Steve Sick
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starrytraveler.bsky.social
Steve Sick
@starrytraveler.bsky.social
2.3K followers 850 following 1.5K posts
Hobbyist photographer and progressive. A simple person wandering in a complex world.
#Photography #classicmono #ghostsign

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them"
- Ray Bradbury
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starrytraveler.bsky.social
Standoff on the Sofa : Two precious kittens that shared 17 years in our home before each
passing

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday November 22, 2025
The theme is #Small

#Caturday #kittens #cats #BlueskyCats #CatsOfBluesky #photography #ColorADay #GreenSat
Two curious kittens pause on a patterned green couch, sizing each other up with wide-eyed caution. The grey kitten, small and serious with a white chin and paws, leans forward as if considering a playful pounce. Opposite, the ginger kitten stands alert, its warm coat catching the light, ready for whatever comes next. The moment feels like the very beginning of a lifelong friendship—or a very short chase.
November 22, 2025 at 11:21 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Merchants Lost to Time: Aalfs Ghost Sign (Sioux City, Nov 2025)

📷 Pentax K3 Mk III Monochrome
🔘 Pentax 20-40mm F/2.8

#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekUforUnloved

#urbangaze #ghostsign #ghostsigns #ghostsignproject #Pentax #K3MkIIIMono #ClassicMono #BnW #B&W #SiouxCity #Iowa
A weather-worn ghost sign clings to the brick face of an old commercial building, its faded promise of “Dry Goods” barely decipherable through decades of sun, wind, and quiet neglect. The monochrome tones emphasize the building’s age—cracked mortar, softened paint, and the long shadows cast by arched windows. It’s a fragment of a bygone merchant era, still whispering its name into the modern sky.
November 20, 2025 at 10:17 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Heart of the Forgotten Doorway: Has many visits from taggers. (Sioux City, Nov 2025)

📷 Pentax K3 Mk III Monochrome
🔘 Pentax 20-40mm F/2.8

#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekUforUnloved

#tagtuesday #photography #graffiti #graffitipics #streetart
#photography #urbangaze #B&W #ClassicMono #Pentax #K3IIIMono
A narrow, neglected doorway sits half-caught in a shaft of light, its metal panels layered with years of hurried tags, fading scrawls, and tiny doodled ghosts of passersby. The graffiti isn’t curated or proud—just a restless accumulation of names, shapes, frustrations, and small attempts to be seen. The corner where the walls meet feels like a trap for wind and memory, a place people slip through rather than arrive at. Texture dominates: blistered paint, worn steel, and the gritty rise of spray lines overlapping like static. Nothing here is trying to impress; it’s simply survived—an accidental gallery of anonymity in a forgotten seam of the city. A narrow, time-worn alcove catches a slant of late light, revealing a door scarred by years of weather and layered graffiti. A chalk-white heart anchors the composition, softening the otherwise harsh geometry of cracked wood, chipped paint, and scrawled tags. Shadows stretch across the stone and plywood walls, giving the scene a cinematic stillness—an urban relic where anonymity and expression collide.
November 18, 2025 at 3:09 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
#BlueBrewBooks

My favorite book or books are by Ursula K Le Guin

Book : Left Hand of Darkness
Series : Earthsea
November 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Rungs of Shadow, Decks of Light: Ascend the stairs into the bright morning (Sioux City, Nov 2025)

📷 Pentax K3 Mk III Monochrome
🔘 Pentax 20-40mm F/2.8

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday November 15, 2025
The theme is #Bright

#photography #urbangaze #alley #B&W #ClassicMono #Pentax #K3IIIMono
In this monochrome alley scene, fire-escape ladders fall into shadow while their platforms sit brightly in the sun, creating a striking contrast of geometry and light. The darkened rungs rise like a hidden spine along the brick wall, culminating in sunlit decks that glow against the weathered façade. Pipes, vents, and windows punctuate the scene, but it’s the tension between shadowed ascent and illuminated landing that defines the photograph’s mood.
November 15, 2025 at 12:52 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Waiting Beside the Ruins: In route to Ikebukuro (Tokyo, Nov 2025)

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

#urbangaze #humansofbluesky #humans #Tokyo #ruins #demolition #photography #ClassicMono #b&w #Nikon #NikonZf #スナップ写真 #白黒 #モノクロ
A lone figure stands still in the dim light of a station platform, framed against the skeletal remains of a demolished overpass. The raw concrete and exposed rebar echo the passage of time, while the surrounding silhouettes flow past in quiet indifference. In black and white, the scene becomes a meditation on transience—what’s left behind, and who remains to witness it.
November 13, 2025 at 12:36 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Stargate Mosaic: The stargate hidden in the Plymouth Crowne Plaza’s elevators (Stargate SG-1)

📷 Ricoh GR III

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekTforTelevision

#photography #Ricoh #GRIII #RicohGRIII
A circular tile inlay glows with symmetry and mystery, its interlocking arcs and mirrored tones recalling the ancient gateways of Stargate SG-1. Light reflections form points like constellations, as if waiting for a wormhole to open beneath your feet — a terrestrial echo of cosmic travel, etched in stone.
November 10, 2025 at 9:42 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Transient Glow: A long exposure of cross traffic in the gloaming of the day.

📷 Ricoh GR IIIx
1.0 second f/8 ISO 200

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday November 8, 2025
The theme is #Evening

#gloaming #longexposure #photography #Pentax #Ricoh #GRIIIx #traffic #lighttrails
Rain-slick streets shimmer under the deep blue of evening, their reflections fractured by the fleeting rush of taillights. A truck’s motion stretches across the frame like time itself—paused yet pulsing with energy. The world waits at the intersection, caught between the stillness of a red light and the blur of passing life.
November 8, 2025 at 10:46 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Whisper of Beauty: A bouquet of roses fading from their peak and discarded. (Emmetsburg, Nov 2025)

📷 Ricoh GR III Macro mode

#RoseWednesday #ColorADay #RedWed #macro #Ricoh #Pentax #RicohGRIII #photography #EastCoastKin #Bloomscrolling
A rose caught between light and memory — the last bloom before the fade. 🌹
November 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
An echo from the past. #BlueBrewMugs
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Faded Hardware Heritage : Old ghost sign of long closed business in Ruthven

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Pentax 55mm f/1.8 Super-Takumar M42 using Urth Adapter

#Ruthven #Iowa #RuralGaze #ghostsign #ghostsigns #ghostsignproject #Nikon
#photography #NikonZf
#SuperTakumar #Urth #ClassicMono #b&w
A weathered ghost sign clings to the side of a brick building, its once-bold lettering now softened by decades of sunlight and rain. The name “Wigdahl Hardware” still stands proud amid the peeling paint, a relic of an era when small-town stores supplied plumbing, heating, and sporting goods to the community. The monochrome tones emphasize the texture of the bricks and the graceful decay of hand-painted craftsmanship, preserving the quiet dignity of a bygone business.
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Fire Escape Geometry : Iron and shadows blend but the sparrows know which ones are solid (Fort Dodge)

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekSforShadows

#photography #Cityscape #Scape #ClassicMono #b&w #Nikon #NikonZf #urbangaze #sparrows #Architecture
Shadows and structure intertwine on a sunlit wall, where the iron lines of a fire escape cast sharp, angular forms against pale stone. The play of light and texture transforms a utilitarian detail into an abstract composition of rhythm and restraint.
November 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Harvest Glow: From a photo walk in downtown West Bend, IA (West Bend, Oct 2024)

📷 Fujifilm X-T50 Velvia
🔘 XF 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 R LM WR

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday November 1, 2025
The theme is #autumn

#fujifilm #xt50 #Velvia #Iowa #WestBend #harvest #ruralgaze #photography
A colorful assortment of pumpkins and gourds rests in the golden afternoon sun, their varied shapes and hues glowing against a soft drape of fabric. The scene captures the abundance and texture of autumn’s harvest — a celebration of warmth, earth, and the season’s quiet beauty.
November 1, 2025 at 1:20 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Silhouettes in the Fog: Silos and rails shrouded in mist on an autumn morning in small town Iowa (Emmetsburg, Nov 2025)

📷 Ricoh GR III

#Scape #ruralgaze #fog #foggy #smalltown #silo #architecture #Landscape #morning #Ricoh #Pentax #RicohGRIII #photography #Emmetsburg #Iowa
Thick morning fog drapes over a small industrial rail yard, softening the sharp lines of silos, elevators, and steel structures. The faint glow of a single light pierces the mist near the tracks, while the crossing sign stands as the only clear shape in the haze. The scene feels timeless and ghostly—an echo of industry fading quietly into the gray.
October 31, 2025 at 1:45 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Reflected Ascent : Self-portrait while waiting for the elevator (Tokyo, Nov 2024)

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

#urbangaze #humansofbluesky #humans #selfprotrait #reflection #elevator #Tokyo #photography #Skytree #ClassicMono #b&w #Nikon #NikonZf #スナップ写真 #白黒 #モノクロ
A crowd waits behind mirrored elevator doors, their faces softened by dim light and overlapping reflections. The monochrome tones amplify a feeling of anticipation—an in-between moment suspended between motion and stillness, anonymity and connection. Each reflection folds the scene into layers, blurring where the real ends and the mirrored begins.
October 30, 2025 at 12:08 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Line to the Horizon : The rock and ties supporting the rail into the distance

📷 Pentax 17
🎞️ Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II

Join the #AlphabetChallenge
The theme is #WeekRforRock

#photography #believeinfilm #filmisnotdead #analog #railroad #B&W #ClassicMono #Pentax #Pentax17 #NeopanAcros
A striking black-and-white photograph taken from rail level, where the steel track slices sharply toward a vanishing point in the distance. The low perspective exaggerates the sense of infinity, as shadows and sunlight play across the gravel and wooden ties. Framed by dark trees, the scene evokes solitude, direction, and the quiet tension between stillness and motion.
October 29, 2025 at 12:12 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Faded Trade of Time : Downtown ghost sign in Emmetsburg at the corner of Broadway and Main

📷 Pentax 17
🎞️ Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II

#ghostsign #ghostsigns #ghostsignproject
#photography #believeinfilm #filmisnotdead #B&W #ClassicMono #Pentax #Pentax17 #NeopanAcros
A weathered ghost sign for “Wigdahl Hardware” clings to the side of an old brick building, its once-bold lettering now softened and scarred by years of sun and rain. Shot on film, the grain and monochrome tones emphasize the age and endurance of both paint and place—a quiet tribute to a vanished era of small-town commerce and craftsmanship.
October 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Autumn’s Rest : Life isn’t over just because the rock is ground to gravel and the leaf has fallen.

📷 iPhone 14 Pro

Join the #AlphabetChallenge
The theme is #WeekRforRock

#MinimalMonday #photography
#iPhone14 #autumn #morning
A weathered maple leaf lies quietly on a bed of sunlit gravel, its crimson stem and burnt-orange veins standing out against the muted earth tones. The leaf’s curled edges and brittle surface tell the story of a season fading, caught between warmth and decay in the low morning light of fall.
October 27, 2025 at 10:15 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Dining with the Dragon (Kanda, Tokyo, Nov 2024) : Faded painting greets customers in the restaurant attached to our hotel

📷 iPhone 14 Pro

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday October 25, 2025
The theme is #Inside

#urbangaze #Kanda #Tokyo #photography #painting #dragon #iPhone14 #スナップ写真
A vivid red-and-blue dragon winds its way along the worn floor of Churrasco Casablanca, its painted scales faded from countless footsteps. The contrast of the fiery creature with the warm orange seating and the utilitarian fire extinguisher nearby gives the space a mix of myth and everyday life—an unassuming corner where art, culture, and comfort quietly intersect.
October 25, 2025 at 8:06 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Under the White Chimney : Had only a short visit here looking for a music CD. (Ikebukuro, Nov 2024)

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

#urbangaze #humansofbluesky #Ikebukuro #Tokyo #photography #Cityscape #Scape #ClassicMono #b&w #Nikon #NikonZf #スナップ写真 #白黒 #モノクロ
A quiet Tokyo street unfolds beneath the towering white chimney of the Toshima Incineration Plant. The bare branches of winter trees trace delicate lines against the muted skyline, while the rhythm of the city continues—footsteps, traffic, and fleeting faces passing through a moment suspended in grayscale. The scene balances industry and intimacy, solitude and movement.
October 23, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Steve Sick
geovanmeter.bsky.social
A picture from the fourth of July, shot on Fuji 400 with Pentax K1000 #Fuji400 #Pentax #K1000 #film #photo #photography
Vertical corn cobs stuck on a wooden struture with corn plants in the background.
October 21, 2025 at 7:48 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Inverted in Amber : Trapped within the lamp the inverted world sits quietly

📷 Ricoh GR III

Join the #AlphabetChallenge
The theme is #WeekQforQuiet

#MinimalMonday #Abstract #BlueSkyMonday #Ricoh #Pentax #RicohGRIII #Photograpy #Landscape #Inverted
A landscape unfolds upside down within the amber glass of a lamp, its warm tones turning the outside world into a molten dream. Trees and fields bend through the curved surface, transforming light into liquid gold and perspective into poetry.
October 20, 2025 at 8:06 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
Monochrome Ascent (Asakusa, Tokyo, Oct 2024) : First night in Tokyo from the hotel’s roof

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

Join the #BlueSkyArtShow
Saturday October 18, 2025
The theme is #Vertical

#urbangaze #Tokyo #photography #Skytree #night #Scape #ClassicMono #b&w #Nikon #NikonZf
A black-and-white view of Tokyo Skytree piercing the night sky, its illuminated spire radiating like a celestial signal above the dense cityscape below. The quiet geometry of buildings and streets contrasts with the tower’s luminous ascent, a symbol of modern Tokyo reaching into the infinite night.
October 18, 2025 at 8:23 AM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
On Tap from Another Era (Minnesota, Oct 2025) Look like this coffee shop was once a bar.

📷 Ricoh GR III

#Ricoh #RicohGRIII #ghostsign #ghostsigns #ghostsignproject #urbex #photography
A worn circle of lettering emerges faintly through the white paint — the lingering trace of an old Beer advertisement. Decades of sun, weather, and being painted over have nearly erased it, leaving only the ghostly outline of the familiar script barely visible beside the newer signage. The wall holds both past and present in a quiet, faded balance.
October 17, 2025 at 8:52 PM
starrytraveler.bsky.social
The Glow Between Us : From a nighttime photo walk in Kanda (Kanda, Tokyo, Nov 2024)

📷 Nikon Zf B&W mode
🔘 Nikon 24-70mm f/2.4

#urbangaze #humansofbluesky #humans #Tokyo #Kanda #photography #night #ClassicMono #b&w #blackandwhite #Nikon #NikonZf #スナップ写真 #白黒 #モノクロ
Amid a canyon of glowing signs and narrow alleys, two friends pause in mid-laughter beneath the electric buzz of Tokyo’s night. The monochrome palette strips away color but not life — leaving only the rhythm of the street, the light spilling from shopfronts, and the quiet intimacy of a shared moment in the city’s endless pulse.
October 16, 2025 at 9:07 AM