Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected
“To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” Oscar Wilde
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – street art
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – the famous postwar Times Sq kiss
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Madame Tussaud’s hand
One of the joys of having access to a major city is that, without doubt, you’re bound to come across the unusual, the unexpected, and the creative surprise piece that puts a smile on your face. I live close to NYC, and whenever possible, I make my way to Manhattan, Brooklyn or further out field, and wander around, inhaling the chaos and artistic works.
In the first collage above are shots of bright and beautiful wall/street art created on the sides of buildings near the The High Line; an above ground, “1-mile New York City linear park built on a 1.45-mile section of the elevated former New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line” (Wikipedia), in Chelsea. The last, lower right corner, shot of hanging bottles in a window display, belong to Antropologie; a retail store display inside the Chelsea Market.
The second collage, which caught my eye as I headed for the highway on a jaunt into the city, is quite impressive. It is a huge, bronze, perfectly manicured hand holding up the Madame Tussaud’s sign in Times Square.
“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” Heraclitus
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Before I die project
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Before I die messages
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Lenin, a wedding and a bird
The Before I Die Project, above, was originally created in New Orleans by Candy Chang after she lost a loved one. The project now travels globally, and these photos were taken in White Plains where the project made a pit stop in the summer. It drew a lot of attention and, as you can imagine, lots of commentary.
On the next collage, the statue of Vladimir Lenin ensconced atop a luxury building in the East Village is known as Red Square Lenin, and stands waving at passing cars headed for the FDR Drive. The startled little bird showed much courage as I took photos of it and so I added it here. The young newly weds were crossing the steps of Low Memorial Library at my Alma Mater, Columbia University, uptown in Harlem, as students milled around minding their own business. The juxtaposition of the bride walking by other casually dressed students made for a captivating shot.
For this Photo Challenge, I decided to share some of the wonderful, eclectic art pieces I found on The High Line, and added photos of other unexpected street art from around the city. I’ve created a slideshow above to give a more comprehensive look at the photos shared here and I’ve included a few more photos that fit the category – Unexpected. Please see the rest below. Thank you!
“Always expect the unexpected. Right around Thanksgiving, when the new Alex Cross will be out…” James Patterson
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Yoga at Times Sq
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Yoga partial head stand pose.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Sculpture of Pan in the High Line and Hanging Bottles display
Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – Hanging bottles
Lats summer, on June 21, 2013, thousands of yoga enthusiasts gathered in Times Square to for the Mind Over Madness Yoga event. I attended the event and was blown away by the magnificence of joining many others for yoga movements in the middle of Times Square. We practiced postures, meditated, and rejuvenated the mind, body and spirit. The yoga posture shots above are from that day. It was a fairly typical day there as workers and tourists milled around taking photos and going about their business. The event, Solstice in Times Square: Athleta Mind Over Madness Yoga, was organized by The Times Square Alliance and Athleta; It was memorable.
The last collage showcases the hanging bottles again and a new sculpture – Pan; a bronze Satyr in a Scottish kilt, lurking in HighLine Park. It was created by the artist, Sean Lander, as part of the High Line’s Busted exhibition; a series of ten sculptures installed along its path. I hope you enjoyed your visit to this blog. Do come back as I plan to upload posts on ALL the Weekly Photo Challenges I missed this year.
This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected Your photo challenge this week is to capture something unexpected. You can also interpret the theme in other ways: a street scene or landscape that just doesn’t look quite right, an impromptu portrait of a loved one, or any other image that reveals a sense of surprise.
I’ve added some related posts from fellow bloggers; recommended by Zemanta. For more, check out how others interpreted the theme – WP Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected – also see below.
Positive Motivation Tip: Life is full of precious and unexpected moments. If we pay attention, we soon learn to hear the murmuring of Mother Earth’s heart as she plants surprises, lessons, and even stern teachings in our path.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
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These are beautifully unexpected Elizabeth! Oh how I wish I could do a yoga handstand again…I think those days might be behind me…lol. Maybe the bottle sculpture is still attainable…lol 🙂 Lovely checking in with you again and now I have to go back and see what I’ve missed. Hope your weekend turns out to be wonderful. 🙂
TY so much for stopping by Veronica! I’ve been on hiatus for a while and decided to get back on for the rest of the year. Appreciate the support. 🙂
Eliz
I love this idea!
Excellent. Loved all the photos. That yoga pose on the forearms, that is SO strong, I happen to know. I can’t do it. That was amazing.
Love the hanging bottles concept.
here, when you saw someone having yoga in the street, many will think odd about that person.
allan (www.chemistdad.com)
These are awesome photos, Ms. Eliz! love the hand holding Madan Tussaud’s sign.
Wow, what great graffiti and street art! You seldom see those in the Philippines. 🙁
Great pictures. I love to snap unexpected stuff along the street too. 😉 Wish I could do the yoga pose someday.
I like the idea of hanging bottles, creative! 🙂
Those are awesome pictures! (oh, i read alex cross too
Great finds! It’s always nice to have your camera handy whenever you go out of the house.
Great photos! I also like the idea of the hanging bottles, they look so cool
Great pictures! 🙂 That, Before I Die project sounds cool.
NYC is a melting pot of interesting people, arts and activities. 🙂 That’s why I miss NYC! 🙂
Imagine seeing someone doing the yoga hahaha! How on earth can she able to concentrate on the number of people looking at her. awesome!
What spectacular pictures! Such vibrant colors!
Oh what a great collage of gorgeous photos! And speaking of Alex Cross, not only I read all the books but I’ve just recently reviewed some of his read ones on my blog. Love James Patterson!
Wow…those are such beautiful pictures! LOVE the street art…very cool. I’m always amazed at what ppl can do!
Those are beautiful pictures. You really have a talent. My sister is like you and carries her camera everywhere to capture EVERYTHING
These are great! I love that you have a weekly photo challenge. It really is amazing what we can see if we just keep our eyes open and observe. What a wonderful talent!
Wonderful! It’s amazing what we can see when we open our eyes and observe. I really like the weekly challenge. Thanks for sharing your talent!
I love your pictures, they are wonderful! And there is so much to see and watch. A lot of unexpected happening 🙂
Beautiful photos! Makes me miss NYC. I love going there every summer 🙂
Great shots! Love the colors, the angles …. just wonderful photography 🙂
love all the pictures you have here in the blog.. really like the idea of hanging bottles 🙂
You’d really have to be able to put yourself in a different place to be able to do yoga in front of a huge crowd! I’d likely tip myself over.
I live in the Chicago area, and we have lots of street art too, but no where near as much as NYC! I enjoyed looking through your pictures and reading your post.
I love the pictures of street art!! Very beautiful. I haven’t really looked around town here enough to know if we have things as lovely.
Those are some beautiful pictures, I love the artwork of the yellow cat with wings; it looks really awesome.
Great pictures! The picture of the lady doing yoga is amazing…I couldn’t stress like that LOL
The pictures are fantastic. I love all of them