Thursday, October 11, 2007 – Seeing the Future

The essential question in preparing for the future – at least out here –

There is no avoiding the future. It simply "is" – as you can see.

Will the 21^st century be the Chinese Century? You can get a jump on that by having lunch at Mao's Kitchen on Melrose Avenue – and they do have neon.

Will the 21^st century be another American Century?  The stork brings what it will.

Will the old truths prevail? The idea that it is "almost" better to give than to receive is clearly fading, and for some reason Joan Crawford has supplanted Marilyn Monroe.

"Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" That's a bit unlikely. They look pretty useless.

A more modern cherub, a post-modern cherub –

It may be best to retreat to the concrete and immediate – and just enjoy the pleasant, colorful and utterly meaningless present.

If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back this site.

Technical Note:

Most of these photographs were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0.  Earlier photography was done with a Sony Mavica digital still camera (MVC-FD-88) with built-in digital zoom.

All text and photos, unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik