Michael Wriston
@mwriston.bsky.social
2.1K followers 700 following 1.1K posts
Social landscape and street portrait photographer based in Baltimore, MD. Writer of photographic essays. https://michaelwriston.substack.com Forever enamored by the liminal, the misunderstood, and the unconventional. www.michaelwriston.com
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mwriston.bsky.social
Stop the tears.

Biddle Street. Baltimore, MD. 2025.
An abandoned formstone storefront with a bumper sticker on the glass door that says "STOP THE TEARS."
mwriston.bsky.social
Some shots from the @bmorehorrorclub.bsky.social Beers & Fears Market, 2024.

Don't miss this year's market! Saturday, October 18 from 12-5p at Peabody Heights Brewery. Wear your costume, buy stuff, drink beer, have fun, happy Halloween. I'll take your picture.
Woman in ghost cat shirt selling Halloween goods at a market. Women laughing in a brewery hall lit by string lights. A woman in a witch costume shows her crafts to a crowd at a Halloween market. A woman with black lipstick and a black and white bat shirt drinks beer and holds a bearded dragon at a Halloween craft market.
mwriston.bsky.social
Union Square. Baltimore, MD. 2025.
A vintage black and silver car parked at night outside an old auto repair shop with faded service signs.
mwriston.bsky.social
I'm a sucker for Halloween, beer, and Baltimore makers… and the Beers and Fears market at Peabody Heights nails all three. It's always a great time. I'll be there taking photos, so throw on a costume and come out!
bmorehorrorclub.bsky.social
Beers & Fear Halloween market coming on Saturday, October 18 from 12-5pm #halloween #halloweenmarket
mwriston.bsky.social
Gay Street. Baltimore, MD. 2025.
A flat iron Baltimore church building at night surrounded by glowing street lamps and traffic lights of different colors.
mwriston.bsky.social
Absolutely. Could have spent a whole weekend there.
mwriston.bsky.social
“The road was a pool of white gravel in my high beams as I zig-zagged down. Bare sycamores and birch made gaunt figures closing in around me. Twice a bobcat ran alongside the car, and a crossing of deer stopped me in the night until they vanished from one darkness to another.”
Three days in the National Radio Quiet Zone
Or, the greatest space between signal and noise
open.substack.com
mwriston.bsky.social
Just now reconnecting after a long weekend in the National Radio Quiet Zone.

Cheat Mountain, WV. 2025.
Moonrise over bare trees on the top of Chest Mountain, West Virginia.
mwriston.bsky.social
Outside Thayerville, MD. 2025.
An old farmhouse with faded clapboards, tall windows, and a porch sinking into the earth overlooks a sunlit field. Beside it leans a child’s playhouse — a miniature echo of the main home — its tiny roof and walls weathered by time. Together they sit in the open grass, bordered by forest and glowing beneath a brilliant blue sky.
mwriston.bsky.social
We all know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway: why aren’t the Secretaries using their comms departments teams as cover being held to the same standard?
mwriston.bsky.social
So when I communicated to the 3,000 Airmen in my specialty field, I had to use neutral language: “a deal on appropriations has not been reached,” “the budget issue is ongoing pending congressional resolution.”
mwriston.bsky.social
We were given VERY clear guidance not to put blame on a party or to use politically charged language. Doing so would have been a violation of DoDD 1344.10, the military’s version of the Hatch Act. That would have resulted in UCMJ charges.
mwriston.bsky.social
The shortfall could have been rectified, but Senator Tuberville was blocking appropriations and the situation worsened.
mwriston.bsky.social
For context: when I served on the Air Staff as a career field management advisor, the Air Force ran out of money one year to pay for moves, bonuses, and incentive pays.

www.afpc.af.mil/News/Article...
www.afpc.af.mil
mwriston.bsky.social
Just the VA casually violating the Hatch Act.
Screenshot of a VA newsletter blaming a specific political party for a government shutdown.
mwriston.bsky.social
20-year active duty Air Force veteran here, and what the actual fuck, no they absolutely should not.
Screenshot of a news headline wherein the president tells all US military generals that American cities should be military training grounds.
mwriston.bsky.social
Sandy Claws is keeping me sane!!
mwriston.bsky.social
“The epistemic garden feels like paradise. […] But, like Eden, it has a serpent. The algorithm snakes through the paths we think we’re consciously tending, tempting our attention toward what it predicts we want, rather than what we actually do.”
The serpent in the garden
Or, I shoot meme-ium format film
open.substack.com
mwriston.bsky.social
I am losing my goddamn mind.
Screenshot or a “shot on film” manifesto describing memetic proliferation based on content categorization.
mwriston.bsky.social
I saw one too many “Shot on Film” posts on social media this week and now I’m writing a manifesto.
mwriston.bsky.social
Join me as I begin a journey in transcendental meditation using a mantra generated by ChatGPT.
mwriston.bsky.social
Deep Creek.

McHenry, MD. 2025.
A woman in repose on a dock, her legs are submerged in dark water.
mwriston.bsky.social
Another shooting in America, and the immediate social media discourse features each side of the political spectrum racing to prescribe blame to the other. Ridiculous.