More Harris Shutter

That strange little photo app on my phone, Harris Shutter, continues to perplex me. I'm trying to find an ideal light/dark situation in which I can use it to maximum effect. A Christmas window (above), transformed (below).

Times Square: Silent

What lies beneath: I have often taken people to visit the "audio sculpture" called Times Square: New York (listen here) that is located under some metal grills at the very center of Times Square, the traffic island at 46th Street right where Seventh Avenue and Broadway overlap.

It's a mysterious but harmonious constantly-playing chord, that emanates upwards from beneath your feet. The artist, the late Max Neuhaus, created it back in 1977, from the cacophony of trucks, trains, clunks, clanks, yells and screams which he recorded one day in and around Times Square: out of the strong came forth sweetness; out of the  of Times Square comes forth harmony. And it plays 24 hours a day... except that last week, I took someone to hear it, experience it, and.... silence. We stared down at the metal grill, and no sound was to be heard.

I wonder why? Will it return? I hope so!

"...and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father"

This is not a sparrow, but it has most definitely 'fallen on the ground', to quote from the Book of Matthew. 

I don't know what kind of bird it is, but I am going to guess it is a type of swallow...? I saw it today lying on a street in Astoria. It may have come to grief by hitting a car window, reflecting today's bright, sunny sky. 

Concluding with some more verses from Matthew, chapter 10:

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.