Visions

Our snowy little city has the most fabulous Christmas lights. It took a while for them to grow on me; my first couple winters here, I thought they were pretty tacky, bordering on obscene. Before long, though, I started bragging about them. "Our Christmas lights are designed by a guy on acid", I'd tell people from more stolid towns, "and approved by a city council on angel dust." Now, I gaze at the bizarre, Seussian geometries in utter joy and awe. They fill me with luminous creativity in the dark of the year.

My first photos, above, didn't quite capture the best spirit of these works of wonder.

That is to say, they didn't quite convey what it's like to spin around under these lights, half-drunk, at 2am, staggering home from a holiday party on the other side of town. But, with a little photographic experimentation, I think I captured the essence.