A Walk along the Old Croton Aqueduct – Ventilator 18 and its brightly colored stones

Ventilators, conical stone towers about 20 feet high, were placed about a mile apart along the Aqueduct “to give free circulation of air through the Aqueduct,” in the words of the chief engineer John Jervis. The aqueduct has 21 of these ventilators – this is number 18. Although interesting after a while they all tend to look very much the same… but not this one.

On my walks I’ve passed many of these ventilators, but this one is unique in my experience. Someone (or some people) have placed brightly colored stones around the base. This seems to have happened during the pandemic, possibly to cheer passers-by up. Very nice.



Taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XF 35mm f1.4 R

Paul’s house

I mentioned my friend, Paul in the preceding post (See: My friend Paul). This is the inside of his house. He has an fascinating collection of objects, the highlight of which is probably his collection of vintage magazines (not shown in these pictures). They are displayed in frames he designed so that cover is seen from the outside, but the inside of the frame contains the full magazine.




Taken with a Sony A6000 and 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 OSS.

New Year in Paris 2: Van Gogh Exhibition


While we were in Paris my wife was keen to see the the new digital exhibition in the Atelier des Lumières. So off we went. According to the exhibition’s web site:

The exhibition immerses visitors in the paintings of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), a genius who was not recognised during his lifetime and who transformed painting. Projected on all the surface of the Atelier, this new visual and musical production retraces the intense life of the artist, who, during the last ten years of his life, painted more than 2,000 pictures, which are now in collections around the world.

The exhibition explores van Gogh’s numerous works, which radically evolved over the years, from The Potato Eaters (1885), Sunflowers (1888) and Starry Night (1889) to Bedroom at Arles (1889). The Atelier des Lumières highlights the Dutch painter’s expressive and powerful brushstrokes and is illuminated by the bold colours of his unique paintings. Warm hues give way to sombre colours. The immersive exhibition evokes van Gogh’s highly emotional, chaotic, and poetic inner world and highlights the constant interplay of light and shade.

The thematic itinerary retraces stages of the artist’s life, and his sojourns in Neunen, Arles, Paris, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, and Auvers-sur-Oise. Visitors are transported into the heart of his works, from his early to mature years, and from his sunny landscapes and nightscapes to his portraits and still lives.

This is complemented by a new educational device inside the tank located in the centre of the Atelier: a selection of van Gogh’s famous paintings are represented in their entirety and accompanied by commentaries about his oeuvre and the museum in which it is exhibited.

The visual and musical work produced by Culturespaces and directed by Gianfranco Iannuzzi, Renato Gatto, and Massimiliano Siccardi, highlights the chromatic richness of his palette, as well as the potency of his drawings and his use of impasto.










Taken with a Sony RX100 M3.