SEEN 2012 - Opening Night

.

Last night was the opening of our big year-end photo exhibit and competition, SEEN 2012. It is held at Studio Altius, a wonderful photographer's resource. The owner, David Cerven (tall guy in the first picture) provides professional lighting, backdrops and props for photographers who don't have their own. He also runs workshops, classes and group shoots. This is the sixth year of this show and it attracts some of the best local work.

I did okay. Judges at all kinds of art shows are, of course, completely crazy. They never pick your really good stuff. If they accept something, it's one you threw in at the last minute. The top prizes are awarded to treacly nonsense, except for two years ago when I got first place (that was different). Anyway, I got third in the Action category with this, first in Humor with this (hey, Virginia!) and first in Travel with this (check it out, Kim!). The latter was given ninth place out of more than a hundred images in the show (which, plus $2.25, would have gotten me home on the bus). Try again next year.

In the pix below, Mrs. C reviews an album of past winners; photojournalism shots were hung in front of multicolored backdrops; and Shawna performs the most important function at the show.

A Small Renaissance

.

The Central Branch of the St. Louis Public Library was built a century ago. It was designed in the Beaux Arts style by the prominent architect Cass Gilbert, whose other work includes the St. Louis Art Museum, the U. S. Supreme Court, the Woolworth Building in New York and the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia. The library is one of our city's most magnificent buildings.

Like any structure of that age, it had grown a bit musty. Library technology had surpassed its resources. Through a mix of public and private funds, it has gone through a loving two year restoration. The grand reopening is tomorrow and I plan to be there. I've heard it's a knockout.

I stopped by on my way home from work yesterday to get some night shots. Images of the public debut should start going up here on Monday.

Who Pulled The Drain Plug?

.

I've never seen the water level in the Mississippi so low. It's down below the bottom of the cobblestone levee to the point that the rock breaks up and becomes the river bottom. This is the barge that helicopter tours depart from. The two gangplanks are usually way up the bricks.

Of course, we've seen the opposite. Maybe it's just the river breathing, in and out, in and out.

Thursday Arch Series

.

Taken last weekend when I was fooling around with HDRs and the Lensbaby. It's awfully late in the year to see leaves on trees. Mrs. C, the family botanist, says they are sassafras trees, which hold their leaves an unusually long time. This was taken in the courtyard of what we call the Old Cathedral, officially the Basilica of St. Louis, King (which is to say Louis IX of France).

An unhappy follow-up on yesterday's post: I noticed today that a second Toynbee/Hades tile has been stolen from downtown. It's the House of Hades tile at 7th and Olive, in front of Macy's. If I ever see these thieves at work I will take their picture and call the police. I'd like to see them in jail.

Another House Of Hades Tile Discovered

.

Southeast corner of Market and Broadway downtown. I thought I had seen this last summer but I was out on a business errand - no time to stop and take a picture. Later searches drew a blank. These things are hard to spot. Then, while walking back from the Arch to my car last weekend, it caught my eye.

Hades tiles are based on the classic Toynbee design but many have more decorative elements. Note the traffic signal on the right of this one. Similarly, see this and this one, also in downtown St. Louis. All that pink on the top and left is mysterious. Mrs. C views it as the bare legs and netherland of a woman. The topic needs much more scholarly research.

I must work harder . .   

Thursday Arch picture tomorrow.

No Exit

.

A St. Louis existential dilemma. You can't get there from here.

Sorry no comments yesterday. My entries for the SEEN 2012 photo exhibit and competition are over due and I spent the evening putting together frame kits.    

Brad, Still On Guard

.

I met this man two years ago - my first post about him was on December 6, 2010. He stood under the Arch beside the Mississippi for six hours every Sunday, offering prayer to those who want prayer, as he put it to me. These days I often see him on Saturday, too. He never engages anyone himself but will respond to those who speak to him. He preaches, of course. Last weekend I heard him going on about the great frequency of earthquakes these days. He can be a bit hectoring but then you can listen or leave as you please.

Brad - he's only given me his first name - is becoming a St. Louis institution, like Father Time. Unfortunately, locals don't get down to the riverfront that often and I doubt he's well known. He's way out there but it's not for me to judge him. I'm just glad this middlin' town has its eccentrics.

Still fooling around with Lensbaby-HDR images in the top picture. The second is a lagniappe, an Arch picture on Monday.