Tessera

Noah Grey

@thatnoahgrey.bsky.social

A survivor who's done & been a lot of things. Quick intro pinned below; more @ https://manmadeghost.com/about/ on my dormant site. All photos & art I post are by me. He/they. Financially desperate. Donations @ https://paypal.me/manmadeghost very welcome.

350 Posts1038 Follower 17 Folgt

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 4h ago

"Among the ruins, one wall stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam: 'Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is...'" — Ray Bradbury, "There Will Come Soft Rains"

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Moonrise, Zabriskie Point #photography #photosky #landscapephotography #deathvalley #california #moonrise #oc

"Moonrise, Zabriskie Point" by Noah Grey. Taken at sunset in Death Valley, the jagged silhouette of the desert mountains lies in deep shadow, their ridges tinged with the last fiery light of day. Above them, a single immense golden cloud drifts across a sky of pure cobalt blue. The full moon rises just above the cloud's crest, pale and luminous, like a pearl balancing on a golden wave. (In my photography career decades ago, this became kind of my "signature" image — not what I thought was my best, but the one I sold the most prints of at the time.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Birthday Postcards: Corkagh Mornings & Liffey Days #art #painting #impressionism #pointillism #dublin #ireland #digitalart #artsky #blueskyart #oc

Top painting: "Birthday Postcards: Corkagh Mornings" by Noah Grey. An impressionistic/pointillist painting of the lake at Corkagh Park in Dublin, Ireland. The water is a shimmer of deep blues and turquoise, mirroring a sky of swirling clouds in white and purplish-gray. Along the far shore, a line of lush green trees stands reflected in the still surface, their shapes softened by dappled light. The feel in both paintings is intended to be layered and tactile with spangled texture, giving the scenes a sense of quiet energy.

Bottom painting: "Birthday Postcards: Liffey Days" by Noah Grey. A impressionistic/semi-pointillist painting of the O'Connell Bridge spanning Dublin's River Liffey. The scene is rendered in a melange of colors and color splashes, (hopefully) suggestive of the full vibrancy of an afternoon in Dublin's city centre, circa 2006-07. The bridge, carrying a yellow bus along with blurred cars & crowds, is rendered in textured strokes of pale stone, arching over the river lined with ornate lampposts and balustrades. On the opposite bank of the Liffey is a mosaic of painted façades, mostly Georgian in character, and the thin towering Spire in the distance.

Your reward for putting up with my alt-texts today is learning that several Dublin monuments have colorful local nicknames — and the Spire is most popularly known (or at least it was when I lived there) as The Stiffy By The Liffey.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

For my late husband's birthday today, some solo improv #piano. The underlying "concept" is that I was improvising to the thought of the walks I used to take through downtown Dublin with him, playing spontaneously* while recreating such a walk in my mind. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdi...

Noah Grey - St. Stephen's Green

YouTube video by Noah Grey

youtube.com

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Baldongan Castle, Ireland #photography #photosky #landscapephotography #castle #architecture #ireland #b&w #blackandwhite #oc

"Baldongan Castle, Ireland" by Noah Grey. A B&W high-contrast photograph of the titular castle, its weathered stone tower rising against a moody sky streaked with heavy clouds. The ruins stand solemn and alone amid a quiet graveyard, where old headstones lean at gentle angles, their surfaces mottled with age and lichen. Wildflowers and tufts of grass grow among the graves, softening the scene's starkness. The light is dim and dramatic, catching the rough textures of the masonry and the sculpted clouds above.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Rain Leaves #photography #photosky #autumn #solitude #depression #macrophotography #naturephotography #sepia #oc

"Rain Leaves" by Noah Grey. A macro sepia photograph of a small cluster of skeletal autumn leaves, their delicate veins exposed like lace against a soft, sepia-toned background. Light filters through the thin, decaying surfaces, revealing a network of fine lines and dark specks — the quiet geometry of time and weather.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Stillwater Fall #photography #photosky #autumn #fall #wisconsin #oc #naturephotography #landscapephotography #blueskyart

"Stillwater Fall" by Noah Grey. A photograph of an autumn landscape in Stillwater,* Wisconsin, glowing with the warmth of late-afternoon light. Across the frame, a dense hillside of trees blazes in shades of gold, amber, and russet, their colors mirrored in the calm waters of the river below. The sunlight strikes the foliage at a low angle, setting the leaves aflame with copper and honey tones, while the water ripples in bands of deep blue and reflected orange.

* Yay for nominative determinism.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Passersby (For K.) #photography #photosky #statuary #crucifix #b&w #carmelmission #california #stfrancis #jesus #oc

"Passersby (For K.)" by Noah Grey. A B&W photograph of a weathered statue of St. Francis entwined in ivy, taken at Carmel Mission in California. The saint's face is gentle and contemplative, his downturned eyes resting on the large crucifix, which seems nearly as tall as he is, that he holds tenderly in both hands. Time and the elements have softened the marble, streaking it with subtle textures that echo the folds of his robe. Lush ivy climbs around him, threading through his shoulders and beard. The contrast between the rough stone and the dark, velvety leaves is intended to give the image a quiet, reverent mood, as though nature itself is embracing the saint and the literal cross that he bears. The title is taken from "Be passersby", a saying of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Thomas, and is dedicated to someone very dear to me about whom I... hope.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Three Dunes, Death Valley #photography #photosky #naturephotography #b&w #blackandwhite #monochrome #california #blueskyart #oc

"Three Dunes, Death Valley" by Noah Grey. A triptych of high-contrast B&W photographs. In the left and right images, the sharp ridges of tall sand dunes curve towards the center, their surfaces etched with delicate ripples from the wind. Taken in the early morning hours when the sunlight was shining at a straight horizontal angle, the sides in shadow are contrasted into full black, as are the mountainous horizons beyond beneath thick wispy clouds. The center image is a straight-down view of a dune ridge, its uneven curve running right down the middle, with nothing but the sand visible, forming an almost purely-abstracted show of stripes. The intended mood is an interplay of light and shadow, representation and abstraction, austerity and sensuality, and the figures of Muad'Dib in the distance riding a giant sandworm against the forces of the Baron, just to see if anyone actually *reads* these alt-text notes.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Thermonuclear Flower (for @baddaywithacamera.bsky.social) #photography #macrophotography #naturephotography #photomacrography #macro #abstract #photosky #art #oc

"Thermonuclear Flower" by Noah Grey. An extreme close-up macro photograph of a vivid purple flower (I *think* it's a type of thistle blossom, but am not 100% certain) with slender filaments tipped with tiny grains of white pollen rise like glowing spires from the base. The shallow depth-of-field of the macro lens gives the filaments what I Dr.-Strangelove-ishly call a "thermonuclear" look, as if they were missiles of pollen being launched from the "radioactive" purple core.

This photo is dedicated to my friend Sean McCormick at @baddaywithacamera.bsky.social on his birthday today, for his decades of personal and photographic inspiration to me.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Patience #poetry #blueskypoets #writing #bible #bookofjob #grief

"Patience" by Noah Grey: A poem meditating on the Book of Job, particularly the loss of his children. The poem is in free verse with frequent rhetorical repetition, and draws heavily from phrases and imagery in Job itself. (My deepest apologies, but this is a long poem and the Bluesky alt-text character limit is too short to allow me to post the text here.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Sonder / Scene From An Unfinished Film #photography #photosky #cinematography #dublin #ireland #nightphotography #streetphotography #blueskyart #oc

"Sonder" aka "Scene From An Unfinished Film" by Noah Grey. A night crossing at a busy intersection in Dublin, Ireland, bathed in the glow of streetlights and neon, predominately blue with splashes of red.

To quote the definition of "sonder", from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which coined it:

"You are the main character. The protagonist. The star at the center of your own unfolding story. You're surrounded by your supporting cast: friends and family hanging in your immediate orbit. Scattered a little further out, a network of acquaintances who drift in and out of contact over the years.

"But there in the background, faint and out of focus, are the extras. The random passersby. Each living a life as vivid and complex as your own. They carry on invisibly around you, bearing the accumulated weight of their own ambitions, friends, routines, mistakes, worries, triumphs, and inherited craziness.

"When your life moves on to the next scene, theirs flickers in place, wrapped in a cloud of backstory and inside jokes and characters strung together with countless other stories you'll never be able to see. That you'll never know exist. In which you might appear only once. As an extra sipping coffee in the background. As a blur of traffic passing on the highway. As a lighted window at dusk."

via https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/concept/sonder

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

When Shall We Three Meet Again #art #painting #selfportrait #mortality #grief #impressionism #digitalart #artsky #blueskyart #oc

"When Shall We Three Meet Again" by Noah Grey. An impressionist digital art painting in blue-grey tones of three male figures seen in silhouette: at left, a boy; at right; an adult man; in the middle, an older man in a wheelchair — all three moving away together through an atmosphere resembling heavy rain and thick fog portrayed through densely layered textures, blurring their outlines into ghosts. (No meaning will be spelled out for this one.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The Sanven Angel, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis #photography #photosky #indianapolis #indiana #b&w #statuary #crownhill #cemetery #grave #halloween #oc

"The Sanven Angel, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis" by Noah Grey. A high-contrast B&W photograph of a weathered angel statue at the titular location. The stone figure bows its head in an ambiguity suggestive of deep feeling suspended in time, wings arched behind it like great, ageworn feathers frozen mid-fold. The angel's face is soft yet eroded, its downcast gaze heavy with grief and grace. Deep shadows cling to the folds of its robe and the curves of its wings, emphasizing the wear of the rain and the years. The intended mood is a play of light and texture to make the marble seem alive with memory — an emblem of mourning and endurance, both haunting and tender, standing sentinel over the silence of the graves. (And no, the statue isn't actually called The Sanven Angel — but *I* call it that partly for the sake of the song "Sanvean (I Am Your Shadow)" by Dead Can Dance, but mostly for the sake of my oldest friend @sanven.com, who first took it to heart, took me to it, and has been an angel in my life for over half of it and counting.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Christ Church Crypt, Dublin, Ireland. #photography #photosky #statuary #christchurch #dublin #ireland #crypt #grave #halloween #b&w #oc

"Christ Church Crypt, Dublin, Ireland" by Noah Grey. A montage of four high-contrast B&W photographs depicting marble effigies from the crypt beneath the titular cathedral. Each frame captures a different expression of grief or repose carved in stone. In the upper left, a veiled figure presses a hand to its face, frozen in eternal weeping. The upper right shows the muscular torso of a reclining body, the marble smooth and cold, draped with folds of fabric that resemble heavy mourning cloth; the bottom left is the head of that same figure, laying with head bowed in something like rest or surrender. The final image, at bottom right, portrays a serene face turned upward, eyes closed beneath a carved veil, caught between anguish and transcendence. The lighting is a ghostly chiaroscuro, the intended mood being one of suspension between light and shadow, life and stillness, yearning and sorrow. (For fellow James Joyce lovers, once again, Christ Church gets a shoutout in Finnegans Wake. Read https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/christ-church-cathedral-dublin for more about that and other curiosities of the crypt for this Halloween eve.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I've been planning & poking at a memoir of the early days of being online (I started in 1985, before the web was even invented, and blogged since '94). Don't know if I'll ever have the strength to finish it, but this is a great snapshot of what the gold rush days were like.

Phil Gyford@phil.gyford.com · 10mo ago

I wrote about what it was like to go online for the first time 30 years ago. How hard and complicated it seemed, and then how amazing this entirely new world was. Including some extracts from my 1995 diary. www.gyford.com/phil/writing...

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 9mo ago

My sister/caretaker just got back from our local food bank. Thank you *so* much to everyone who's been volunteering and donating food to help all of us caught in this cruel insanity. Your spirits helped heal ours today. 🙏

Noah Grey@thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I rely on SNAP. My state has announced it's halting SNAP if the shutdown continues past Oct 27. We're *already* living on the bare minimum of food and having to pick-&-choose necessities, and I have a ton of meds I need to take with food daily. I thought I couldn't get any more afraid, but I am now.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

A Show of Hands #photography #photosky #nature #naturephotography #doubleexposure #surreal #abstract #hand #b&w #oc

"A Show of Hands" by Noah Grey: A high-contrast B&W photograph of spindly tree branches and the ghost of a handprint, superimposed on each other in a double exposure. The mood is surreal and abstract, intending to suggest that the branches of the trees are themselves "fingers", a network of entwined "hands" in their own right as well as extending outward from and becoming extensions of the human handprint. (This photo also combines two sides of the world at once, in a way. The branches are from my Texas backyard, while the handprint belongs to my late husband Barry, left on the window of our Dublin home. He never got to visit America, but among many other meanings this photo represents to me, I quietly like to think of it as representing his presence all throughout nature, his ashes long ago having dissolved into the sea to circulate throughout the weather system and spread the trace atoms of him everywhere throughout the world, including back to me here on the other side of it now.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

jenn m. jackson@jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.

Tim O’Brien @timobrien.bsky.social · 10mo ago

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall... think of it, always.” - Gandhi

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

"Antifa" is short for "anti-fascist": something I grew up believing all Americans are *supposed* to be. I was fed lies & omissions in history, but I hold THAT to be true. As a mostly-lifelong Texan, my heart's w/ everyone marching at our capitol & around the US. Love, power, & #NoKings now or ever.

Alt National Park Service@altnps.bsky.social · 10mo ago

This administration is terrified of its own citizens speaking up! Governor Greg Abbott has once again activated the Texas National Guard ahead of the second No Kings event, specifically targeting Austin, and labeling the rally a “planned Antifa-linked demonstration.”

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Train tracks at Sandymount, Ireland. #photography #photosky #cityphotography #dublin #ireland #train #traintracks #b&w #oc

"Train Tracks, Sandymount, Ireland", by Noah Grey. A high-contrast B&W photograph looking down train tracks in the titular location, a suburb of Dublin, positioned directly on the center of the tracks looking to the horizon from a low central viewpoint. Beyond the wooden crossing in the foreground, there are walls on either side covered in graffiti, with scattered dense foliage among the residential/industrial area, and utility poles supporting electrical wires stretching off into the distance. The tracks themselves seem to be incomplete and in disrepair, appearing to have fallen into ruin, with the ground blanketed by rocks and debris. The mood is intended to invoke isolation, the passage of time, and the sense of a forelorn journey. (For fellow James Joyce fans, two episodes of Ulysses are set in Sandymount.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

25 years ago today, I finished v1.0 of Greymatter — the software that changed my life in some... mixed ways, changed the web a lil bit, & "came back" to save my home & life in 2022. (I'll share links about that below.) Happy birthday, you silly, scary, life-exploding, bittersweet child o' mine.

A montage of "windows" from version 1.0 of Greymatter from 2000, complete with a glimpse of it running on Windows 98 Internet Explorer in the background. The visible boxes are the login screen, the main menu, the entry selection list, and the editor. The interface is in greyscale (of course), though later versions were a more soothing pastel. (This montage itself is "vintage", a slapdash example I threw together at the time for illustrative purposes, after I was taken by surprise when other people wanted to use this strange shambling beast of code I wrote entirely for myself.)

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Self Less #art #painting #selfportrait #depression #bipolar #grief #impressionism #digitalart #artsky #blueskyart #oc

"Self Less" by Noah Grey: A self-portrait in which I depict myself covering my (bald) head fully with my own hands. The brushstrokes are very rough, raw, and impressionistic, with layers of thick grungy texture work suggestive of fraying, melting, and disintegration. The dominant colors are white-hot reds, oranges, and yellows, intended to convey an intensity of fire and blood. The intended mood is one of deep anguish, depression, grief, and inner torment, so thick and raw that I'm covering my own entire head as if to try to contain it all.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 10mo ago

My late husband lived & breathed this movie. He was once part of a drag group that did performances to it in theaters, collected everything he could, went by Franknfurter online. We even had "I'm Going Home" played at his funeral. Hope you're celebrating today, Barry. 👄

NPR@npr.org · 10mo ago

Fifty years ago, on Sept. 26, 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show flopped at the U.S. box office — then became the longest-running theatrical release in history.

Lindsay Ellis @lindsayellis.bsky.social · 11mo ago

youtu.be/QwpanShgOp4?...

The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel

YouTube video by Lindsay Ellis

youtu.be

Wil Wheaton ❌👑@wilwheaton.net · 11mo ago

My blog, and everything in my life that grew out of it, would not exist if not for you and your work. I am so grateful that you are part of my story. It means so much to me that you still read my blog. <3

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 12mo ago

SR 190, California. #photography #photosky #landscape #highway #road #b&w

"SR 190, California" by Noah Grey. A black & white photo of the titular highway, taken while driving away from Death Valley in the late evening. The image is in high contrast with clouds predominating the frame. In the bottom of the frame, the line of the road cuts an arc through the darkened ground, beneath a solitary low mountain visible on the left in evening haze. In the bottom right corner stand utility poles bearing faintly visible power lines, standing stark against the sky like giant crucifixes.

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Psalm 2025 #poetry #blueskypoets #writing

"Psalm 2025"

And it is said that in those days
a king loved the world with ice.

It is said he loved families into chains,
and loved walls up out of the earth;

that he loved the weak into floods,
and loved the sick out of their flesh;

that he loved faraway children into bones,
while he loved children near to him into scars;

and that he loved history into ash,
and the future into flames.

So deeply did he love, so wholly,
that he loved all love that was not his into silence.

And yet it must not be so:
it cannot be that a king of such great love ever was,

for these things are indeed said,
but so too are other things,

and we who have our hearts still speak.

— Noah Grey

Noah Grey @thatnoahgrey.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Dear man in the MAGA Pride shirt who called me a fag today in the hospital waiting room while I was wearing *my* 🏳️‍🌈 pride shirt: I may not understand *your* pride any more than you understood mine, but I still want to hope we can both someday have pride in *each other* as basic human beings again. ❤️