The Public Sale

This is an odd shot (click the picture for a larger image). The child seems to be staring back at the viewer, as though the photo frame itself was a window. Windows work two ways, you can look out or in. Photos are generally one way, but this one has a subject staring back at the viewer.
The story is odd too. I worked on the Queen Anne Record Observer, Centreville, Md. This was also the location of the Russian Embassy’s vacation house/villa/dacha. The “public sale” pictured above was the sale of some land that had been owned by the Russian Embassy.
This photograph was taken many years ago, when Cold War sentiments were still prevalent. We’d see Russians in Centreville on odd occasions, usually overdressed for the weather. But they generally kept to themselves.
When I was researching this, I came across an article on the estate. Nice place; http://www.washingtonlife.com/issues/summer-2007/EMBASSY-ROW/

The Target

Click above for a larger view


These targets showed up on a wall of the Paramount Theater (prior to its renovation) and a few other spots in Charlottesville, about 6 years ago. They are the standard targets used in the training of police officers, government agents, etc. Attempts were made to remove them, which were only partially successful.

They are disturbing to see on a gut level. It is a human target. They mean one thing; this is a violent place. Not Charlottesville in particular; everywhere.

They are used to train civilian “peace” officers to use “deadly force.” Pasting them up in public was a surprisingly direct manner of communicating. No comment was necessary. The items themselves spoke volumes.

There has been quite a shift in the way people think and behave in the last ten years or so. We are trying very hard not to see it.