Douche Ou Baignoire?

That's a question I actually had to answer yesterday, more about which later in the year. A small number of you know the reason. However, back at Milles Fountain, the question has a single definite answer. This could be an artsy soap ad.

Water is on my mind. We got plenty in STL with the two huge rivers. Tomorrow, though, we're heading for a place where water is precious. It will involve a four-way CDP blogger meetup. Images by the end of the week.

                                  

Dripping Fingers

Water everywhere, down to the fingertips of the figures in the Milles Fountain now that the pipes are open. The moisture-giving touch is something our kind may need more and more in the future.              

A Sure Sign Of Spring

One of my readers mentioned that the city turned on the water in Milles Fountain this week. Thanks for the heads up! Just had to go over yesterday morning to see how the light was hitting it.

I finally made it over to the International Photography Hall of Fame yesterday afternoon. Click About Us > Mission & History to learn about its migrations from Santa Barbara to Oklahoma City to St. Louis. There is a spectacular street photography show there now, reviewing history and style, with a special section on local street work. STL shooters owe it to themselves pay a visit and become a member.                                    

Multiple Choice Question

Is this character in the Meeting Of The Waters fountain:

A. Trying to listen to the ocean in a seashell?

B. Balancing a snail on his head?

C. Practicing medieval medicine by using a leech to suck blood out of his body?

Extra credit question: where did he get that haircut?

I don't have a clue. I'm sure there are snails in the Mississippi but the ocean is a long way away.


And welcome to spring in the Midwest. The tornado sirens went off about 5 yesterday morning and again from 7 to 8:30 in the evening. No funnel clouds in our neighborhood but there were a few around the area.  We got a brief but violent thunderstorm with marble-size hail. We were lucky.                 

Thoroughly Modern Milles

Okay, call the pun police. I'll surrender immediately. It was a long day at work.

Another shot from Carl Milles' The Meeting of The Waters. Milles was an important sculptor of the first half of the Twentieth Century. His specialty was fountains. Our colleague Steffe notes that there is a museum dedicated to his work in Stockholm. The statues in our fountain are both stolid and graceful. I'll go back in a few weeks when the water is turned on.                                

The Light

I didn't intend to run this today. There was some color and a Monday Madeleine planned but what the family was doing last night took soooo long that I didn't have time to edit the pictures (or get many comments written). This is the beginning of a series I planned to start on Tuesday.

So anyway . . .

More black and white - it's calling to me. I was wandering around the somewhat barren Aloe Plaza (obviously a good place to go if you have a sunburn) taking snaps of the Milles Fountain, seen here many times before. The title is The Meeting of The Waters, an artistic monument to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers just north of here.  The light didn't look great until I noticed the wonderful highlights and shadows from the back-lit side of the pieces. It looks like arising from the depths into the sun.

More of this later in the week.

                                               

Meanwhile, Down the Street...

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I took some more good shots at Citygarden over the weekend. We'll get to them. However, on my way downtown yesterday I stopped at Milles Fountain. The work, by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, is called The Meeting of the Waters. It consists of 19 nude bronze figures in two facing groups, male and female. It was originally called Marriage of the Rivers, referring to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi just north of St. Louis. Well, the statues were nekked and the title had too many conjugal implications for the local blue noses in 1940 so the name had to get changed.

The fountain sits in a plaza opposite Union Station, 10 blocks west of Citygarden. Unlike its new neighbor, it's a bit rundown. The concrete is in some disrepair and I don't think the trash gets picked up as often. Still, the fountain is gorgeous. You have to shoot it in just the right light. This is only a detail but I'll go back.

There is a new Arch photo
today on GATEWAY.
It's about time.