beauty is bought by judgement of the eye

During summer vacations on the Maine coast I'd enjoy looking east over Blue Hill Bay, across Tinker Island to Mount Desert Island. It disturbed me, just a little, that my vantage often put a power line in my line of view.

These photos, from that vantage, show the view and the offending wire.

{Uploaded to flickr on June 8, 2009 by Hypothetical Destination}

{Uploaded to flickr on June 8, 2009 by Hypothetical Destination}

The coast at this point is very photogenic, as many photographs attest, including these four.

{Uploaded to flickr on August 17, 2008, by j0hng4lt}

{Uploaded to flickr on August 17, 2008, by j0hng4lt}

{Uploaded on May 24, 2010 by brotherM}

{I took this one, same weekend as the ones by "Hypothetical Destination" (who's my niece).}

This map shows the Bay. The arrow indicates the position of camera for the shots out across it.

{source: Friends of Blue Hill Bay}

However, this post is not really about that scenic wonderland. It's about learning to appreciate the "interference" of power lines, phone poles, TV antennas, and the like. These things, I've come to learn, have their own aesthetic appeal.

{This is “The Glow of the City,” 1929, by Australian-born artist Martin Lewis; caption: "That’s the Chanin Building, an Art Deco skyscraper on 42nd Street, the woman is gazing at dreamily." Source: wildnewyork on ephemeralnewyork}

This is from a set called Today's Japan by Osamu Kanemura.

{source: Osamu Kanemura's gallery}

This is from a set on flickr by konishiroku_.

{Uploaded to flickr on July 19, 2010, by konishiroku_}

This is Army Street, San Francisco, in 1947.

{source: uploaded to photobucket by tqnewspix; I saw it first on charlottinka's nothing new blog.}

This is 'Wires at dawn' from a set on flickr by PetterPhoto.

{Uploaded to flickr on November 26, 2009, by PetterPhoto}

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The title of this post comes from Love's Labours Lost

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues