Saguaro Wanderings: Seeing 2011 (#171)

For your consideration: a composition offered as a black-and-white counterpoint to the last post . . . form versus function.

After several years harboring a low-grade obsession (is there such a thing?) I finally returned to the site of what I consider to be one of the oddest ostensibly mainstream religious objects around, a 32-foot tall stainless steel homage to Mother Mary.

Despite the location being local (less than five miles from my home), I'd not approached this memorial since c. 2004. Several things were different then: I was using a Canon G2, my first digital camera (a robust 4Mp); it was daylight; and I'd yet to develop a blog. What has not changed, however, is this: a remarkable edifice, one can evoke a startlingly vast range of mood and messages simply by taking time to consider photographing it from a number of unconventional vantage points.

Indeed, from my virginal visitaion of this subject I came away with several images meant to depict a decidedly un-welcoming sense of scenery; a few examples of this can be found in this archive gallery from my original website (you'll need to scroll through a few sets of images in the scrolling slide strip for the reward, but do take a look).

This most recent canvas seems a bit more ambivalent to me: the harsh lighting washing over her metal attire recalls something of a knight's suit of armor, while the outstretched arms are less of a inviting embrace (as is the original sculpturer's clear intent) than a posture of pleading to an ill-defined orb.

That glowing sphere happens to be the Moon, which, thanks to the astonishingly wide angle of my lens fell into the broad confines of this scene. (I took several more shots attempting to capture a version correctly exposed version for the moon alone, but in the final editing I decided that the relatively dim, quite small mottled-sphere would be more of an ill-defined distraction instead of glowing beacon.)