Development gate, Charleston, SC

The gatehouse for this development sits in splendid isolation, widening in a way that makes me think they designed it to be able to pull people over for detailed inspections and frisking, all edges in carefully regimented palms.

Gated development, Charleston, SC

Partially constructed gated development near Charleston, South Carolina. Mostly only the houses at center have been constructed, but the gate is well emplaced up in the upper right.

Housepox, Charlotte, NC

A super-dense pattern of house-pox is spreading across the land! First, the raw surface inflames before it, then they rise and mature to join the perfect pattern of feverish hives!

Divergent development, near Charlotte, NC

I like how the houses of this development open and close themselves together like the teeth of a zipper.

Y-shaped development, Charlotte, NC

This development is remarkably compact on its houses within the larger frame of fields it chose to leave open around them.

Abrupt end to the road, North Carolina

At the edge of this little village in North Carolina, a road goes clean and paved at a seemingly arbitrary angle through one field before terminating at the edge of the next. I like how its line interacts with the oddly juxtaposed not-quite-rectangle shapes of the fields.

Plowing pattern, North Carolina

Traces in the brown and red earth revealing a swoopingly shaped pattern of plowing in this North Carolina farm.

North Carolina fields

The pattern of plowing and development in the Eastern US is very different than in the Midwest and the West, which are dominated by grids. The much older settlements in the East are chopped up by history and geography instead, forming irregular and angular patterns much more like one finds in England.

Caterpillar, Iowa City

A closeup of the caterpillar, nicely showing the orange and yellow banding that leads me to believe that it is a black swallowtail.

Caterpillar, Iowa City

Another perspective on this caterpillar, draped sinuously along the stem of a flower.

Caterpillars, Iowa City

Two large and well-fed caterpillars climbing around the flowering plant that hosts them.

Developing thunderhead, Iowa

Isolated thunderhead developing in the hot, moist summer sky.

Tank removal, Iowa City

Two gas stations near our house are being leveled and rebuilt into one much larger station. Early in the demolition process, the underground storage tanks for each were excavated and rolled up out of their holes to be transported away, as seen here going on in this picture.

Old pipes, Iowa City

Old underground utility pipes (steam, perhaps?) removed as they are being replaced, their insulation partially shredded and decayed.

Floodwater duct, Iowa City

In the ongoing preventive re-engineering of the Iowa City river side, this large buried concrete channel appears designed to carry floodwaters away from inland parts of the floodplain on which these university buildings stand, some even now still closed from the 2008 flood that triggered this long retrenchment.

High rise under construction, Iowa City

High rise building under construction in the ongoing densification of Iowa City. For all the low housing costs and open farmlands, I have found Iowa cities to be surprisingly dense, likely due to some combination of zoning and the high social value placed on farm land.

Construction wall mural, Iowa City

Food mural pattern on construction near the main location of the Iowa City Farmer's Market, apparently designed with the help of local kids.

Kitchen escape hatch, Iowa City

Worker in a food truck getting some cooler air and taking a break through the truck's roof hatch.

After hours at the arts festival, Iowa City

Darkened and shut exhibitor tents in the late evening during the Arts Festival, waiting to reopen next morning.

Glass blowing exhibition, Iowa City

An exhibitor showing off various glass blowing and shaping techniques at the Arts Festival. He wasn't making anything in particular, just playing with glass rods and occasionally chatting with the crowd. I hung around for quite a while watching and got to help with one of the demonstrations.

Do not write on this street, Iowa City

This ironic pronouncement encourages public participation in the street chalk section of the Arts Festival.

Hancher in bloom, Iowa city

Hancher theater, balanced geometrically by the blooming lines in one of its nicely planted drainage swales.

Projected boat, Iowa City

Another mural, this one emerging as a hidden surprise at the edge of one of the little-traveled service alleys.

Floral mural, Iowa City

Floral mural in downtown Iowa City.

ROYGBIV, Iowa City

Speaking of rainbows... we spotted this car on the road, and had to celebrate the discovery, particularly given how frequently we'd been listening to the "Roy G Biv" song on They Might Be Giants "Here Comes Science" album.

Rainbow sign, Iowa City

A rainbow-patterned sign with some nice curvature in it somewhere in downtown Iowa City.

Pride Grinch, Iowa City

This marvelous "Pride Grinch" appeared in the window of one of the stores in downtown Iowa City. I can't imagine what might have inspired this particular mash-up of subject matters, but I have to like it. Perhaps others might have their hearts grow three sizes?

Families belong together, Iowa City

People spilling all around the Old Capital in downtown Iowa City at the start of the "families belong together" protest earlier this summer.

Cornfields trails, Iowa

Walking trail on an old rail-bed, out through the middle of nowhere in the cornfields.

Dusty summer roads, Iowa

Dust rising from the dry roads out through the cornfields in midsummer. The rains come and go, thunderstorms breaking to water the corn and soy to verdant swells of biomass, but in between the ground bakes solid, dry, and dusty.

Fire dancing, Amana, Iowa

Another portion of the dancing in Fandazzi Fire's act at the Iowa Renaissance Festival.

Fire dancing, Amana, Iowa

Fandazzi Fire performing at the Iowa Renaissance festival, dressed piratically and hamming it up for the crowd as they dance with flames on a cloudlessly baking hundred degree day.

Foggy morning at Fresh Pond, Cambridge

Walking around the Fresh Pond reservoir in Cambridge on a lovely early foggy morning.

Alewife ramp, Cambridge, MA

Ramp proceeding out of the Alewife subway station in Cambridge, MA.

Castle Hill, Ipswich, MA

Next to Crane Beach in Ipswich is a most peculiar site: the ornate mansion and grounds constructed by a Gilded Age magnate, now maintained as a historical landmark open to the publish.  From the air, the most prominent feature is the "Grande Allee" of rolling lawn proceeding down from the mansion over hills to the sea.

Crane Beach, Ipswich, MA

The sweep of Crane Brach and the tidal marshes on the shore of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  I've walked those beaches many times, though I'm not sure whether I've ever actually swum there: we always had closer and better places for doing that, but it's a very pretty walk.

Abandoned Chicago building

The apartment building in Chicago appears both burned out and abandoned.

AIDS Piggybank, Chippewa Woods, Chicago

In the Chippewa Woods park near O'Hare Airport, for some reason the graffiti artists have decided this picnic shelter should sport a piggybank with AIDS.

Primary color industral tanks, Chicago

Gaily painted tanks by an industrial/warehouse type building near Chicago O'Hare Airport.

Driver training course near Chicago

Based on its markings, I'm pretty sure this parking lot is a practice area for driver's education: I see left hand and right hand turns, spaces for parallel parking and angle parking, crossroads and other challenges. I like it, and wish I'd had something like this to practice on before being turned loose onto the actual streets of the city to learn.

Creekside amphitheater, Chicago area

Rib-cage-like banding of an open air amphitheater by a creek in the Chicago area.

Dry municipal water park near Chicago

I love the shapes and forms of water parks from the air, especially out of season as this municipal park near Chicago was when I took this picture.

Solarized school near Chicago

School near Chicago, its roof fully converted to the housing of solar panels.

Bunny ears compound, Illinois

This site, West of Chicago out into the farmlands, appears to be some sort of private compound, like a school or a club. I had thought it might be a subdivision at first, but the "dorm" houses to the upper left are too uniform given the amount of land they occupy and have no parking attached. Whatever it is, I like the "bunny ears" shape of its sculpted private pond.

Substructured farmland, Illinois

This farm is filled with small partitions and structures, parsing it up into chunks much smaller than is usually economically feasible. My guess, therefore, is that this is some sort of test station in which many different crop experiments are being run under a variety of scales and conditions.

Illinois field-lake?

The patterns of the blobby green region clearly mark it as farmland, but the shape and the white boundary (including the little access road and building at the left) mark it as a lake.  Perhaps it is a recent and shallow construction and we are seeing down through the water to the old borders beneath? If so, however, why is the one cultivation square so much greener than the others?

Patterns of parching, Illinois

Patterns of flooding and parching on this Illinois farmland, revealing the subtle topography of the land in the progression of areas that wet and dry.

Teapot subdivision near Cedar Rapids, Iowa

This subdivision reminds me of a teapot: handle to left, spout to right, body and lid in the center, with the lid handle the top cul-de-sac.

Highway under construction near Cedar Rapids

A highway under construction East of Cedar Rapids. I had not expected to see the bridges and exits built before the main road, but there it is traced out in the red-brown soil.

International Paper Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

This massive factory apparently makes cardboard packing materials. The thing that really caught my eye about it, however, aside from the sheer brute hulking industrialness of the thing, is the skybridge over to the parking lot in the lower left, perhaps to help shield employees during the nastiest of subzero winter conditions?