Monday, December 19, 2005

Looking back #3

Glancing in the rear view mirror at places I’ve visited in the past year:

The Wright Stuff. The Wright Brothers Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills (not Kitty Hawk), North Carolina, marks the location of the first airplane flight in 1903. A stop at the memorial was part of an Outer Banks vacation in September. The billowing clouds were part of a weather system created by Hurricane Ophelia, which had yet to advance on the Outer Banks. I was told by a resident that such clouds were relatively rare in this area.

I chose a location to highlight the vastness of the sky (and hide a number of people who had climbed the hill for a close view of the monument); I wanted to depict the expanse that Wilbur and Orville were aiming for with their flight. I also wanted to depict that even though humans had in one sense mastered the elements (that’s why they built a monument, after all), the elements are still a whole lot bigger and stronger than we are.

The smaller photo shows a full size steel replica of the historic moment located at the base of the hill.

Click on pictures to enlarge. Photographs © 2005 James Jordan.

1 comment:

engloy said...

No wonder the Wright Brother's wanted to fly! You've done a great job in conveying that feeling in your picture, James :) Great stuff as usual.