Friday, September 05, 2008



It's funny how we can "see" things, and then through the help of the camera, we can "see" things differently. That's probably why I like photography so much. That and because it's kind of a legacy of sorts from my dad, I guess. Speaking of Dad, I paid special attention to this glass ball sculpture because Dad used to have several of these green glass balls around the house. He made really cool macrame hangers for them and hung them about. I think he got the glass balls from his USCG stint in the Pacific. Well, here I am on the other side of that ocean and obviously some other artist thought that they were an interesting medium, too. I'm not crazy about my compositions here, but I was fascinated in the material (the green glass) and it's reflective, refractive, and transparent qualities. It was also kind of a natsukashii (nostalgic) moment for me because they remind me of "home" (a little ironically, since I think they actually originate in Japan!).


Here's what the sculpture looked like in the hotel entrance way.

5 comments:

Tonykaku said...

nice photos, nice green, nice composition.
i have some of those glass (fishing i think) balls that i bought when i first lived in Japan around . . . 25 years ago. talk about natsukashii.

Ayako Christina said...

hey...i was looking up isahaya on google and came across ur blog...i just moved to isahaya a few months ago, and was wondering if you kno any fun things to do around here...? if u have any suggestions/advice, that would be great!! :)

Anonymous said...

I really like the first photo...and I can't figure out how where the reddish color on the left side comes from when I look at the sculpture photo... btw - looks like a very nice hotel! Is this where you stayed for your class?

Anonymous said...

Those glass balls are antique floats used for fishing nets and to mark locations of fish traps. They would be placed into a net "bag" and then attached to the fishing net or fish trap. We don't see them out on the water much anymore. It's a shame they've been replaced with styrofoam these days. It may be cheaper, but it's ugly and pollutes...

Ted

Tracey said...

Thanks, Ted!
Cara, the "red" to which you refer is from my computer :) And heh-heh NO this is not where I stayed when I was studying in Sapporo! In fact, I don't think I even took a photo of my room because it was quite unremarkable. Clean, but not very exciting...which made it perfect for studying.
Ayako, email me through this website to get in contact with me. "Fun stuff to do in Isahaya" well, it might be a short email :) The weekend of Sept. 20 we have the 'world-famous'(?) Nonoko festival. You've probably seen posters - you should come and check that out -