The Vision Thing

At the end of his years as vice president, George H. W. Bush was planning to run for president. People challenged his ability to see the big picture on issues facing the country. Someone suggested he take a couple of days off to figure out his position. "Oh," Bush scoffed, "the vision thing." The comment stuck with him.

So, another monumental statue at the Soldiers Memorial with a noble but vague theme. Reminds me of the fact that I've worn glasses since second grade.           

Courage

I need to pay more attention to the beautifully restored Soldiers Memorial downtown. It opened 80 years ago as a World War I monument, eventually included later wars, but in time got pretty run down. A group raised $30 million to bring it back to its original state and add additional exhibition space. It was so crowded on re-opening day that I'll have to come back to see it all.

Four of these big sculptures flank the north and south entrances. The word courage is thrown around a lot but sometimes I wonder what it really means. Maybe it's a high tolerance for risk.       

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day in the US. Yesterday was the centennial of Armistice Day, when the peace treaty ending World War I was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. (There is a terrific World War I museum in Kansas City, well worth the visit.) 

Most of the participants and pronouns were masculine. Some one remembered that the list of those who served is much broader.        

Soldiers Memorial - Full View In HDR

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So this is what the whole building looks like. The statues I've been posting pictures of are on pedestals towards the top of the outside stairs - you can just see one here.

One of the things I especially like about Photomatix is the way you can control the result. It's easy to achieve an image that's painterly as well as eye-catching. The color tones are often the bit-more-than-real typical of color postcards up to the 1960s. Lots of HDRs are screaming crazy (although there is a place for that). Search for HDRs on Flickr. Too many look like the backgrounds on futuristic blow-em-up computer games. I like a little more subtlety.

WHAT I DID YESTERDAY: attended a closing. See below and come back tomorrow.

TOMORROW:

Soldiers Memorial, in Color

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It was a warm, sunny First of November in St. Louis. I went back to the Soldiers Memorial to shoot some more in the lingering Golden Hour we get in the northern hemisphere from November to February. The light was gorgeous. As it turned out, I got into this techie toy thing. I don't use my wide angle lens enough so I screwed it on. Then I started shooting HDRs - handheld, not on a tripod, which is a bit daring. Then I started playing with the results in Photoshop. Photoshop CS 4 arrived a couple of days ago but I still have to learn what's new and different before putting it to use.

WHAT'S SNOOZING: almost all of the United States, since our stupid new extended daylight savings time ended early this morning, the exception being Arizona, which doesn't use it at all. I think that's fine. Japan doesn't have DST and no one feels deprived. Spring forward, Fall back.

TOMORROW: I dunno. Would you be interested in another day of this topic? There are more images. I did get some good HDRs of fall foliage in Forest Park on Saturday afternoon if that's of interest.

BY THE WAY, Virginia of Birmingham Daily Photo suggested I see what these pictures look like in black & white. Not bad. You can see those versions here.

More Sculpture At the Soldiers Memorial

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I didn't get around to shooting any book or bookstores so more detail from St. Louis' neglected Soldiers Memorial Here's another section and a larger part. I like the overblown but muscular and self-confident style of the sculpture, so typical of American public art during the Depression. This horse would be banned from all sports competition today for whatever it must be taking but it exudes power, a feeling the country needed when it was down and out.

WHAT I BOUGHT ONLINE TODAY: opera tickets for Valentine's Day, while we're on a little winter getaway. It's The Magic Flute. Not really romantic but sweet, charming and uplifting. Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja...

TOMORROW: not sure. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend here so I may shoot this building some more.

Soldiers Memorial

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I'm going to do a little series on the Soldiers Memorial downtown. It is a city block of stone dedicated to St. Louis' dead from World War I. The design is simple, based on a Greco-Roman temple. Inside is an interesting museum of WW I stuff; I've never seen anyone in there with me. The stairways on the long sides of the building are flanked by monumental sculptures in a Depression-era style, part Art Deco, part WPA monumental force. I like the place a lot but it is generally ignored by the public.

WHAT I'M DOING: better. Consciousness is migrating from Asia to North America.
TOMORROW: I'm not doing the theme day. We'll have some more of this interesting, overlooked building.