THE MALE GAZE IN TINTYPE

 

I think I get it, but that’s more for the women in my life to judge. I was a chubby, awkward, geeky young man, and perhaps that spared me from the more callous competitive attitudes of my peers. After all, there is a woman who has put up with me for 50 years, to my great good fortune.

This is in the sculpture garden behind the St. Louis Art Museum, Aristide Maillol’s The Mountain, https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/10289/, Maillol’s work is primarily about female nudes. The mountain here may be the left leg, with the right  encased in the lead base. It’s not clear in TinType, but the hair appears wind-blown.                 

SOMEBODY GET HER A SWEATER

One of the places you might find something interesting to shoot after a snow around here is the sculpture garden behind the art museum. We didn't get much and by the time I arrived there was nothing on the statues. Still, they have their own interest.

This is called The Mountain by the French sculptor, Aristide Maillol. You can see the reason for the title in the way the right leg seems to arise from the earth and the crags formed by the left leg and knee are balanced by the peak running from the right hand through the torso to the top of the head.

Traveling tonight and onward tomorrow. Big change of scene by Wednesday afternoon.            

I FOUND MY LENSBABY

Twenty years of digital photography has left me with a lot of . . . stuff. It gets piled up in boxes, more or less sorted by brand (Canon, Olympus, and, for a while now, Fujifilm). I was digging around in the Fuji box looking for something when I came across my near-forgotten Lensbaby.

Ever hear of these or play with one? Look at https://lensbaby.com/ . It is a special lens that has a focused center spot (which can be moved) that becomes progressively blurred toward the edges (which can be varied). There are quite a few different varieties and diopters you can switch in and out.

So I took the Lensbaby and my Fujifilm X-T3 to Citygarden after work yesterday. This is Aristide Maillol's La Riviere. I think it worked. Might have some more of this.   

New Series: Faces Of Statues In The Rain

After nearly a decade of this endeavor new ideas are hard to find. And with just a few exceptions, I only get to shoot on weekends. I left home on Sunday morning in a light, steady rain and not a plan in my head. As I got downtown I noticed how the raindrops affected the many bronze statues in the area. And so this series, the faces of statues in the rain.

This first one is Aristede Maillol's La Riviere in Citygarden. The link has a much broader, brighter view. This selection makes me think of the bodies of dead migrants washed up on the shores of Greece or Italy.

La Rivière la Nuit

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This statue has been featured on STL DPB before. Aristide Maillol's La Rivière is one of my favorite works in Citygarden. I just liked the light and color as darkness approached. If the image looks a little disorienting, imagine rotating it 90 degrees clockwise. That's how it was shot and you can understand how the lamp sits in the water.

Lots to shoot in The Lou over our Memorial Day long weekend. Once again, the faeries (I kid you not) invited me to come shoot at the St Louis Renaissance Faire and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is having me back to document their annual blockbuster flea market, the Gypsy Caravan. Got some great shots last year at each, which you can view here and here. Monday afternoon the family is going to see the St. Louis Cardinals duel for first place in their division against the Cincinnati Reds. Whew!

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La Riviere

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One of the best things about our new Citygarden is that when I'm out of new pix to post I can always go there and get something interesting. It's a block and a half from my office. Aristide Maillol's La Riviere is one of the works in the garden I keep coming back to. Click the link to listen to the audio clips about the works and sculptors recently added to Citygarden's web site.

A very nice invitation came my way yesterday. A few of you know that I have rheumatoid arthritis that affects my hands. The Milliken Hand Institute at Washington University School of Medicine does ingenious work keeping my fingers straight. I was over there yesterday getting my brace adjusted. They have recently painted the suite and have lots of blank wall space. The staff knows about my photography addiction and invited me to shoot a series of hand pictures to decorate the place. This could be a lot of fun.

And another 15 minutes of fame: the web site for Fodor's Travel Guides had a photo contest this summer for pix of Argentina. You could upload up to five. There were a lot of entries. I got an email yesterday that they gave two of mine honorable mention. Not in the top three places, but getting two selected was nice. I get four Fodor's travel books as a prize. The winners will be on their web site about September 15 but you can see mine now here and here.

Citygarden - Aristide Maillol's La Riviere

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I went to Citygarden after work last night and got some better shots. This is a small detail of a much larger work. Click here to see photos of other castings located in New York and Paris. (New York...Paris...St. Louis... What a magical ring it has.) According to the garden's brochure,

the artist creates the feeling of instability and movement by placing the figure low to the ground and extending the head and arms beyond the pedestal. The figure, with its legs bent in a post that suggests running, is the personification of water.

More from Citygarden in the coming days.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series from Citygarden.