2002, 11:55:10 am »

From John Norris

larger image
On 9/10 my daughter, Dana, voted for the first time. She voted because as a young woman in America she can.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: American Image Gallery -- Good idea? (Read 6233 times)

lee269

Scronch

Scronch

zevele1

lee269

lee269

zevele1

lee269

zevele1

zevele1

zevele1

zevele1

zevele1

sekim

Scronch

zevele1

zevele1

zevele1