Manic Sunday - The Art Life

 Just another couple of days at Devil's Pool. Perfect lighting for me and someone was even cooking up a pair of Chucks. Men, women and children...the pool was enjoyed at all. Volunteers were there early in the morning and picked up bag after bag of garbage leaving the place spotless. I'm still not getting there in the afternoon because I'm waiting for a mostly overcast day.

My delivery of watercolor pads arrived this week and I was able to resume my portraits. Stock of these pads seems to be low right now and it would be ideal to purchase enough to last me through the year so I won't have to stop painting.

While I'll never be as close to the staff and regulars at Bob's Diner as I was to those at Little Pete's they're becoming a very close second. As almost the entire staff is closing in on 70 years old I'm very worried for it's future.

When is nighttime no longer night? Apparently after the city of Philadelphia replaces the warm glow of street lights with prison bright led bulbs. 

It began about 6 years ago when I was still living in Old City and walked the Ben Franklin Bridge at night. As night fell one night I noticed a big glow of light coming from 3rd street and as I walked down the bridge walkway I could see third street lit up like a movie set. Only it wasn't a movie set. All the street lights were replaced with led bulbs many times brighter than the originals and it looked horrible.

They city claimed it would save a few million dollars a year once the whole city was converted to these soulless sun bright bulbs. They claimed it would make the streets safer and who cared if the light emitted from them destroyed plant life and disrupted the sleep cycle of the residents. I guess they were trying to make the streets safer from me because five nights a week I was one of the only people on the streets past 8pm. Don't be fooled. The purpose of these bulbs is to give a false sense of security to the tourists and the newbie residents who are scared of the dark.

Fast forward to today and the this ridiculousness has reached my neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. The difference now is that some of the residents are fighting back! The new lights installed in this suburban setting are so bright they make you squint. I'm beginning to wish that Chestnut Hill could succeed from Philadelphia and join Montgomery County.

So beyond the health, vegetation and wildlife problems this lighting imposes it also kills the ability for night photography such as my "Sleepwalking" project that's about to enter it's 4th year. How can you photograph the night when there isn't one ?

Photo from the Chestnut Hill Local newspaper showing the new street lights at night.