Are there any Alfred Stieglitz fans amongst us? Or fellow sailors who understand what life on the water entails? After weeks of sea and sky, and mostly grey sea and sky, you tend to look for the interesting details in the horizon before you. Every day we go out on deck and stare into the sea, gaze at the horizon or look up into the clouds in case the scene has changed. Trapped in one environment with the same things to look at every day, the same people, and very little change we have adapted quickly to focus on the small details and minute changes around us. Out here on the JR we are well away from the variety and influences of daily life- traffic, radio, crowds, nature, sounds, smells and colors. Just think of all the things you experience on the daily commute to work. Imagine not driving for two months! And imagine not seeing anything naturally green in two months! In the last few days we have seen two ships go past and… believe it or not some of us ran out to look! Would we do this on land? Most likely not but here we welcome it. So my cloud photos are accumulating (a whole alphabet of photos labeled Cloud a, b, c). I hope once back on land, in the arms of visual overload, I won’t stop viewing clouds as something of wonder and beauty. But, I will look at this collection of photos and shake my head, “What was I thinking?” Alfred Stieglitz loved clouds too and in the 1920’s made a series of photographs called Equivalent. It’s worth a look and you just might join me in some cloud spotting! http://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/artwork/Stieglitz-Equivalent_Series1.htm http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.55.29