Happy Graffiti

This picture series was taken on May 16, 2012 starting at 4:30 am 

The location was on Wisconsin Ave in Bethesda Maryland 

The "Take It!" came from being a little slow early in the morning and not really noticing what I was looking at for many mornings preceding my revelation look. I had been accessing the major road of Wisconsin Ave via a side road from my neighborhood for some time. The side road actually dead ends at Wisconsin with the use of a guard rail on the opposite side of the intersection being in place for many years. What I had not noticed, or not focused on were the three little diamond signs place just above the guard rail at the dead end. This is to help ward of cars from hitting the rail as well as give just that much more direction to merge onto Wisconsin Ave. There are other signs at the intersection pointing this way.  

The After Take: What had initially caught my eye was the set of techno smiley faces on two of the three yellow reflective signs. For whatever reason the third sign was left untouched, perhaps to help show off the artists work via contrast. I can only guess that the techno look to the eyes and mouths are in deference to the shape of the sign rather than opting for the traditional look of the shapes of these features found when the object is round. Perhaps there has been a huge shift in how this is now universally done and I am  just now catching on to it. 

The means has brought about the desired end, at least in my case, that I smile back at this wonderfully silly reminder to not get up tight when for a good reason something has come to an end.

The Other Photo's:

# 1  This was the first photo taken on May 15, 2012.   A rainy morning and a rushed picture taking as just saw  humor in the graffiti and had a car behind me, so I could not spend a leisurely time in getting the right focus on the subject. I included it because some to whom I showed it liked it for its colorful composition and the added reflections from the wet street. I had originally thought to toss this shot, but now think it is fun especially in the context of the run of the little story. 

# 2 and beyond. I returned to the intersection on the next day which was my day off.  I got up early in order to be able to actually park the car and go back on foot to the intersection to play with the time of day and the lighting as well as positioning. I actually had a large enough time gap to shoot some pictures, go and get back into my car, buy a USA Today, then return in order to have just that much more day light available. In all the years I have lived here and gone through that intersection I had never gone through it as a pedestrian. I now know how to play with the cross walk availability call button to get the best results. I do not even want to speculate what the drivers of other cars may have been thinking as they saw me out there taking pictures of what I feel relatively certain they never knew. 
 

Here is the hope that a second or more look will find for you another reason for a smile. 

Thanks for joining us for the current photo presentation. You are cordially invited to return Tuesday, June 16th for a new picture that we hope you will enjoy.

All the best,

Bruce