BG's Photo Library: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art

MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art -- Notes:

Photo Library Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie's Photo Library home page.

Partially Reviewed: Rough draft. I've gone through these pictures once, removing the worst ones, some duplication, etc. I usually take sequences of 4 or 5 pictures at a time and there are lots of near duplicates. I'll be doing a final review later which allows me compare the pictures that survived the first cut and make final determinations of what pictures to keep.

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Copyrights: Standard stuff. All pictures were taken by Bruce Guthrie who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use. If used in a publication or web site, please give appropriate attribution (such as "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie"). If they're used in a publication, I'd love to receive a free copy of the publication. You are not authorized to resell these pictures or make a profit from them. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from official signs on location; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Help? The 0640x0480 links are for screen viewing and emailing. The 2048x1536 (older ones may be different sizes than this) links are mostly for downloading and printing (they can be used to do reasonable-quality prints up to about 8x10). [Click here for additional help]

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Various Signs: One of the local characters that has a statue here is "The Mayor of Silver Spring" (Norman Lane, 1911-1987). A plaque on the statue:
Remembering the Loving Kindhearted Forbearance of the People of Silver Spring:
The "Mayor of Silver Spring" was our official town drunk. Although he was born into a prominent DC family, Norman got off to a rough start. His mother had TB and the stress of bringing him to term took her life and left little Norman with life-long problems. He ran away from a school for retarded children when he was six. He grew up as an outcast, drifting around the country doing odd jobs, farm work, and washing dishes. He was an odd shaped piece that never quite fit into society's jigsaw puzzle.
Norman's was the picture of misery. Often wearing his shoes on the wrong feet, his rumpled clothes hung off of his 90 pound frame like a scarecrow. He looked like a gargoyle peering out from under a hard hat. After returning to the DC area, he spent the winter of 1966 in Glenmont, sleeping in the fire department coal bin. That spring, he wandered down Georgia Avenue.
In Silver Spring, he found a home. The Phillips family set up a cot for him in the back of their autobody shop. For 25 years, Norman lived in that back alley garage, which was directly behind this statue. It was the only real home he ever knew. After his death, Norman's alley, "Mayor Lane" was named for him. Silver Spring's business community, the shoppers, the police and fire departments were his family. They accepted his drinking, his coarse manners and came to love his quirky, Tom Sawyer sense of humor.
"Don' worry 'bout it" was Norman's answer to everything. As our "Mayor" made his rounds, he generously shared a bit of his permanent vacation with us work-a-day shut-ins. He owned nothing. He shambled through these streets, happily living out our worst fears for us. After seeing Norman, we really 'didn't worry about it' quite so much. Fridays were his bid day. He retrieved a ...More...
Directly Related Pages: Other pages here that have content directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos]
- 2004_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (4 photos from 2004)
- 2005_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (1 photos from 2005)
- 2006_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (1 photos from 2006)
- 2007_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (9 photos from 2007)
- 2008_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (42 photos from 2008)
- 2009_MD_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (31 photos from 2009)
- 2010_04_25H_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (19 photos from 04/25/2010)
- 2010_07_15B_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (4 photos from 07/15/2010)
- 2010_07_17A_SS_Art: MD -- Silver Spring -- Public art (65 photos from 07/17/2010)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: Arts
2010 photos: Equipment this year: I was using mostly the Fuji S100fs until the third one broke and I started sending them back for repairs. Then I used either the Fuji S200EHX or the Nikon D90. Trips this year: I've got so many local commitments that I'm having trouble getting away. I drove out to Lexington, Kentucky to cover the Civil War Preservation Trust's annual conference in June. I flew out to California and Nevada for two weeks in July for the San Diego Comic-Con. Ego strokes: Nothing major so far. Photos taken this year: 260,000 through August -- down about 5 percent from last year's frenetic pace.
Photo Contact: Email Bruce Guthrie.