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Monday, February 18, 2008

Taking the edge off and an award mention

I decided a while ago to try and combine photo shoots with doctor's appointments to take the edge off the nasty stuff. When I went to UNC in September for my routine surgical oncology check up, I was able to go to the NC Botanical garden's art in the garden show. I went to the NC art museum art walk after a pain specialist appointment in October. There have been photo shoots after other appointments along the way and it helps. In January when I had the consult with an oral surgeon at Duke, I took a few pictures. However, it was barely above freezing and pouring rain, so I didn't get very far with it. Today (Monday), I went back to Duke, to have the abscessed tooth pulled (not too bad all things considered) and again it was rainy. However, I took my camera in case I arrived early and it stopped raining. I lucked out.
It stopped raining and I had a good 15 minutes to kill before my scheduled extraction. The first shot is of Baker House where the oral surgeon's office is and I was able to get more detail than when I shot it before. In the second shot you can see the Duke Chapel Steeples in the background. The chapel isn't as close to the out patient clinics as it appears in the photograph, but the steeples are easy to spot from the parking lot. After I parked, I took a few shots from the fourth floor of the deck, so I could get the steeples in a picture. Most of the photographs were shot after I left the parking deck.I like the details on the clinic building's windows and doors. I'm not going to say that having an interesting building, that is aesthetically pleasing, to go into for a tooth extraction actually makes it a pleasant experience to get a tooth pulled. Hell no. That would be absurd.However, if you have to get a tooth pulled anyway, it might as well be in a building which lends its self to photography. The weather was even better when I left but I didn't feel like taking photographs afterwards so I'm glad I got some half way decent ones beforehand.
Duke hospital is a modern building and has some unpleasant memories for me in terms of the end of my father's life. Therefore, I was glad the oral surgery clinic at Duke was in Baker House. When I go to UNC hospital for my melanoma follow-up, I am not in the older part of the campus where the beautiful old stone buildings are. I did get some pretty good shots last time I saw my surgical oncologist at UNC of the clouds reflected in the nuclear science hospital. Perhaps, next time I go to UNC, I'll make a point of going to the older part of campus for a photo shoot. I know I enjoyed my photography session at Duke today, in spite of being there to get a tooth pulled.
Last but not least I want to end this post with a thank you to Starnitesky who blogs at From My View for mentioning me for the E for Excellent award in this post. Starnitesky is studying photography in college and specializes in landscape and floral photography. I am so glad to have discovered From my View as I enjoy the photographs and posts at From My View.

11 comments:

SabineM said...

wow is this Duke University? Gorgeous photos!
Hope you are feeling better without the bad tooth!
Congratulations on YOUR E award! Couldn't agree more (you deserve it)

Anonymous said...

Carver,

As always, your photos are just inspiring. Having never been to North Carolina nor Duke, I must say I feel like I know the place!!

Keep up this wonderful body of work.

Thanks, Janet

Carver said...

Thanks Sabine, Yes this is Duke University. The medical campus and the other part of the university are on different parts of the campus but it's all part of the same university.

Thank you so much Janet. I appreciate that. Take care, Carver

Anonymous said...

Congratulatons on the award..you defintiely deserve it. In the photos with the ducks..the ones that you didn't know what they were..they look like "turkey ducks" compared to rooster ducks. I've never seen anything like them. So interesting. Wow, on Duke U..what a beautiful place..I the ornate look...how old is this building. Out west we don't seen many building like this..what a treat. Glad the troublesome tooth is gone and hoping you are well underway to recovery. sue

Carver said...

Thanks Sue, The building I photographed, Baker House, was built in 1932 and named after Bessie Baker the first dean of nursing at Duke University. Some of the older buildings at Duke were built in the late 1800s. UNC which I also mentioned was founded in 1798 and I really do want to have a photography session at the older part of campus there sometime as well as go back to Duke and photograph Duke Chapel and some of the rest of the campus. Then there is a university and many colleges in Raleigh built in the 1800s. None of these places are that far from me. I may get interested in photographing more buildings.

jmb said...

Some pretty fine buildings there Carver and you photographed them beautifully. I hope you recover soon from the tooth extraction.

Carver said...

Thanks JMB, I'm doing pretty well and tomorrow I can start drinking hot coffee again which will improve my disposition a lot. Take care, carver

Anonymous said...

Beautiful old buildings you have captured. They remind me of Oxford or Cambridge in UK

Carver said...

Thanks for stopping by Vic.

Jeanne said...

Carver--this is a great idea. But I'm amazed that you can concentrate and get such great photos when you're on the way to the doctor or dentist.

I did take my knitting with me to an oncology appt and knitted in the waiting room--my blood pressure was the lowest ever in a medical setting! I have white coat syndrome--get anywhere near a cancer center and my BP shoots up.

I love the laughing Buddha shot too.

Carver said...

Hi Jeanne,

I think knitting before appointments is a great idea too. I haven't knitted in so long that I might get frustrated but I have a bag of half finished projects from when I used to knit. Maybe I'll try taking one with me for when I'm sitting in the waiting room. I have white coat syndrome too. Take care, Carver