Last Lanterns

Some last lantern festival pictures. The displays are spectacular but they are hard to really appreciate in a photograph. There are a few more good ones to edit. I'll say something here when the Flickr set is finished.

Time on to move on to the next late summer STL event. We'll start with a cricket batsman.                       

Dancing In The Dark

Who else out there is old enough to remember the old Sinatra hit? I was such a weird kid in high school that I actually liked Frank Sinatra, who my mother thought was a bit more morally suspect than The Beatles. (Although, on the other hand, I was at Woodstock and, through a family friend, got the occasional New York Philharmonic ticket). Nothing Chinese about any of it. And the closest thing NYC had to a lantern festival was Times Square.

There are a few more good shots from this festival. Would you prefer something different?             

A Bit Sinister

Just down the path at the Lantern Festival. Feels somewhat dark and angry to me.

But then yesterday I caught the scene at the bottom. And we've got another festival after the lanterns before this last one that I haven't started editing. And one of our two major art fairs is next weekend. The town is hopping.                     

Les Grandes Tableaux

Well, I can't say it (or much of anything except hello) in Chinese but I can in French. It often sounds cooler than English. Once you get through the - what would you call it - electric bower in the bottom picture, you hit a series of big set pieces. This, as you could guess, is the first.

So what's today's excuse for for no comments? Out of the office 2/3 of the day for one of the periodic infusions I need for RA. (It works really well.) Back at work frantically returning phone calls and preparing a client for a hearing next week. And Friday night as I write this babysitting Madeleine so our daughter and her husband can go out to dinner for their anniversary and the kid wants attention. And this morning I really should go shoot the opening parade at the Japanese Festival. Peace, some day.                        

The Next Stuff

New dimensions in overwork this week. Quick edits, few comments. These are shots of what was next down the line at the Lantern Festival, dandelions and, what, a butterfly?. Long weekend coming up in the US. Maybe I'll get recharged.                           

Crysanthemums

Just down the line there was a pathway lined with big electric chrysanthemums. They were spectacular, but you might prefer the natural version. This kind does work better at night.             

Wild Horses

Horses were a common theme at the Lantern Festival. These displays were in the reflecting pool between the Climatron, a large geodesic dome, and the edge of the garden.

Long, long work day yesterday. Hope I can get some more of these edited and get around to my friends blogs soon.                           

Lotus People

The rose garden is just beyond the figures we saw yesterday. This pair of lotus lovers stand there, perhaps courting each other. Maybe they are just courteous members of the horticulture society. It's hard to get a sense of scale but they are much larger than life size.                           

Predator and Prey

BUT FIRST, WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING to announce the arrival of Ms. Audrey Crowe in Chicago yesterday afternoon, first child of our son, Andy, and his wife, Claire, and our second grandchild. All doing well. Pix to come.

So, where were we? Beginning a walk along the route of the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden from beginning to end. It starts with some amphibians. Who's lunch for whom?

Lots more of this. And I did a lot of shooting at our Festival of Nations on Saturday and Sunday. And next weekend it's the big Japanese Festival back at the Garden. (Konichiwa!) Vast amounts of material.                         

About Yesterday's Picture

Turn around and see this.

We caught the last weekend of the annual Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden on Friday night. It is always on Chinese themes. Yesterday's pic was of the reflection of this scene in a window. The event always brings out the crowds. There's lots more to see.                        

What?

Scene from an outdoor event Mrs. C and I attended last night. It's late as I write this and I'm pooped out. Clearer images and explanation tomorrow.                 

The Emperor Of China

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According to Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the king." He was playing Louis XIV in a movie at the time.  No doubt the Emperor of China would agree.  All the luxuries the world has to offer, everybody sucking up to you, absolute power, even two nice young ladies to fan you when you're boiling under 20 kg of silk.

The bottom picture shows the whole scene, another overpowering display from the Lantern Festival. It occurs to me that it resembles those cheesy paintings on black velvet that you see in low-end gift shops across America.

Apsara

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Apsara are roughly the Buddhist equivalent of angels, although they are always female. (Which makes me stop and wonder: how can actual Christian-type angels have gender if they don't have bodies? I mean, if you don't have the correct mix of X and Y chromosomes - or if you don't have chromosomes at all - you can't be male or female. It's part of the definition.)

Anyway, Mrs. C and I were introduced to apsara in Thailand, where they figure prominently in religious decoration. We also got an eyeful of them at the absolutely hippest bar and restaurant we've ever been to, the Bed Supper Club in Bangkok. The cocktail waitresses pose as apsara, wearing diaphanous turquoise chiffon gowns. Order a glass of champagne and get an escort to heaven.

But back to business: the festival brochure said that this series of gates, trail markers or what you will represent apsara. They look spectacular at night but the bottom picture gives a better idea of the size and depth.

Nice Visuals, Obscure Meaning

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Another spectacular display at the Lantern Festival but I'm puzzled about what it's supposed to mean. Semioticians and deconstructionists, assemble immediately at a smoky cafe in the Left Bank and get to work.

We got a bridge or a rainbow (or both) rising over some trees and a whole bunch of cranes (I think). There's something like a mountain on the right that is either chewing gum and blowing a bubble or has the rising/setting sun/moon superglued to the peak. At the top, a woman stands on a little cloud with outstretched arms. A man and an ox approach her. He carries two baskets, one containing a small boy, the other a girl.

What's it supposed to mean? Fertility symbols? A Chinese version of Papageno and Papagena? Your opinions are welcome.

Thar Be Monsters

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This is the same dragon as in Sunday's post, old Mr. Dinner Plates, this time illuminated at night. In the background we see the Climatron, the Missouri Botanical Garden's remarkable geodesic dome that contains four different climate zones. The beast sits in a reflecting pool, normally filled with water lilies, now given over to a man-made version. The wind died and the pool became like glass late in the evening, perfect to catch the moment when the dragon began to belch smoke.

Dragons

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These three dragons were part of one of the more spectacular displays at the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The one in the middle is roaring at us. I've got a couple of pix that show the whole construction but I haven't had time to do much editing. Various signs told us that there is a hierarchy in Chinese dragon images. Only the emperor can use dragons with five claws. The nobility get four. Peons, if they get any dragons at all, are limited to three claws. 

Sorry about how few comments I've been leaving. Same reason there are many shots from Maine and this festival waiting to be edited. Just been bombed at work since I got home. And my son, Andy, is in town from Chicago for a couple of days. So many photos, so much Photoshop, so little time.

I'd Be Happy If I Were A Cartoon, Too

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Happy Chinese prince and princess, happy (but scary large) bird, happy flowers, mostly happy visitors in the background. The Garden made the wise decision to limit the number of tickets sold each evening. A lot fewer people walked into my shots than I expected. (Maybe photographers should wear orange vests on some occasions, like road workers, so people notice us and stay the %$#*% away from the front of the lens.)

Before Dark

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The Missouri Botanical Garden is a wondrous place to visit on its own but the Lantern Festival has really drawn in the crowds. You can see the lanterns - more like very creative Chinese-themed sculptures with lights - during the day but it's just not the same. The garden has closed at 5 PM this summer, re-opening for the evening spectacular at 6. By the way, the show closes on August 19. Locals, you owe it to yourself to get over there quickly.

There are worthwhile sights at twilight. The photo above is part of a dragon set in the reflecting pool in front of the Climatron, seen in yesterday's second picture. Note that the scales are made of plates. Its whiskers are formed from cups, as we shall see soon.

First below, electrified glass and plastic waterlilies replace the real thing in a still lily pond.

Bottom, Buddha keeps watch over St. Louis at sunset. The town could use that for real. Any deity. Take your pick, but watch over us.

NEWS FLASH: a new show, [context]Texture opened in the main gallery of Art St. Louis last night. It features 52 works by St. Louis area artists reflecting the theme. Two of my photographs were accepted. I FINALLY SOLD SOMETHING, the picture on the left of a woman standing on the levee watching the Mississippi on a cold day. YIPPIE! I've been in a bunch of group shows over the last five years or so and never sold a thing. About time.

Does St. Louis Have Buddha Nature?

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Mrs. C and I finally got to the Lantern Festival last night at the Missouri Botanical. It's made up of interesting sculpture by day and glowing giant lanterns on Chinese themes after dark. It's late (again) so just a couple of quick snaps. I got so much good stuff I can milk this subject for days.