My Guardian Angel

Low-res phone cam shot, taken while waiting for the traffic light at Olive and Broadway downtown.  There are many segments of American society. I suppose this represents one of them. 

Madeleine Monday

Hello? Hello? 30 months old and she uses an iPhone better than spoken language. There's no one on the line - I guess she just thinks it's cool to mimic adults. Still, she can be so sweet about it. If we babysit and Mrs. C gets there first, Madeleine wants to call me just to hear my voice, exclaiming Papa! Papa! into the phone. Then when I arrive she runs up to me, wants to be picked up, and moments later grabs for my phone while making monkey noises. That means that she wants to watch Curious George cartoons on Netflix on my you-know-what. My family didn't even have a television when I was this age.                         

The Answer

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An iPhone picture taken yesterday on I 64. The question is not specified. I wonder how people around here would react if the text on the truck said "There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet," or, more simply and from farther east, "Desire Causes Suffering"?

And, while on the subject, see Downtown St. Louis 365 today.

E 'strano

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There are three times in Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, La Traviata, when Violetta, the title character, sings out e 'strano! - it is strange. Strange that she experiences feelings of genuine love in a life that has been dedicated to pleasure and independence; strange that the object of her love has left their home on a mysterious errand; and, strangest of all, that she is about to die of consumption. It was also quite strange - but very pleasant - to hear this in the halls of upper crust St. Louis society.

This city is a terrific place to experience affordable, intimate opera. There is our renowned company, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, that plays a four production season in repertory during May and June. Through the rest of the summer, Union Avenue Opera performs in a beautiful church whose congregation makes the auditorium/sanctuary available for music and art. There wasn't anything in the cold months until a few years ago, when little Winter Opera was formed.

They play where someone with adaptable space will take them in. Last weekend's performances of La Traviata took place in the ballroom of the St. Louis Woman's Club. (Woman's, not Women's. There are men's clubs but are there man's clubs?) I'd never heard of it. Well, it's located in a sumptuous mansion on Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End. No signage out front. Within, the grandiloquence of old money, style and power. It was a brilliant setting for this work. I took some iPhone snaps: above, an accordionist plays Di Provenza during intermission. Below, curtain calls, and a young usher checking his messages in a stairwell under a painting of a peasant woman, a demographic underrepresented in the club membership rolls.

Rumor has it that Christo has attacked St. Louis. Details on Downtown St. Louis 365.

Mac Enough?

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I don't know. That's my collection below. What do you think? I am getting kind of sick of the company's hubris, though.

Actually, the sign was advertising a certain vendor of horrible things to put in your mouth, displayed during a Cardinals baseball game.

Ice Angel

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A cold heart, perhaps, but throbbing with light. Wow, this must have taken a lot of work. The sculpture, not the picture.

This was taken on my iPhone. Thanks again to Kim for motivating the iShots. This was edited on the phone with the Photogene app, also suggested by her.

Ice Carving

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I drove across the wide Missouri River yesterday to the the city of St. Charles. That's starting to get into the outer suburbs (ours go one endlessly), an area I rarely visit. There was an ice carving festival in the old riverside district, something different to shoot. This is an amazing craft: big power tools, all freehand, no do-overs. I liked the power with which the chain saws ripped into the big cold blocks. Got some good stuff that should last a few days.

On a different topic, thanks to my friend Kim of Seattle Daily Photo for pushing me into taking more iPhone photos. It's true: you can get very interesting, Holga-esque images so I tried some yesterday. I started a set for these and a few older ones on Flickr here. Also, I found a wonderful little book of iPhone photography on Amazon, The Best Camera Is The One That's With You. Worth checking out if you are interested in this sort of thing.