Time

conservatory neg, originally uploaded by camille94019.

I found this in my camera. I am not sure when I took it. Its the Conservatory of Flowers. When I look at it, I am still surprised by how good it looks. The last thing I remember are the trees falling into it and leaving big holes. That was a long time ago. Ninety-four. I have been there since, but for some reason, seeing it squeeky new and intact hasn't burned any images on my brain. Back then, before the Big Storms, it was ratty-- the paint was peeling, the glass was streaked and mossy and the wood was termite-biten. It seemed like a nearly forgotten relic from Lincoln's time. You could stare at it an see just how long ago 130 years ago was, like some super-fast time lapsed movie. It had the human-scaled dust of the 19th century clinging to it, from its hand-tooled wooden sashes and muntins, to its garish stained glass window accents and its victorian gingerbread.



This photo is deceptive. Its less than a year old. The vintage kodak brownie I used consistently over-exposes, and blurs everything. On top of that, the film got hopelessly jammed, and I had to resort to the black bag and a few well placed squirts of WD-40 to free it. The developers didn't think it was worth printing.

Now the Conservatory looks like it was minted yesterday. They did a great job restoring it. You can go inside and see modern exhibits and colorful vinyl banners, butterflies and plants. Its great. Its "authentic reproduction" at its finest.