WHO WANTS TO GO BACK TO THE GYM?

Not me, particularly. I mean, I've had a membership at the town's fitness center but it's always such drudgery and there's enough damage to my spine and dominant shoulder already. But walking is fine. I can walk all day, especially if it's in, say, New York or Paris.

But some people really want to get that tone back. I heard on the news yesterday that one-third of Israel is fully vaccinated and those people can go back to the gym with the proper health credential. They can probably only show off like this in the shower room, though.         

HEAD SCRATCHER

 

The continuing puzzle about when we will get out of this and there will be something fresh to shoot. I depend to a great extent on public events for material and there ain't any. This figure from the complex Milles Fountain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobcrowe/albums/72157643171648954, could be scratching his head, but could be putting a conch shell to his ear, listening for signals the rest of us cannot hear.

I'd like a signal. There is no place in this benighted state for 70+, immunosupressed me to get a vaccination. Not that there are many better places.           

Faces Of Statues In The Rain: Meeting Of The Waters 4

This chap on the top is either the fiercest or weirdest of the characters in Milles Fountain. I can't tell which. By the look of his hair you'd think he is Medusa's son.

Some of the figures are ambiguous. The boy (I presume) below could be scared, gasping for air or has escaped from Middle Earth.

Is this series getting tedious?             

Faces Of Statues In The Rain: Meeting Of The Waters 3

Two days without a post. That's rare for me. New dimensions in overwork (well, not so new) and computer problems. At least the latter issue is solved. We had freezing drizzle most of yesterday so it was time to stay indoors and catch up. 

Another nice piece from the Milles Fountain. The figure looks like she might be squirting shampoo on her hair but it's just a fish. The whole grouping is on river themes. The pipe sticking out of its mouth is a water jet, now off for the winter.  

Faces Of Statues In The Rain: Meeting Of The Waters 2

I don't know the meaning of each of the individual statues that make up The Meeting Of The Waters. This one has always been striking. The hair looks like feathers, parted perfectly to peek through with those intense eyes.              

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.                 

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.

                                               

Thursday Arch Series (Two-Fer)

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A pretty standard (non to mention back-lit) picture of the Arch, but someone dumped red dye into the Kiener Plaza fountain. It made the spray run pink for the breast cancer fundraiser. Sorry about the scaffolding around the Old Courthouse, but when you're that old you may need a facelift.

Below, the view 14 blocks straight west of the top pic from the far side of Milles Fountain. Good place to cool off for all the runners and walkers.

There won't be much outdoor shooting from now through the weekend unless I want to photograph people dying in the streets. It was 99 F / 37 C yesterday. The forecast for today is 108 F / 42 C. Saturday it cools off to 105 F / 40.5 C. My plan is to stay indoors and start posting pix from last Sunday's Pridefest Parade. It was a jaw-dropper, as usual.

Hey, This Is A Pretty Neat Trick

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I subscribe to the daily email version of a very useful blog/web site called Digital Photography School. It's free. Every day they post some bit of instruction, lore or inspiration for shooters. At least two or three posts every week are interesting and helpful to me.

Yesterday's piece was about how to make a dull photo into something new and dramatic using Photomatix Pro3. Readers of this blog know that I'm fond of the HDR images you can create with this software, using three to seven shots at different exposures to create an entirely new whole. It never occurred to me that you could use Photomatix on a single image. The little tutorial in the link shows how much fun it can be.

So, this is something I shot about the same time as Monday's post at the Carl Milles fountain, The Meeting Of the Waters. The original was pretty awful. There was too much contrast between the statue and the building, I forgot my tripod, my manual focus was sloppy and, probably, the dog ate my homework. After reading the DPS piece I threw the single image into Photomatix, buffed it up a bit in Photoshop and, voilà, this is what we get.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON FOLLOW-UP: U "R" Us asked to see the original of this picture, before Photomatix and Photoshop. So, here it is.

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.