Friday Foto Finish Fiesta

It's Friday and it's a Fiesta !! At least it is, thanks to Candid Carrie ! :-)

I love taking photos of pretty scenes, flowers, people I love and so on. However, sometimes also like taking photos of life as it really is. Photos that may not appeal to everyone, because they show a side of life that we may not always want to see.

I like the history and stories behind these types of photos. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to find the real story. Other times you can glean enough, by talking to people that have been around for a time, to imagine a bit of the history.


This wishing well has always appealed to me. As has the decaying statue of a deer, in the photo below. They both stand in the grounds of a brick, single storey, apartment complex that has seen better times. The style of the buildings and these garden decorations, give the impression that it would have once been an elegant place to live in. That these buildings once belonged to someone who cared.



I spied this elderly Asian lady, pushing her shopping trolley along the street. She was having a lot of difficulty, getting over many of the icy spots on the footpath. As I caught up with her, I heard her ask a young man if he could help her get the cart over the curb. His reply was less than polite, as he walked off.

As I walked up the street with her, helping her over the ruts of frozen snow, etc, she told me a little of her story.

She had been a 'mail order bride'. Her American husband had abandoned her and their son for a newer model. She was very proud of the fact that she had raised her son by herself and that he was now at a good college, studying to be a doctor. She told me that 'He's a good boy'. Much of the credit for that, I think, should go to this woman, his Mum.


Another house, that has seen better times.

I've been told by some of the old timers, in the area, that these were once really nice homes in an area that was semi rural. Now they have been absorbed into the city and are home to drug dealers, gang members, sex offenders and others of that ilk.





The above two photos are of an old abandoned motel, that sits just across from the Peppermill Casino.

Towards the end of 2007, two homeless, Vietnam Veterans were squatting at the motel. It was an extremely cold night and they lit a fire to try to keep warm. The room they were in caught fire and both men died.

Veterans make up a large proportion of America's homeless population. So for me, these last two photos show a contrast.

On one hand you have a squalid, decaying motel and a burnt out room where two of, what President Bush calls 'America's Heroes', died.

On the other hand, directly across the street is a Casino, with all it's glittering lights, cheap food, scantily clad cocktail waitresses, money and opulence.

It gives you pause for thought....