‘one picture is worth a thousand word’

It might be something of an overused phrase, but as anyone who has had the chance to view the work of these three amazing photographers – Henri Cartier-Bresson, Henri Huet, and Brian Blake -  will attest, the phrase fits.

 Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century exhibition, featuring some 300 prints from Cartier-Bresson’s professional career from 1929 to 1989, just closed at SFMOMA but can be seen at the High Museum of Art Atlanta from 19 February to 29 May 2011.

A world traveller and keen observer of people and events, Henri Cartier-Bresson was, throughout his career as a photojournalist, often in the right place at the right time to capture seemingly ‘ordinary’ slice of life images during pivotal historic moments – China during the last days of the war, India following the assassination of Ghandi, American south during some of the earliest civil rights actions.

Brian Blake: Lens on the World exhibition in Wellington, New Zealand at Te Papa from 23 October 2010 to May 2011

New Zealand’s most renowned international photographer, Brian Blake spent four decades travelling the world as a roving photojournalist. Working for Paris-based photo agency Magnum,  Blake’s striking images were published in Life, Look, and  Paris Match.

Henri Huet: Vietnam exhibition opens in Paris at the La Maison Européenne de la Photographie from 9 February to 3 April  2011.

French war photographer Henri Huet spent two decades wandering the streets of Vietnam, photographing the former French colony as growing political unrest and violence transformed it. Henri Huet’s images of the bravery, courage and tragedy of the Vietnam War helped change the American view of the war and influenced generations of photojournalists.

In an unconnected, unwired world, way before the era of digital photography, photoshop, and YouTube, these photographers provided true images of real life and real people.

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The mystical moods of winter, both quiet and fiery, form the subject of Aine Minogue’s dvd project Winter: A Meditation. In collaboration with film maker Michael Yip she has created a program that both references winter legends and creates new tales.

Minogue plays the harp. She is from Tipperary, in Ireland, and has long been based in New England. All that comes in to play in the still and video elements she chooses here, and in her music.. The opening track, A Winter Story, stands on its own as an enigmatic journey through landscape. It sets the scene for the ten pieces which follow, as well. Noel Nouvelle evokes the Christmas season, and older thoughts of the significance of winter. That’s true of the other stories told here too, in both music and visual elements. The titles In Shadow’s Light, Between the Worlds, and Spirits of the World hint at that line of thought. The Jezebel Carol uses images of fire and water to suggest another side of winter, while Greensleeves brings back a touch of the holiday season. Ice and snow, fire and water, dancers, harps, fiddles, percussion, voice, and keyboards all work to share Minogue’s vision of, as she offers in the subtitle of the project, a visual and musical companion for the season of winter.

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The whole food trailer/food truck phenomenon has been going on for awhile in Austin and other cities, but a drive around town last weekend showed me just how many portable places there are now to buy good food at a decent price.

It’s often tough to find a spot to sit and eat around trailers, but that seems secondary to the experience.

We tried the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery on South 1st Street….home to (on our visit day) Torchy’s Tacos, Man Bites Dog hot dogs and Holy Cacao chocolate goodies.

It wasn’t too crowded and parking was OK….but I can see it filling up very quickly, so be prepared to look around nearby to find a parking spot on the street.

The Eatery has places to sit and tables, too, including some under shade trees (yay!)

My family and I tried a little of everything: Torchy’s “Mr. Pink” taco with seared Ahi tuna – washed down with an original-formula Dublin Dr Pepper – an “Old School Dog” and a Holy Cacao chocolate “Cake Shake” which is a chocolate milkshake with, yes, cake in it. Oddly grainy and very good.

Another obvious choice is the “Trailer Park”….

“Fried chicken, green chilies, lettuce, pico de gallo and cheese on a flour tortilla with poblano sauce. ‘Get it Trashy’ – take off the lettuce and add queso.”

As local tech guy Aaron Brazell tweeted, the Eatery is “A piece of heaven.”

Keep on the lookout for many new and bigger trailer/truck offerings around Austin, most a bit south of downtown.  There are a batch  of them right near the trendy SoCo shopping area on South Congress Avenue, and some reside north of Lady Bird Lake, also on Congress Avenue near 2nd Street.

For more locations and information:  MobileCravings.com’s Austin food trailers and trucks.

There’s also an app for that:  Austin food trailer finder iPhone app.

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Kelvingrove Park lies at the west end of Glasgow. It has been well loved by Glaswegians since the mid nineteenth century, when it was established along the banks of the River Kelvin, to give a green space at the west end of the quickly growing urban character of Glasgow as the Industrial Revolution progressed.

It is a vibrant space on sunny days, filled with children playing, people riding bicycles on their way to city center or the nearby university, and workers on tea break.

When mist, fog, and frost arise, though, as they did on a recent January morning, it almost seems as though you are in a quiet place the Highlands.

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It had been the sort of travel day where I didn’t think anything useful happened. We’d left Chicago at dusk, on through Indiana and hugging the dip of Lake Michigan, eventually turning north again. Billboards whiz by at trucker’s height, advertising strip clubs with the promise of private dances and luxury suites, eventually giving way to shorter,more tasteful come-ons for wineries.

Stop for gas: a convenience store that seemed like it had been frequently robbed.  There were more than the standard number of signs explaining that the staff had no access to the safe, there was never much cash in the drawer, police take notice, etc. The young woman clerk with darting eyes, her blue and green quilted purse hanging on a knob, on the door that led to the back room, a door that looked like it could withstand a nuclear blast. She was in a glass cube.

While I waited to buy some water, I watched each solitary man that walked in — they were all men traveling alone that entered — and I imagined how each might look brandishing a gun.

Back in the car, 140 miles later, arrive in Douglas, Michigan, a beach community in the first quiet grip of winter. Checked into The Pines, which was once your standard 1950s  motel and now has been transformed,  plank-by-plank, by its new owners. There were many planks: pine walls, whitewashed knotty pine ceiling, a pine bed frame. Behind me, over the bed, hung a print of Waikiki Beach.

I found the thermostat, cranked up the heat, hauled my bag up onto the luggage stand, and started to get ready for dinner.

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