Prospects for 2020: Looking Up

The buildings of Old Town Pasadena offer hard evidence of the reality of Alejandro Morales'quintessential California novel (link) The Brick People. Those characters dug up Sleepy Lagoon wash and turned the mud into millions of red and orange bricks that make up the walls of Colorado Boulevard.

For some structures, modernization adds façades by hanging a curtain wall around old buildings, others add a second floor and exterior ornamentation.

Pedestrians and motorists cruising the main drag, Colorado Boulevard, thrill at the commercial outlets there at street level. Apple, Tesla, Peloton, Gap, Zara, Sur le Table, show off wares behind plate glass storefronts. Large SALE! signs and mannequins lure eyes and feet into the store. Pedestrians gather in front of displays and collide with apologies or curses.

Look up!

Find a convenient tree or lamp post out of the way of foot traffic and enjoy more of what's out there. The activity not only edifies, it slows you down and gives moments respite from the frantic bustle.

The new year is a time for looking up, setting goals with higher limits than 2019's standards. A person's reach should exceed their grasp, or what's a higher standard for? That's not just metaphor, it's useful behavior, looking up, taking in more of the world as you find it.

Marvelous architectural details await the eyes that seek them. I went out with a zoom lens ranging from 70mm to 300mm. The sun just around noon casts excellent shadows to define the curves and forms sitting silently out of sight, worth the effort to look up. With a long lens, the photographer needs to lean against lamp posts and buildings to steady the aim, especially using f/32 on that long lens.

Whatever your 2020 goals look like, I recommend adding one more to the list, one easily attained. Look up, see what more is out there!