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highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
Gaston.
@highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
240 followers 76 following 250 posts
A nomad, a collector, a flâneur, a bohemian artist, a tea cup kind of guy, a Master of Architecture currently searching for a new home.
https://highcontrastgrey.weebly.com/links.html
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highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
Gaston. @highcontrastgrey.bsky.social · Mar 12
Hello, I'm still new here and thought I'd offer a glimpse into my identity : I grew up in Hawai'i and Montana, and at 19 I moved to Seattle. I've since moved to Maine, France, and the UK, where I studied Fine Arts, Sustainability, and Architecture.
A picture of my face while I'm in a white void. I'm a scruffy man wearing a white shirt with an opened collar under a black v-neck sweater. I have a slight smirk, but I let my waxed mustache do the real cheek to cheek smile. In a glimpse to my punk rock youth past, my ears are pierced and stretched, but in a way that might date me to a teenage rebellion in the noughties. Making eye contact with the camera, my eyes peer through the Void of the internets to look at those whom I may never meet. Hello.
Reposted by Gaston.
noirbeachshack.bsky.social
A relatable quote from Japanese #FilmNoir #PaleFlower ~ this weekend on #NoirAlley...

🎬 Pale Flower (1964)
#TCMParty
#DarknessAtNoon
The line "I have nothing in common with ordinary society" is spoken by Muraki, the protagonist in the 1964 film Pale Flower, played by Ryo Ikebe. He says this upon his release from prison after serving a sentence for killing a rival gang member, reflecting his alienation from mainstream society and the tumultuous state of post-war Japan. The line is part of a larger monologue where he also states, "I'm the scum of the earth," and then concludes with, "But still - I forgive myself". 
June 21, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
emmanuelspv.bsky.social
Before (2019) / After (2025) Rue de Meaux in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Here, it went from four parking lanes and two traffic lanes to just one of each : on the right, everything was replaced by greenery, and the parking lane further to the left was replaced by a contraflow bike lane.
May 27, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
thisismyglasgow.bsky.social
I haven't done a post on the weirder side of life in Glasgow for a while, so here's a great, if rather surreal, bit of street art I came across today on Park Drive in the West End of Glasgow.

#glasgow #streetart #kelvingrovepark #banana #glasgowstreetart #keepglasgowweird #glasgowtoday #scotland
May 27, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
umadlp.bsky.social
Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton.
May 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
paris75009.bsky.social
The history of school street Rue Charles Baudelaire from 2020, 2021, 2022, to 2025. From car & concrete kid dangerous to a safe, lush greenscape & people friendly.

#paris #schoolstreets #15minutecity #urbanism #schoolsafety #france #school #bikes #pedestrians #children #greenspace #climatechange
May 21, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Gaston.
busterkeaton.bsky.social
This Day in Buster…May 20, 1928
"Steamboat Bill, Jr." has its general U.S. release 8 days after opening in New York -

#oldhollywood #damfino #busterkeaton #silentfilm
May 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
Looking up on #BlueSkyMonday in Aix.
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#aixenprovence #provence #france #urbanphotographer #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #photographersunited
Looking up at the sky between the valley of golden stone buildings of Provence. The light illuminates the top storey of the building as it chases away the shadows those of us at the ground thrive in. Thin, whispy clouds break up the field of blue above.
May 19, 2025 at 4:51 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #selfportraitsunday quiet candlelit evening at home.
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#vintagestyle #dapper #bohemian #photography #vintage #portrait #selfportrait #vintagefashion #antique
A candle just out of frame illuminates my apartment. Hand to my chin, I gaze at the dancing flame - watching it swirl and twist as the wax of the candle shrinks. I'm wearing my great grandmother's beret, pulled to a point in front of me with her Scottish crest pin resting behind my ear, to match my black suit jacket. Although, it's the weekend, so I'm casually omitting a tie. One can't be too formal when home alone on a Sunday.
May 19, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Reposted by Gaston.
workingclasshistory.com
#OtD 16 May 1871 the workers and soldiers of the Paris commune tore down the Vendôme column: a monument to war which was topped with a statue of Napoleon. Learn more about the commune in this book of writings by participants: shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/...
May 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For FlashBackFriday #fbf and Friday #scape : foggy morning flânerie à Rennes.
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#Rennes #Bretagne #France #urbanphotographer #streetphotography #cityscape #wanderlust #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #photographersunited
Foggy morning near République. The streets are empty as clouds devour the tops of buildings in Rennes. Mansards fade away into the white of the sky. Looking down the road in the center of town, the repeating form of tall street lights lining the river rest at the same height while the road undulates below.
May 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #adoorablethursday this number 2 TARDIS blue door in Pigalle.
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#Paris #France #urbanphotographer #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #photographersunited
Beautiful stone Parisian construction blends the ground floor and first storey in varying hues of grey as though it has been raining, but only drenched part of the building. Recessed in this double-height doorway is a TARDIS blue double door with shiny brass details. Above this door a Juliette balcony with a less-violet blue and white trim completes the doorway.
May 15, 2025 at 11:05 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #WindowsOnWednesday looking above a kebab shop in Glasgow.
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#glasgow #scotland #urbanphotographer #streetphotography #cityscape #wanderlust #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #photographersunited #moody
A selection of four windows above a "Morello no.146 kebabs, pizzas, burgers" neon sign. The bright greens and oranges of the sign stands out boldly on a black field upon a yellow (well, yellow-grey) sandstone Glasgow tenement. The lower two windows have curtains matching the stone parted to expose the black interior of an unilluminated home. Some poppies peer out the window on the right. Striving for light and remembrance upon the world. The upper two windows have white paper curtains that fold down and reflect a more modern sentiment. One open one closed.
May 15, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Reposted by Gaston.
workingclasshistory.com
#OtD 13 May 1968 up to 10 million workers began a general strike in France in the May 68 rebellion, as hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Paris following violent student riots. Learn more in our tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@workingclasshistory/video/71...
May 13, 2025 at 5:10 AM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #selfportraitsunday a pause for tea but I appear to have misplaced the café.
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#vintagestyle #dapper #bohemian #photography #vintage #photoshoot #portrait #selfportrait #vintagefashion #tea #antique
Dressed in my best antique French tuxedo and bowler, I stand with my teacup and saucer in hand. Looking out, I have somehow found myself in a forest next to a rushing river, far from civilization and cafés and everywhere that I would hope to find myself. At least I have some tea to ground me in my memories of civilization.
May 11, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Reposted by Gaston.
publicdomainrev.bsky.social
Emma Goldman addressing a rally at Union Square, New York, 1916. Read our essay on her unique brand of anarchism: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/emma-goldmans-anarchism-without-adjectives #MayDay
May 1, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
laneutrina.bsky.social
Place Blanche, Paris 1950s
by Kees Scherer
April 27, 2025 at 7:03 AM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #adoorablethursday this lovely door at number 52 in Aix.
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#aixenprovence #provence #france #urbanphotographer #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #photographersunited
A façade in Aix. The Provencial stone glows with a golden hue with taches of greys and browns giving texture and beauty to the unrefined and imperfect. An enameled metal 52 is embedded into the wall by the upper-left carved stone of the entrance door framing. That classic French white field with blue numbers. Bundles of wires dance around the exterior of the building to give hint that it may have been constructed before the advent of electricity or our worldly connections via cables. Above the entry doorway there's a 1st storey window framed out in repeated order of its neighbors, but is only a quarter open as a window, as the rest has been filled in. Shutter open, it exposes a solitary potted plant, a piece of living nature in an otherwise stone and metal setting.
April 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'The Dome, Brompton Oratory' (1936) by Charles Ginner

(Private collection)
April 23, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Gaston.
coolbikeart1.bsky.social
Mood?
A woman dressed in a white outfit rides a bicycle while holding an umbrella. Apollonia van Ravenstein Vogue UK, March 1973 📷Bruce Laurance
April 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
Early morning flânerie à Rennes.
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#Rennes #Bretagne #France #urbanphotographer #streetphotography #cityscape #wanderlust #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #nightscape #photographersunited
A sleepy, rainy city beginning to wake up under a grey-blue sky where night holds onto its last vestiges of darkness. The streets are stained in rainwater and the lights stream vertically across the pavement in their hazy reds and yellows. All the apartment lights are still turned off - with a few shutters closing the world off - as the buildings sleep under the white noise of Bretagne rain. There's a beauty in the quiet early morning where few are out or awake. A feeling that the streets are for the taking. That the sound of one's footsteps on the wet pavement has yet to be lost in the din of the day.
April 22, 2025 at 11:35 PM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For the weekly #ClassicMono : Paris flânerie through Pigalle
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#paris #france #urbanphotographer #streetphotography #cityscape #wanderlust #photography #architecture #architecturephotography #blackandwhitephotography #monochromephotography #bnwphotography #monochrome #photographersunited #nightscape
Black and white Paris. It's night and the streetlight flares as though it were directed by JJ Abrams. The life of the evening fills the lively streets as people dash about, passing by the illuminated restaurants attempting to lure them in.
April 22, 2025 at 6:10 AM
highcontrastgrey.bsky.social
For #selfportraitsunday a pause for back alley tea under the snow.
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#vintagestyle #dapper #bohemian #photography #vintage #photoshoot #portrait #selfportrait #vintagefashion #tea #antique
Dressed in my best antique French tuxedo, I rest against a back alley brick wall. My bright red parasol up, it keeps the falling snow off of me as I sip my tea. I've perched my vintage Samsonite suitcase on top of a metal girder to act as my table for my teaset.
April 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Gaston.
ruizvidal7.bsky.social
Bonsoir
"To Have and Have Not"
April 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM