Donald Diddams
The Art of Digital Art
A Neighbor’s Wall
Posted on March 28, 2023
I never thought much about this wall until the windows were covered and the contrasts between the stucco’s color and texture and the bare plywood came alive. I see that wall differently now.
Glacier Bay, Alaska
Posted on July 31, 2013
These images are from Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Southeast Alaska. Although accessible only by air and sea, a chance to visit the 3.3 million acre preserve should not be missed.
[See more in the Glacier Bay gallery.]
The day these were taken began with heavy fog and mist that lifted, shifted and settled back in again several times during the day. The mountains and even the sea would be fully shrouded for a while, and then the fog would gradually lift revealing perhaps just the ice scattered on the sea, or perhaps a mountainside and glacier before closing in again.
Bergy Bits and Growlers
250 years ago, glaciers covered the entire bay, but now one must travel as much as 65 miles up to the head of the inlets to see the face of tidewater glaciers that barely touch the sea. The experience reset my sense of scale, of awe — and of loss.
Lamplugh Glacier
[See more in the Glacier Bay gallery.]
The Adults’ Parade
Posted on August 29, 2011
The Parade, a Word, a Touch -- 2011
These are two of a series of images from the Adults’ Parade — the culmination of the Christmas festival on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. If you enjoy a party, can find the shade, drink beer in the afternoon, and move to the earsplitting sounds of reggae, soca and calypso, you will like the Adults’ Parade and its genuine atmosphere of a community celebration.
But with all that, there is still something mysterious and inaccessible about it. Perhaps it is how the powerful family and community bonds and shared unspoken values manifest themselves in the heat and dust, the colors and sounds of the parade. And the setting — the ramshackle remains of an old colonial-era town — speaks to a shared past for those whose families have lived there for generations. Whatever it is, no matter how long one from the continent lives in the islands, there will always be a part of the culture that remains foreign and a mystery that demands respect.
Beauty Queen -- 2011
Details, Details
Posted on July 2, 2011
Midnight Blue ('63 Chevy) - 2011
Understanding the “big picture” is important. But that doesn’t mean one should ignore the details in life.
Sometimes, in fact, hints of the big picture can be glimpsed in the day’s details, like the mystery of a starry sky hidden in the door of an old Chevrolet, or the brief but brilliant song of a beach sunflower on a sunlit seaside dune. Stories exist that are more important than wealth and power.
Beach Sunflower - 2011
St. Croix — Hotel Caravelle Artwork
Mocko Jumbies
Donald Diddams 