My good mate in NYC has written a wonderful intro to my piece on Bahia Honda.
I hope you all take a moment to go over there and check it out. Thanks to all the good people over at Beliefnet for making this happen. It is a good way to round out the year.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/onecity/2009/12/bahia-honda-the-edge-of-forever.html
On a little wander over the weekend in the town across the river from Tokyo of Urayasu, I stumbled across a few little gems in the glowing winter light.
It is a rare sight to see a bullet hole in Japan. Granted these were probably caused by a BB gun’s bullet, and not a black powder cartridge. Still, the all too familiar concave exit hole told the Miamian in me what it was. I wonder who and why it was done.
I have always planted my roots near the ocean. I have never strayed far from what the sea has to offer my soul. Whether it was the Gulf of Mexico, The Atlantic Ocean, San Francisco Bay, or all the way to Tokyo Bay, the blue green has been there for me to look out into the water and see myself. At times, the murky water looks back and asks me questions. We as a global community are tied to the sea. We cannot escape these bonds. We must nurture them so that the sea will be there for us. I need the waters in my life to meditate, to align my compass in the proper direction. This is what Bahia Honda is for me. The source I return to when I am lost.
I have traveled down there from Miami many times alone and other times with my wife, brother, and father. There is something about the journey to the ocean’s edge driving down that long two-lane highway US 1 a mere 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Key West, Florida. Bahia Honda sits on the melding of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. These two masses of water create the gravitational spot of Bahia Honda State Park. Most people just zip right on past it with their cars. Few ever make that turn off on South US1 and into the tiny meditative locale.
Bahia Honda is an intersection where iron, concrete, sand, and tropical waters all meld into the extraordinary. It is a last refuge one can travel to before there is nothing but endless ripples of water. The manmade will slow return to its elements and meld with the sea. We need to care for our seas. We need to mend them when they are crying out for pain.
To stand at the edge of the quickly dilapidating bridge and stare off into my dreams of nearly 20 years ago is to be a youthful again. The location bridges my past into my unseen future. Looking back and into the future with the eyes of my youthful days when the days were as infinite as the horizon.
My Analog Bridge to my Dreams, 2009
Dad Reflecting out into the Ocean, Bahia Honda, 1992
Self Portrait with my Father at Bahia Honda, 1992
Vertical Bridge, Bahia Honda, 1992
Pointing Palm, Baha Honda, 2000
Jerry and Me, 2009
Hugging Palm, 2009
Two Palms, 2009
Edge of Forever, 2009
Big Blue Bahia, 2009
ahhhhh, I really did!
Happy Holidays to everyone out there, no matter what your faith might be.
one love
m2c
jacob
After a traditional end of the year party, I wandered back to Gyotoku station, snapping a few frames along the way. The time was only 7:30 p.m. but these pics feel like they were taken in the middle of the night. It might just have been the hot water and shochu I had been drinking. Or it could just be the magic of that town just across from Tokyo, Gyotoku.
Look closely at all that surrounds you in this world. There are hidden treasures in all little nooks and cracks in this crazy mixed up beautiful world. If anyone knows what the fruit in the picture is please let me know.
So I was enjoying the weekly stroll back to the station this afternoon. The sun was out, the wind was blowing on the streets of Ichikawa. Today the abstract caught my lens. I was tuned into the the shapes, colors and textures that made up my walk. Look and you shall see, if you really want to.
Got to head home a bit earlier than usual today. Which was good, because when I have been heading home recently the sun has already set. So, it was a great pleasure to be out in the sun and to catch that beautiful white light you get around this time of year.
A lost piggy wiggy, that I have been eyeing for a couple of weeks, but the light was never right to catch it. A lone mikan sitting on top of a wall just a block from Kasai Rinkai station, and some lovely drippy scribbles on a tree. Ah, the year is just about done, and there is so much to do.
I was waiting for the train in the cold at Nyan Gyo (as the locals like to say) otherwise known as Minami Gyotoku tonight after the sun set at like 4:30. Just on the outskirts of Tokyo in Chiba, it is a hub of activity and full of commuters. In need of repair there were some nice picking with the signs at the station.
This poor poster was not able to survive. It laid crumpled in a heap on the side of the road.
Found this wind torn poster fluttering in the wind the other day on my way back to my home.
Riding though my neighbor hood on a bright and sunny day yesterday, an old beat up camera shop sign caught my eye. I am always on the look out for these kind of shops, because you never know what kind of little gems might be in their display cases.
So I propped down my kick stand and peered into the shops window. There were some polaroid cameras in the display window, and on the other side there were three film projectors. A little treasure drove tucked away in my neighbor hood that I had never found before. I started to chat with the owner about cameras, and what I was looking for. He said he only had a few cameras for sale, but we talked about the good old days when you needed to know a bit about cameras in order to get a picture taken.
It was great talking with him. In these days, these shops are 90% all digital, or they do both. I hope to stop in again, and have a chat.
