October 2012 Archives

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We were at the Guthrie Theater yesterday to see the powerful historical play "Appomatox". At intermission we strolled toward the Endless Bridge, passing the Guthrie's fascinating windows on the Mississippi River, parkland, and old mill buildings. The windows are deep, with shiny stainless steel facings that act as mirrors. So one sees all sorts of puzzling, disorienting views. Here are a couple.

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Along Summit Avenue

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Rain and cold are now knocking down the leaves, but the photographs remain.

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Beauty and the beast? (click to enlarge)

Sunday was a beautiful autumn day in St. Paul, with brilliant fall colors on display. An hour's walk in the neighborhood yielded a couple of week's worth of photos for posting. Here are a couple to start things off.

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Details of two molas, probably made by Kuna women in Panama. This is part of my series on "how to make artistic photographs of things laying around the house" :-).

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Details from a remarkably colorful and ornate weaving that we bought some years ago in the traditional Mayan town of Chichicastenango in Guatemala.

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At the Campus Club of the University of Minnesota, Phil Platt and Kayla Melbye are mounting photographs from my "Behind the Scenes" project. Thanks!

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As fall progresses, the light gets lower, making the leaves glow. (click to enlarge)

Another attractive object from our home, in this case a very tightly constructed and surprisingly heavy vase-shaped basket made from dyed pine needles. Elegant!

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Detail of Nigerian wedding belt (click to enlarge)

Detail of Balinese ceremonial mask (click to enlarge)

Detail of Ethiopian basket (click to enlarge)

Decoration on a plate by Warren Mackenzie (click to enlarge)

Enough black and white for a while! Here are some colorful images from home.

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A couple more quasi-abstractions (maybe not abstract enough) from the kitchen - studies in shape and shadow. (click to enlarge)

Here are yesterday's photos of our refrigerator door handles, rendered in black and white. I like doing exercises like this, but they make me aware of the mixed motives behind this blog. Is it primarily a vehicle for showing pictures of our travels and major projects to other people, or is it an artist's sketchbook for me? Both, I guess.

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I've temporarily run out of good photos from exotic places, so last night I decided to look closer to home: our kitchen. Here are some photos of the door handles on our refrigerator. I like not only the lines and curves, but also the subtle pink/magenta tint on the steel, which probably comes from a mix of white balance issues and reflections from objects nearby.

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A couple of photos that show the determination - and the pain - of runners in the Twin Cities Marathon. (If they look like they're running in different directions, it's because I took the photos from different sides of the street.)

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A couple of contestants at the Twin Cities Marathon (click to enlarge)

The winner of the women's division

A top runner-up

From yesterday's Twin Cities Marathon: Legs in extreme action. (Click photos to enlarge them.)

Today - a bright but cold fall day - was the occasion of the Twin Cities Marathon. I stationed myself about a mile from the finish line, on Summit Avenue in Saint Paul, a little more than two hours after the start of the race in Minneapolis. By the time I got there, the men's winner and several others had passed by, but many others were yet to come. Here are a few shots of the overall scene and mood of the race, once the runners started coming by in clumps. (Click photos to enlarge them.)

I posted the color version of this sculptural detail (original by Betty Parsons) a few days ago. I thought it might be interesting to see what the image would look like in black and white, which would emphasize structure and texture. The B&W option in the Develop module of Lightroom does a reasonable job (which probably would be better with some enhanced contrast and blacks, and maybe some sharpening to enhance texture). The blue and orange filters, however, are definitely not appropriate.

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Original color version

B&W in Lightroom

Blue B&W filter (Lightroom preset)

Orange B&W filter (Lightroom preset)

(click to enlarge) When the leaves have partially fallen, gesturing branches are revealed. The balance of yellow-green and blue patches with gray-black strokes makes a vigorous abstract expressionist image.

Variations on a scene with brilliant fall light. (Click photos to enlarge them.)

Monday, the day before yesterday, was the peak of Fall colors in the Twin Cities, according to experts writing in the Star-Tribune. I was out walking in the morning, and the colors were indeed pretty bright.

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Two final (until our next visit) photos from the Portland Art Museum, exploring the idea (or at least the hope) that images of fragments of works of art can be works of art in themselves.

Detail of Dan Flavin's "Untitled (To Donna) II" (click to enlarge)

Detail of Betty Parson's "Vertical Domination" (click to enlarge)

More photographic sketches from the Portland Art Museum, this time fragments of black and white objects.

Detail of Richard Notkin, "The Gift"

Detail of Louise Nevelson, "End of Day Nightscape II"