©2012 Cris Coleman
Contrast by Cris Coleman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
It doesn’t get more contrasty than this. I was out on the backroads of Missouri searching for places to photograph when I ran across this blight of a contrast to the surrounding area. Sad, it is, is it not?
f-stop fantasy 
I like the contrast, but I don’t really like the fact that there’s a lot of garbage tossed in the nature…
Ditto. I’m glad my point got across. 🙂
Thanks for getting it.
And thanks for stopping by.
unusual and brillaint! I really love your entire blog, btw!
Aaaah. Well, thank you. That was actually my first reaction to your really nice praise. 🙂
I find photography, not only somewhat of a semi-hobby, but a way of expressing myself from time to time. Well, maybe that’s what photography is after all—a form of self-expression.
It must be late. LOL
wow, interesting take on the theme…I agree with how sad it is to see things discarded in such a manner. It’s very disturbing. Thanks for calling attention to it…
You’re welcome. I do what I can.
There’s so much trash lying about the roads and highways. I’m no activist, but I, too, find it sad to see such a display of lack of respect for mother earth and each other. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Great shot!
Thank you. 🙂
Great interpretation of contrast. It is a sad sight to see, but amongst all that rubbish, I can see the photography beauty in it. All those lines and shadowing…it’s a good photo. Love it.
Thank you. Actually, the contrast I was seeing was between the trash and the natural beauty of the surrounding area. So, thanks for the alternate take. It just goes to show: You’re never too old to learn. 🙂
Yes, it’s very sad for the environment when people resort to dumping trash everywhere.
I don’t know about the rest of Missouri, but in Kansas City all you have to do is call and schedule a Bulky Item Trash Pickup. Even better, you can donate reusable building materials to the Habitat for Humanity ‘Restore’ in Kansas City and the reusable household items to one of the many charity thrift stores.
Don’t people know that dumping trash by the side of the road (as shown in your photo) is illegal?
It’s on rural private property, so I doubt there are any zoning restrictions. So, it’s probably not illegal.
I doubt anyone even knows it’s there, although it’s not that far from US Highway 69.
Out here, we’re lucky to get any kind of trash pick-up at all. If I wanted trash pick-up, for instance, I would have to, first, put everything in a 30-gallon bag or larger, and, second, haul it one and one-third miles down the road and place it by the intersecting road where the trash hauler goes by. And the cost, last I heard, was more than $30 a month.
Do I miss the city? (I lived in large cities for some forty plus years.) Absolutely not. KC is an hour away and St. Joe 45 minutes if I need to, say, buy something I cant’ get in nearby small towns.
Amazing photography… Perfect! 😉
Thank you, and thanks for dropping by. Fun, isn’t it? I could do this all day and have spent far too much time at it, as it is. 🙂 Enjoyed every minute of it.
Wow, sad indeed. Wish I didn’t see stuff like this all over the place, but unfortunately, it seems to be everywhere. I live in the country, and I can walk down the road with 3-4 garbage bags, and still not be able to pick everything up. The next week, it’s the same as before. I’d like to shoot some peeps in the a** if I caught them littering. One thing I HATE – litterbugs. Hallie (my daughter) and I have always hated litter. Ever since before she could walk, she’s tried to pick up litter and throw it away. We’d go up and down our road when she was leeetle and we’d pick up garbage. I don’t understand how people can be so uncaring about our planet. They gotta live here, too. They don’t care?! Ugh! Make me a cop or someone in charge and in an unmarked car and I’d be catchin’ me some litterbugs, charge them with a hefty fine, then give them several months of community service of picking up litter for miles, in the humid summer heat of 100 degrees, while I supervise them from my air conditioned car. After I was done with ’em, they’d never flick out so much as a toothpick! Your entry totally fits for the theme. Good one, or rather, appropriate.
Thanks for your comments and your passion. Sounds like your daughter has trained you right. 🙂
I like your idea of catching litterbugs and having them perform community service by picking up litter. 🙂 They’re tough to catch, though. There aren’t enough cops, and I’m sure cops have more important things to do like laying speed traps to catch speeding motorists.
Don’t get me wrong; I love cops. I just think their talent is being wasted sitting by the sides of the road or in the meridians of freeways waiting to pounce on someone speeding.
If I have one piece of advice for you: Stop hating. It only hurts yourself. Those you are hating aren’t affected by it. Hating can cause bodily problems.
If you’re only being facetious, it’s still good advice. 🙂
Great take and so sad people do such things,UK get it a lot as well..;)
I couldn’t agree more. Sad to hear about UK.
Sadly though this scene is so common everywhere.
I see a lot of stuff thrown to the side of the road in my travels that stay there forever (in rural areas), not as bad as in this photo though, which was taken on a really back road. Cities are just getting more trashy all the time, it seems. Yes, it is sad.
That is very sad, nowadays are more & more people are just don’t care about our environment. Glad you bring this for this week challenge. Really appreciate that.
It would be nice if more people were concerned about the environment. I’m no activist, by any means, but I hate to see people just trashing the landscape.
As to this particular subject, I noticed how so many people were doing black and white, light and dark for contrast, so I wanted to try and do something different. Funny, I took this photo just in case an appropriate subject would come up in the challenge. Contrast wasn’t the subject I imagined. 🙂
You see it so often and it looks to wrong. Why don’t people get it? Your photos reminds me of the Native American in the commercials from long ago that cried that tear of ‘Why?’.
Why?
Your photos are mostly magical.
Some inspiring.
http://firstandfabulous.wordpress.com/
I vaguely remember the commercials you mentioned. Very moving and profound.
Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you’re enjoying my photos. I do try and live up to the blog’s name. 🙂
And who says girls don’t have “Adam’s apples”? Not Dr. Seuss. 🙂
There’s nothing wrong with Fly-Tippers that a 12-Bore wouldn’t cure 😦 Definitely a contrast to the natural beauty around and sadly all to common. What really amazes me is that all too often there is a public amenity for the disposal rubbish just a mile or so away! Good choice for the challenge.
I’ve never heard of “Fly-Tippers” or a “12-Bore”, so if you’re watching this, perhaps you could explain.
I think the nearest landfill from where I live is about 37 miles away. This photo was taken about 2½ miles away, as the crow walks via the rural roads out here, probably just over a mile if the crow were to fly.
Thanks, I appreciate your remarks, even if I couldn’t understand them all. 🙂
Hi Cris –
‘Fly-Tippers’ = people who dump their rubbish in farmers fields (often truck drivers taking rubbish from a building site), on public footpaths, or in areas of natural beauty.
’12 Bore’ = a shot-gun.
I absolutely hate people who do this.
Ha! Ha! Ha! 12-Bore — I like that.
I wonder where the term “fly-tippers” came from. It must have an interesting etymology.
Another thing I hate are those trucks who dump their excess road tar and cement at the sides of roads, as though they have a right to do so.
Agreed, some people have no consideration for others.
Yes, and not just in the subject of trash, either. I think, in many cases, the world has just grown cold, just as Matthew 24:12 says: “the love of many shall wax cold.”
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
On a deeper level of “Contrast” this photo instantly took me back to a repulsive smelling day in 99, two weeks after the flood waters of Hurricane Floyd, that took my home down the river finally resided enough for me to drive back into my lot. Lot’s of debris was lying in similar looking trenches. The metal Bull gate from my drive way was actually hanging in a tree about ten foot above the ground…Great pic for the challenge..
So sorry to hear about your loss. I can’t even imagine . . . I’ve seen photos, of course, of the devastation left after floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. But to live through it, I just can’t imagine.
Last week, we had really high winds go through here. I think a tornado must have touched down on two properties and then left again.
At one of the properties, a large 5th-wheel trailer house was thrown upside down onto a guideline of a yard light, a barn was completely gone and a metal trash bin with two lids was blown across the property up against a fence, trash seeming scattered all over the neighborhoos.
The other property had a large metal door blown off a large metal barn, two metal storage units completely devastated, the metal in all three cases were all twisted up, lying all over the place. A yard light pole was blown over. Even a mailbox made of stone and planted in a stone planter (filled with dirt) was blown over. I doubt if I could have budged it if I had tried to push it over. Other damages as well.
When mother nature speaks, all one can do is listen and pick up the pieces.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Stunning entry and yes, that is a sad sight indeed. We get it here a lot as well.
Thanks for dropping by and, yes, it is sad.
Thanks for calling by my post 🙂
It’s always fun to see what other people have to offer up on the plate of the weekly challenge. 🙂
That is very sad and all too common. It upsets me that people feel no remorse for dumping thier garbage or throwing litter on the street.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I see many people flip their burning cigarette butts out the windows of the cars as I’m driving down the road or highway. Many wildfires have been caused by such carelessness.