Still of the Night

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Tom Warner

A Photo Essay by Patrick Joust
(Baltimore Magazine, July 2014)

Patrick Joust is a librarian I work with at the Enoch Pratt Central Library. Whenever he’s not helping the good citizens of Baltimore with their queries, tech-savvy Patrick can be spotted around town with his collection of cameras, his discerning eye capturing the broken-down beauty of landscapes most Baltimoreans turn a blind eye to during daylight. – Tom Warner (BoL)

A freight train passes by row homes on the edge of Cherry Hill while the headlights of waiting cars shine through. –Photography by Patrick Joust

A freight train passes by row homes on the edge of Cherry Hill while the headlights of waiting cars shine through. –Photography by Patrick Joust

What is it about the night that intrigues us so? The darkness, the stillness, the glimpses of interior lives seen through illuminated windows: It all seems so pregnant with possibility compared to the flat brightness of day.

Baltimore photographer Patrick Joust excels at capturing the romance and danger of the Baltimore night with an unflinching gaze and elegant use of chiaroscuro reminiscent of painters like Edward Hopper.

Like stills from a modern film noir, his shots hint at something ominous lurking just out of frame, as if the heavy calm is about to be broken, but by what is left up to the viewer’s imagination. – Introduction by Amy Mulvihill

Continue reading the “Still of the Night” photo essay at Baltimoremagazine.net.

 

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Dead Deer Gets Tagged with Graffiti on Baltimore Highway

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Scott Huffines

deer-graffiti

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Westminster, MD “NO ILLEAGLES” graffiti makes Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist”

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Tom Warner
building-graffiti_606

Bad spelling or a shout-out to an Eagles cover band: you decide. (Photo by Christian Alexandersen from the Carroll County Times and Baltimore Sun Media Group)

July 17, 2014 – Misspelled graffiti on a a former Army Reserve Center building proposed as housing for immigrant children in Westminster, Md., made national news last night when Anderson Cooper featured the story in his “Ridiculist” segment. The spray-painted graffiti – “NO ILLEAGLES HERE NO UNDOCUMENTED DEMOCRATS” – is being investigated as a hate crime (a misdemeanor punishable by up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine) by Maryland State Police. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initially considered using the center for children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, but have now dropped the idea.

Eagles cover band "The Ill-Eagles."

Eagles cover band “The Ill-Eagles.”

The host of Anderson Cooper 360 facetiously suggested that the graffiti could be a reference to a real Eagles tribute band called The Ill-Eagles. Like most of his “Ridiculist” segments, Cooper’s attempt at humor fell flatter than Kansas.

Anderson Cooper's "Ridiculist"

Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist”

The segment did, however, bring attention to two unfortunate realities: 1) some people in Westminster are prejudiced illiterates, and 2) there is an Eagles cover band (isn’t one Eagles group bad enough?)

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