WIRED Staff
Gear

Slideshow: The Picture of Devotion

Engineer John Charlton takes an Apple Newton everywhere on his travels. He convinces himself it's a useful device, but in his heart he knows the truth: He simply wants to photograph it in front of landmarks. By Leander Kahney.
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This picture was taken on the U.S. side of the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan. "It was another bitterly cold and windy night, again around midnight," Charlton said. "Suffering for my 'art'."Courtesy of John Charlton

See related story: The Picture of Devotion

Charlton took this shot at Ford's 100thanniversary celebration. quotYes I went there just for the photo opportunityquot...

Charlton took this shot at Ford's 100th-anniversary celebration. "Yes, I went there just for the photo opportunity," Charlton said. "I was hoping for the Batmobile."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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John Charlton's face is reflected in the screen of his beloved Newton. Charlton said he took the shot "as a feeble protest on the fifth anniversary of the cancellation of the Newton. You'll see the date in the photo, as well as some text from the event."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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John Charlton took this roadside shot on a cycling trip in South Wales. "I had to leave my friends and ride up a very steep hill to get these," he said. "I wonder what was said in my absence?"

Courtesy of John Charlton
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Charlton took this picture at the Ottawa Tulip Festival. "I tried to make a non-funny, pretty picture," Charlton said. "I forgot I was supposed to be picking my parents up."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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Newtonville is also on the highway between Toronto and Montreal. "Too easy," said Charlton.

Courtesy of John Charlton
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by Edwina Sandys.

Courtesy of John Charlton
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This lightning shot caused one of Charlton's friends to remark, "Your pictures would be quite cool without the Newton." Charlton replied, "I think they'd be quite dull." Charlton took hundreds of frames to get the shot. "I've got a cheaper digital (Sanyo VPC-SX550) but it has a great sequence-shot mode, doing up to 10 frames a second," he said. "I got hundreds of very dark shots, and this. Funnily enough, despite all the fancy photographic gear I've got (Leicas to Linhofs), all of these pictures were done with this camera (or its earlier model)."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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This shot of the Newton, a pub in South Wales, was taken on a cycling tour. Charlton said, "This was the trip I discovered the number of Newtons in the U.K., and the trip where it was pointed out to me that my hobby was 'pathetic.' I had to laugh -- she was right. I pretended the Newton would be useful but really dragged it around for the photos."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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The Newton and Newton headstone is Charlton's favorite shot. He took the picture in the middle of the night in thick fog, and had to lie on graves to get the right angle. "The subtext, that the Newton isn't dead yet, also appeals," he said.

Courtesy of John Charlton
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Charlton was walking by the Office de la Langue Française, which is infamous in Québec for enforcing the sometimes odd language laws -- it's the language police. "I had to verify the gender of 'style' before going back to get the picture," said Charlton. "Wouldn't want to be put away."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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One of Charlton's first pictures featured this landmark on the Trans-Canada Highway between Montreal and Toronto. "I'd passed it many times but never actually stopped," said Charlton. "Got myself locked inside the apple. Luckily I had my Newton to light the way."

Courtesy of John Charlton
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The Newton is shown in a thunderstorm outside the DaimlerChrysler headquarters in Detroit, where Charlton works as an engineer. "I was lucky, as I don't always have a camera in the car, but this day my trusty old Civic was rolling over 333,333 kilometers, so I had a camera to record the event," Charlton explained. "Later that night I heard thunder and went out to close the windows on the car, saw the lightning, and went back in to get the Newt. Stood out front for over half an hour, mostly in a light rain, with the Newton over my head shooting sequence after sequence."

Courtesy of John Charlton