The Permanence of Buildings, the Permanence of Pictures: Inspirations

I've noticed that I take a lot of pictures of buildings.  I often think that those pictures, those buildings will inspire some later writing.  Do they inspire you?

Like many people, I love old barns and outbuildings, the things parked in front of them and inside them, the foliage growing through them.

But maybe you prefer urban buildings.  Below, I love the mix of old and new in the same Miami horizon:

I love an old Southern downtown (below, McCormick, South Carolina):

Or maybe you prefer something more tropical:

Or maybe a different kind of waterfront:

Do you like chapels and churches?

I have lots of pictures of chapels (above at Mepkin Abbey, below at Lutheridge, a mountain church camp).  When I was in Europe, I didn't have a digital camera, so I don't have pictures of the great cathedrals.  Does it matter?

Maybe you would prefer a mountain cottage:

Or maybe a lighthouse speaks to you:

Above, a more traditional lighthouse by South Florida's Biscayne Bay.  Below, a less traditional building that I think also functions as a lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay.

I wish I had pictures of old Southern homes, with those broad, beautiful porches.  I wish I had pictures of all the DC townhouses that I studied during morning commutes when I was a college student home for summer.  I wish I had more pictures of suburbia, to see if its reputation for blandness is merited.

I used to see buildings as fairly permanent, but now that I've owned a few, I know that the ravages of nature can be relentless, even against materials I would have thought of as impervious.  Wood rots, concrete cracks, plastic melts.

Only pictures remain.