Escalators

24th Street BART Stairs and Escalator, (Halloween?) 2011.

Ever since about age 7, I have had a tremendous respect for escalators. It was then that a loose shoelace on my Keds shoe wormed its way into the toothed crack on the edge of an escalator at a mall. It was like a movie where the victim is oblivious, and doomed. The lace slowly lost its slack, then tugged, and pulled on my foot, tightening the shoe as I pulled away in horror. As the mechanized steps churned upward, I quickly began to envision the loss of a leg, and I pulled...pulled! The white rubber on the side of the shoe neared the jagged chrome jaw's grimace at an even pace. Rubber entered the jaw silently, pinched between the moving parts, as my foot shrunk back, into a tighter and tighter fist, away from the mechanical menace. The deli knife. Meanwhile, inches away, miles from the focus of my attention, some sharp metal object was slowly fraying the shoelace. Just as the escalator reached the top where another jagged set of teeth glistened in wait, at once the lace sheared, the rubber flap fell, separate from my shoe, and I launched, unscratched but forever scarred, to the mall floor, the only sound in my ears my own helpless shriek.

Nowadays, I enjoy photographing their steps, which turn into a blurring river when a long exposure is employed.

I think the above photo must have been from Halloween. Doesn't the guy ascending the escalator look like he's wearing a jail suit costume? I am not the best about notetaking when I shoot, so I can only guess that's the case. The roll was developed in November 2011 (remember film? no date-stamp on the file), so that strengthens the case. 

I shot the photo below in Vegas this past April. Without a tripod, I was lucky to notice that a railing is positioned perfectly for a camera. You can guess what my decision was. First, what better way to kill time while waiting for your bag? That's what I figured, even though I didn't check any bags. 

First Las Vegas Decision, April 2014.

With my rediscovered love for escalators*, I was curious, and had to do a quick Google search on "escalator function"...somehow I didn't get that far, but I found this. Here's a video that I'm certain would go viral with a little editing and a fitting soundtrack. The title is also unfortunate and -- don't worry -- very misleading. [Really, really dumb title, guys.]

-- follow up edit, 8/16/14: The following video should certainly be referenced. I think this is what I had in mind in the above paragraph. Since this has already been done, really nothing could be done with colorful balls on escalators to come close.

Sony BRAVIA Bouncy Ball Advertisement.

*I know this is obvious, but this is the great thing about the internet for our generation. So many things from our past that inspired curiosity or wonder when we were children, before the internet, and only encyclopedias, can now so easily be learned, or re-learned.