Air conditioner overload, warehouse near Chicago O'Hare Airport

I don't know why this warehouse on the approach to O'Hare from the West needs so many, many air conditioners. My guess is that it's either frozen goods transshipment or else a data center.  I've been unable to locate any information about it to confirm, however.

Downtown Philadelphia, PA

This spiky heart of downtown Philadelphia, stretching from the industrial docks of the Delaware river at the bottom to the parklands of the Schuykill at the top.

Poplar Island, Maryland

The peculiar, smooth and highly structured island in Chesapeake Bay is Poplar Island, a sediment island that was apparently eroding away into nothing when the Army Corps of Engineers decided to restore it with dredged sediment from shipping channels and turn it into a nature preserve, this project leading to it its unusual appearance.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Maryland

Two very long high spans form the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, connecting the two halves of Maryland across the bay.

Hope Creek Generating Station, New Jersey

New Jersey has exiled its nuclear power generation to an isolated patch in the middle of nowhere, off on the edge of the Delaware River standing high and stark above otherwise flat and largely structureless terrain.

Broken swamplands in Southern NJ

Swamplands amidst farms in the highly rural regions of Southern New Jersey: the straight lines of water and land fractionating this swamp are clearly human-made somehow, but I can't figure out what the meaning might be, especially since in some areas it's the water that seems to be carved, while in others it is the land.

Jersey Shore

Pulling back to a wider view of barrier island settlement on the Jersey Shore.

Jersey Shore

Packed vacation town on the Jersey Shore, filling every inch of the barrier island in its fragile oceanside environment.

Bayonne, NJ

Just across the Hudson River from New York, the industrial port-lands of Bayonne, New Jersey stretch out arms of artificial land into the bay.

New York City

Pulling back now to nearly the whole of Manhattan, with its two main skyscraper zones swimming in an endless sea of not-so-tall urbanity.

Lower Manhatten, New York City

The densely peaky skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center, Wall Street, and all that.

Central Park, New York City

Central Park, stretching long across the middle of Manhattan, which always reminds me just how much bigger New York is than I think of it being.

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York

Alpha to the Tappan Zee's Omega, the Verrazano-Narrows bridge must soar high as the first bridge encountered on the main entrance to New York Harbor and the Hudson River estuary.

Tappan Zee Bridge, New York

The Tappan Zee Bridge stretches across the Hudson River at one of its widest parts, about twenty miles upriver of New York. Its curving ends are unusual for a bridge, though half of it used to be more causeway than bridge.  I used to drive across it all the time, and my father lived as a kid near one terminus in Tarrytown. This picture captures the bridge in a transitional state: if you look closely, you will see that it is in fact not just one bridge but two, the new lighter one just opening when this picture was shot, and the darker line of the old one of my memories that was about to be torn down.

Logan Airport art wall

Movable tiles on the side of the main garage at Boston Logan Airport flip and flutter in the breeze, giving a beautifully visceral visualization of the wind.

Building image, Boston

An enormous image on the side of the Hancock Tower in Boston.  It took me quite a while to decide that yes, I was really seeing this and it wasn't some trick of the light or a reflection. But yes, there is a person standing on a raft, five stories tall and forty above the ground---presumably painted on the windows? I'm also not sure whether the rippling white and blue across the rest of the surface is just reflection or another portion of the image.  And above all: what is it there for? Is this an ad, or simply art?

Boston graffiti

I just kinda like the peaceful pose of this dapper little graffiti man in Boston.

Doll Fence, Cambridge, MA

There is a house in Cambridge whose front fence is covered with dolls, all clinging to the fence as if they are trying to escape.

Sheepfold, Middlesex Fells, MA

The mixed snow and grass area at the middle of the image is the Sheepfold, part of the Middlesex Fells park and reservoir reserve just North of Boston. The Sheepfold is one of my favorite spots in the Fells, a good place to go sledding and hiking, and also completely filled with people bring out their dogs to play.

Stratton Mountain Resort, Vermont

I love finding the distinctive scribbly structure of a downhill ski resort from the air.

Halfway terminus of the Erie canal at Oneida Lake, NY

The Erie Canal, running across upstate New York from Albany to Buffalo, once was a powerful engine of Westward expansion. Now it is mostly maintained just for recreation and for its historical value. Here we see the halfway point on the canal, where it runs into Oneida lake near Syracuse, its inflow stirring coffee-colored sediments near the shore.

Toronto, Canada

The city of Toronto, bulking up along the lakeside, with the spike of the CN tower at the middle.

Blotchy fields, Ontario

Blotchy sort-of circular water patterns across winter fields in Ontario, Canada.

Chicago O'Hare Taxi holding pen

A solid rectangle of taxis, waiting for release to pick up travelers at Chicago O'Hare Airport.

Caliper church, Chicagoland

This church, somewhere in the greater Chicago area, makes me think of a compass-style caliper.

Off-season waterpark

An empty municipal water park in the off season, all its pools all empty and drained of water.

Snowy relief

Somewhere above the Midwest: a faint dusting of snow really brings out the topographical relief lines of the fields.

Vacant Campground, Iowa

A vacant campground in the off-season, asphalt loops amongst bare trees, a little ways outside of Cedar Rapids.

Colorful bottles, Iowa City

A colorful array of bottles, all full of mysterious liquids and sitting out in the freezing cold on somebody's front step.   Perhaps a bit of cold-based distillation going on?

Bald eagle, Iowa City

A bald eagle hangs out on a branch above the Iowa River, looking down for prey in that fraction of water still open in this time of winter.

Complex car reflections, Iowa City

Complex reflections on the side of a car with a somewhat unsettled-looking driver.

Where Christmas trees go to die, Iowa City

We found ourselves behind a garbage truck one morning, seeing where all the old Christmas trees had gone to die within its compactor.

Sunset over the Oquirrh Mountains

And goodbye to Salt Lake City for now, with a lovely sunset seen from a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains to the East, across the silhouettes of the Oquirrh Mountains to the West.

Weather station, University of Utah

Some sort of weather station, sitting in an apparently random point on the campus of the University of Utah. I was unable to figure out whether this was official or a student project or what.

Angled building, University of Utah

Another, closer view of this nicely angled building, bringing out some of the complexities of its internal junctions.

Angled building, University of Utah

The University of Utah climbs up the side of the mountainside that borders Salt Lake City on the East, eventually terminating into the dry desert hills. This provides a dramatic backdrop for many pieces of its architecture, like this sharply angled modern building which I think may be part of the its associated medical complex.

Glass-steel staircase, University of Utah

Webs of shadows cross through a glass and steel staircase in a building at the University of Utah.

Landing in Salt Lake City at dusk

The sunset now mostly just serving to highlight the shape of the mountains, the valley-filling grid of Salt Lake City now opens up below our plane.

Landing in Salt Lake City at dusk

Landing into Salt Lake City, you often come up from the South, gradually sinking down between two mountain ranges. My timing on this flight was perfect: we were landing just at sunset, and the Oquirrh mountains to the West gradually rose up into my view of the colors as we descended.

Sunset bridge near Dallas

Highway bridge in silhouette at sunset near Dallas.

Sand piles, Dallas, TX

The contours of these conic and squiggling sand piles are highlighted by the setting sun.

Dallas highway interchange

The Dallas area has a density of big, complex multi-layer cloverleafs like no other city that I know. I love their symmetries, like this one shining in the sunset.

Artificial shore, Dallas, TX

An artificial shoreline waves in front of housing developments near Dallas, Texas.

Four empty cul-de-sacs, Dallas, TX

An embryonic housing development, with a few scattered completed houses in a network of four empty cul-de-sacs.

Rock-cut church, Luxembourg

An old church cut into the rock wall beside the river in Luxembourg City.

River banks, Luxembourg

A line of ancient houses crawls down the side of the cliff to the banks of one of the two rivers that converge in the midst of Luxembourg city.

Lower city, Luxembourg

A closer view of the long white connected blocks of Luxembourg's lower city.

Lower city, Luxembourg

Looking out across the lower city in Luxembourg, nestling at the base of the defensible cliffs that have no doubt played an important role in the independence of this tiny nation.

Museum reflections, Luxembourg

Mosaicked skyline pasting itself into the reflections of the glass front of a museum in Luxembourg.

Alley, Luxembourg

Gleaming glass of a museum opposing the older faces of buildings.