Blossom

Not shooting much because it's hard to get around. What can I do that's different using the images at hand? Maybe zoom in on the flower arrangement at Art In Bloom. Look more closely at the parts than the whole.          

Pavane pour une infante défunte

Sorry about no post yesterday. Sometimes the world wants more of me than than there is me to go around. I'm prioritizing my physical therapy exercises, which may be the only way my back will get better short of a big operation.

We are back to Art In Bloom. This string quartet always performs in the Great Hall. They are very good. As we approached, I heard them playing Ravel's tender Pavane for a Dead Princess. It helped relieve the crush of the crowd.      

I'm Back

As it approaches its twelfth anniversary, I am coming off the longest break from posting this blog has ever had. The combination of pneumonia and my back condition flattened me. I fell asleep at my desk on Friday and I can't walk very far. But the pneumonia is lifting and I'm not one to stay still.

The family went to the annual Art In Bloom show at the art museum yesterday. Thirty expert floral arrangements were placed among the galleries, each reflecting a specific painting or sculpture. Mrs. C had to push me through in a wheelchair so the camera angle was unfamiliar to me. Watch out for the ceiling lights!            

It's Not All Pretty

Not everything in the art museum during the flower show was cheery and colorful. I turned around from one arrangement and found Auguste Rodin's Despair. No crowd around this piece. Note the curled toes and characteristically large hand covering the head and face. The smooth, muscular body lies on rough rock. But, if you chose to, you could move on to the next group of blossoms and whistle a happy tune.  

Shooting Through The Crowd

Every photographer knows that shooting at a crowded event is somewhere between difficult and an outright pain. You have to work the room, perhaps be a bit impolite at times (although lots of people walk through your shots even when you have the camera to your face) to get a clear image. The spacious room at the museum, above, was far from the most crowded but you get the idea.

Occasionally, though, the other visitors can create a pleasing result, as below.     

Close Up

Most of the pictures I took at Art In Bloom show the whole floral arrangement, often in the context of the paintings on the wall. It's also interesting to zoom in and see the details. A different visual  rhythm becomes evident.     

Why The Dancing?

As mentioned, the string quartet performing in the great hall of the art museum is what got Ellie dancing. It wasn't the best circumstances to enjoy the music, unless you found one of the few nearby seats or were four years old and wanted to immerse your body in it. Most people were coming and going and, I'm afraid, treated the musicians as another ornament. I thought they were very good.         

Madeleine Monday

Of course, my favorite moppet went along on the trip to the art museum. There was a string quartet playing in a corner of the great hall. She decided to perform an interpretive dance to some Vivaldi piece. I don't know which the crowd found more entertaining.

Later in the visit, she decided to strike poses in front of Degas' ballerina. This mood lasted into the evening. As we usually do on Saturday night, we listened to the St. Louis Symphony broadcast on the radio. All on her own, she danced through pretty much all of Schumann's first symphony. She slept late on Sunday morning.    

 

Art In Bloom

Back in The Lou and time for the Saint Louis Art Museum's annual Art In Bloom show. Throughout the galleries, top floral designers are invited to create an arrangement that interprets but does not copy a particular painting or statue.

Beautiful things to see but hard to shoot. STL has a lot of public events for a city our size but, as time passes and word gets around, they get more and more crowded. Pretty tough to take pictures with the masses walking into your shot. I may go back today when the museum opens for another try.       

But we can have lots of good fun that is funny!

Said the Cat In The Hat

To my granddaughter Ellie,

Who wasn't so terribly sure

He was friendly.

So she checked his intent

With a slammin' high five

And decided this cat

Had a kid-friendly vibe.

And then a couple more pix from the museum's floral arrangements.

We'll see what kind of stuff I'm made of in the nasty weather at the St. Pat's Day parade today. But Tuesday night is the big St. Louis Fringe 2017 Festival launch party! (Locals: GO.) So much to shoot, so much to edit, so little time to visit my friends and comment. And, uh, sleep.

Trying To Get Back Into Contacts

This painting in the art museum resembles what I've looked like in the morning for the last week. I wore contact lenses years ago but my vision isn't so good and the time came when the technology of the day couldn't give me adequate correction. Back to glasses. Times change and my ophthalmologist said they might work for me now. It's not going well. The new ones are so thin they are almost not there at all. Hard to get in and out, sort of like this. The painting is an example of an artist showing off his technique for depicting glass but it's kind of like me at 6:30 in the morning, looking into the mirror.

Then some more of the Art In Bloom arrangements, balancing Morris Louis and Frank Stella.

Our big St. Patrick's Day Parade is tomorrow, usually a don't miss shoot. The weather looks miserable, though, below freezing, blustery and snow showers. We'll see how much I can manage.    

Charles II

Another interesting display from Art In Bloom. That's a portrait of King Charles II of England in the background.  Looks like the flower arrangement reflects his feathered hat, ermine cape and scarlet robe. Both artists did a pretty good job.  

The Great Cycle

Late post today. Too much to do, too much to do...

Anyway, back at Art In Bloom from the section of the museum with south Asian art. I'm not sure which Hindu deity is represented in the sculpture (suggestions welcome) but it and the floral arrangement certainly suggest the cycle of creation and destruction, of life, death and rebirth. One of my favorites from the show.    

Art In Bloom

There is an annual late winter event at the art museum called Art In Bloom. Master flower arrangers make creations inspired by individual works throughout the galleries. There are usually a couple in the contemporary wing that are particularly interesting. I'm not sure, though, if the softness and hardness here make a good match.          

Marcel! Quel plaisir de vous rencontrer!

It was packed at the St. Louis Art Museum last night. There was the opening of an annual one-weekend presentation, Art In Bloom, where master flower arrangers are invited to create designs reflecting works throughout the galleries. The current special exhibition, Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade, continued its run. A bar was set up in the central hall and entertainers were scattered about. 

So here was this mime, dressed in a traditional Marcel Marceau outfit. You find this look in movies and magazines, but I'd never seen someone doing the job actually dressed like this before.

There was one of those wheel-of-fortune spinning things set up with the Parisian theme of the main show. Each section had a picture of something about the city and its culture with an accompanying question. A correct answer got a little prize. We aced it (bien sûr). Virginia, there is a lapel pin with the French flag on its way to you. 

Our big Mardi Gras parade is today, a don't miss for shooters. It's turning much colder overnight but your faithful photographer will tough it out.         

Complementary

The floral arrangers were apparently given a room in the art museum and told to design something that complemented its surroundings. Not blend in, I assume. That wouldn't be any fun. I think the bottom one is clever.

Sorry I didn't get any comments written yesterday. Out at an event last night with the family, then had to go grocery shopping, then prepare this post. And then my eyes closed. 

I believe tomorrow is CDP theme day. Got an idea.                          

Over The Shoulder

A self portrait of Max Beckmann glowers over a bursting vase. He taught at Washington University later in life and our art museum has the largest single collection of his work. There is a large room full of his paintings, which can be overpowering. The painting in the second shot is Portrait Of A Woman by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a painter I know nothing about.          

Art In Bloom

I'm sure I'll come back to shots made with the digital Holga soon but now it's time for a change of theme. A couple of weekends ago our art museum ran its Art In Bloom show, with elaborate floral displays among the galleries designed to reflect their surroundings. This one was my favorite but there are others.        

Art In Bloom

I don't see myself as a pretty pictures photographer. More of a street shooter with a taste for irony or the simply odd. Nevertheless, this week is all flowers.

There were two floral events to shoot this weekend. One was the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The other was Art In Bloom at the Saint Louis Art Museum. It might be the second year they have done this - a weekend of flower arrangements made to complement the museum's treasures.

Next Saturday is our big, raucous St. Patrick's Day parade. Until then we got les fleurs.