JULY IV, MDCCLXXVI

Click for better clarity.

July 4, 1976, marked the bicentennial of the United States. That day found me in New Harmony, Indiana, on my way to Austin, but I’d spent June in New York. One of the things I did during my stay there was to go up into the Statue of Liberty, from whose crown I looked down and took this abstract photograph. It shows a relatively close view of the tablet that Liberty holds in her left hand, and the title of today’s post is the text that’s on that tablet.

In the 1970s I used lots of black and white infrared film, and because chlorophyll reflects high amounts of infrared light, the trees and grass in the photograph came out white. (A year and a half ago I posted one other infrared photograph from the same era.)

If you’re wondering what all this has to do with nature in Texas, the answer is: nothing. As I did on this date two years ago, I’m giving myself leave to depart from my normal approach to the natural world. Or you could say today’s image is a natural for the 4th of July holiday.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman