It's the first of the month and time for City Daily Photo's monthly theme day. This time the topic is Winners. Since I've been away for a while I went back into the archives and found this picture from St. Louis' Busch Stadium. Our local heroes, the baseball Cardinals, have a tradition of winning and have captured more championships than any team except the New York Yankees. They have also won 20 of their last 22 games as they head into the playoffs.
Thursday, 30 September 2021
CITY DAILY PHOTO OCTOBER THEME DAY - WINNERS
Wednesday, 29 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - DOWN THE SPECTRUM
Some of you know that I occasionally shoot infrared and I brought my IR camera along to the Northwest. You can convert a digital sensor for a reasonable cost and choose from different parts of the IR range. I got the default. Bright green plants go almost white and blue skies get very dark. This is a view across Lake Quinault, the place we stayed when we visited the Olympics.
Tuesday, 28 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - NOT MY ARCH
Anyone who looks at my work knows about the giant stainless steel arch on the St. Louis riverfront. There are plenty of other interesting arches, and I'm not talking McDonald's. This view is along a path in the upper Hoh valley rain forest. I do not know if the tree grew and collapsed this way naturally or whether the park rangers did something to it in laying out the trail.
Monday, 27 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WHY THE ROCK CAIRNS WON'T CONFUSE ANYBODY
Still on Ruby Beach. This is why putting non-functional rock cairns on drift logs does no harm here. It's just an open expanse of rough beach where you can see on and on. If you walk up into the forest, though, you're on your own.
Sunday, 26 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - COMMUNICATION WITH ALIENS
Strange signs on Ruby Beach. These little piles are usually referred to as rock cairns. They are designed to mark trails in our national parks, often with very specific meanings. However, I've seen them in other places I love and love to photograph, particularly the side canyons in Death Valley, where they are obviously just for fun.
If you do a little Googling on the subject, the outdoorsy sites tell you not to do this. The purpose is to prevent people from getting lost. But there is no getting lost straight across the beach. These cairns on a huge drift log look to me like a system of antennas. Whom they communicate with is left to your imagination.
Saturday, 25 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE FORET PRIMEVAL
Home again but it will take me awhile to collect local material and there is still lots from the trip. There are only a few places in the world where you can find a cool rain forest. The western side of the Olympic mountains is one of them. Several rivers begin in the high glaciers and flow to the Pacific, with heavy rain going in the other direction, This is a trail called the Hall of Mosses in the upper Hoh river valley. It varies a lot by season but the receives up to 12 feet / 3 2/3 meters of rain a year.
Friday, 24 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WHY WE COME HERE
Greetings from beautiful Dallas - Fort Worth International Airport, where American Airlines customers spend part of their lives. This is another shot of Ruby Beach on the Pacific coast of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, with different approaches to photography in every kind of weather and every hour of the day. (It would be something special with a tripod on a clear, moonlit night.)
Home in a few hours but I'll be running trip pictures for a while.
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - FRONT ROW SEATS
It's late Thursday night here in Seattle and we have to get up early on Friday for our flight home. I'll edit on the plane but for now another Pacific beach picture. Whoever sits in these chairs might be waiting for the apocalypse to arise out of the mist on the ocean horizon.
Thursday, 23 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - RUBY BEACH
Ruby Beach on Washington's Olympic Peninsula is one of my favorite places in the world to photograph. We've been here a couple of other times over the years but every visit is different. We got there yesterday not long before sunset and the light was stunning. I've got more of these I'll publish somewhere.
Wednesday, 22 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
We took a roundabout route from Seattle to the place we are staying in the Olympic National Park, Lake Quinault Lodge. Our plan took us to the ocean for some distance before cutting back inland to the rain forest. The Pacific coast up here is wild and desolate, with a few pullouts from the coastal road. This beach was wide and flat, damp and packed enough you could drive well out in a 4WD vehicle. The sky was clear above but a constant mist rolled in. That's the kind of optics I like in this part of the country.
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - KEEP FREMONT FREAKY
Yesterday's picture of a statue of Lenin was set in Fremont, perhaps Seattle's oddest neighborhood. It goes further. Under the Aurora Avenue viaduct lurks the Fremont Troll, certainly one of America's strangest pieces of public art. This design actually won a competition for what do do with a place that had become habituated with drug dealers. Again, there is a fascinating backstory you can check out at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Troll.
Monday, 20 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF FREMONT
Seattle has its curiosities. Prominent among them is a 16 foot tall bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin. Why and how if got there is a complicated story, set out in detail on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Lenin_(Seattle). It is obviously controversial, often vandalized, often decorated for special occasions and usually with red paint on the hands symbolizing Lenin's bloody career.
Some people have strenuously objected to it but it is privately owned and on private land. The city can do nothing about it. I can only imagine what would happen if something like this appeared in St. Louis, even in our funkiest neighborhoods. The howls would be deafening.
Sunday, 19 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - GNARLY
The roots of an upturned tree seen on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier. As the trunk decays it becomes the source and nourishment of lichens, moss, fungi, bacteria and, in time, young sapling trees. At that stage it is known as a nurse log.
Saturday, 18 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - EVERYBODY LIKES IT
I usually shy away from posting pictures of other people's art but some things are so representative of a particular location it's worth doing. Dale Chihuly, originally from Tacoma, Washington, in the Puget Sound region, has become one of the world's leading glass artists. https://www.chihuly.com/work Seattle has a museum and outdoor garden dedicated to his work. It's a big crowd pleaser and a must-visit stop on the local tourist circuit. https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/
The weather here is turning terrible over the weekend so opportunities for new material will be limited. However, I've got lots of stuff from the usual places and they are worth revisiting.
Friday, 17 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WHEN ON TOUR, TAKE SOME TOURIST PICTURES
Thursday, 16 September 2021
STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES
The State of Washington has a complex inland water system with Puget Sound and its many branches. There is an extensive state-run ferry system to get people and cars where they need to go. This picture of a departure from downtown Seattle was taken last night while we had dinner on the waterfront.
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Monday, 13 September 2021
CHANGE OF SCENE
This is a travel day for us. Our original plan would have put us in Vienna right about now but Covid travel restrictions in Europe made that impractical. So, change of plans. We're off to Seattle today where we have friends, there is lots to see and do and photograph, and it's cool and moist (which St. Louis is not). This picture was taken a few years ago looking up at the Space Needle from the Dale Chihuly glass museum and garden.
Sunday, 12 September 2021
GAZE
Sometimes words cannot encompass an experience that appears before you. It is only possible to open the eyes and become part of what is happening.
We are traveling tomorrow. Mrs. C and I will be away for 10 days with a significant change of scene. I think we'll have a preview.
Saturday, 11 September 2021
STARS AND STRIPES
From certain angles the flags we saw yesterday seem go on and on. It is fitting to honor those who gave their lives for all of us, although we may disagree with their commanders' intentions. What saddens and frightens me is how many of our countrymen are willing to violate what I thought the flag stood for and create a de facto dictatorship on the minority.
Friday, 10 September 2021
9/11
There is an event on Art Hill this week called Flags of Valor, https://flagsofvalorstl.com/. More than 7,000 American flags have been planted in orderly military rows, one for each member of the armed forces who died in the line of duty since September 11, 2001. It is overwhelming and this shows only a small part. A lot of people were there on a sunny Friday afternoon.
No American who was old enough at the time can forget where they were when they heard the news. I don't.
Thursday, 9 September 2021
A wide view of some of the flood wall at Paint Louis. The Mississippi lies a short distance behind. This is freshly painted - you can see one of the artists in the left background - but I have no idea what it means. Not the first time that has happened to me with a painting. I just like the color and scope of the scene.
Wednesday, 8 September 2021
PESSIMISM OR REALISM
A large section of the Paint Louis mural wall. The times we live in may be the inspiration for the work.
The artist dangling from the ladder at the far right makes me queasy. It was interesting to see how ladder design has changes for improved safety.
Tuesday, 7 September 2021
THE WALL LIGHTS UP
Back to Paint Louis. I may need to use picture from there until we arrive in Seattle next week. (We were going to arrive in Prague today but that went down the drain.) Lots of colorful things to look at so no problem.
The wall faces roughly west so on a sunny day if becomes brilliant in late afternoon light. Of course, dramatic shadows, too.
Monday, 6 September 2021
TREMBLOR
Back at the Japanese Festival. The show these sumo wrestlers put on is always a big hit. Perhaps it is in part due to their inhuman scale but their speed, flexibility and strength is awesome. One of them demonstrated doing sitting splits with the legs almost straight out to the sides. It's an entry level requirement. And the whole thing is over in a matter of seconds - all you have to do is throw your opponent to the ground or push him out of the ring.
It's interesting that neither of these champions id Japanese (although the one in the background is). The one in front is Egyptian and the other is American.