Le Roi Au Printemps

Life gets too overloaded and some days it's hard to think of something to shoot and post. But on as gorgeous a spring day as we had yesterday I can always go out to Art Hill and the art museum and take pictures of Louis. I can hardly remember seeing the park so crowded. There must have been 12 or 15 or who knows how many wedding parties taking pictures around the Grand Basin. A happy life to them.

The Earth Day festival takes place in the park today, a photographer's banquet.     

Canyon Walls



These are the buildings beside the square we saw yesterday. Above, the swanky Hyatt Hotel. Below, the very pleasant but less pretentious Drury Plaza Hotel, part of a regional chain.

Yesterday and today's photos are HDRs converted to black and white. They are three shots, taken at -1 2/3, 0 and +1 2/3 stops. Three of the four were converted with Photomatix, which can produce results from dramatic to garish (less risk with B&W). The Hyatt image is done with Photoshop's HDR Pro. That's better for simple balancing of strong lights and darks in a picture with high contrast. It makes for a more natural image but with less punch. I go back and forth.                    

Vue 2

There is more of a difference between yesterday's picture and today's than landscape and portrait. Both are HDRs, shot in color and converted to black and white. I've been going back and forth about whether I prefer Photoshop Merge To HDR Pro or Photomatix for HDR processing. Yesterday's was Photoshop. It keeps the final image pretty simple while bringing in a wide range of tonal values. This one is Photomatix. Color photos made with this application can be lurid and overblown, IMHO. The B&Ws still don't look natural but can have a lot of dramatic pop.

Any other HDR technicians out there? What do you prefer?                        

Back In The Lou

Costa Rica is beautiful but St. Louis has its charms. After all,  I choose to live here. Some new local material is in order. We've had a bit of snow so I went wandering around Forest Park looking for interesting snowscapes.

This is the west lawn of the art museum. What's with the metal tree? It's a placebo.                         

Thursday Arch Series

Taken on the same day as last week's Arch photo, and with the same technique. It's so pretty it looks fake, the kind of dressed-up picture you might see on a web site for a resort or a new housing development.

I've been pretty bad about visiting my friends' blogs this week. I've been working stupid hours. Hasn't been much time between coming home, having dinner and falling asleep. This will get better, I hope.        

Thursday Arch Series

Another image from last weekend's HDR splurge. It's a view never seen in nature but it's kind of pretty.  You get a good sense of scale from those itsy bitsy people at the bottom of the monument.        

East Gate

I've been showing HDRs of fall trees in Tower Grove Park. This photo is a variation on the theme. It's the east entrance at at Grand Boulevard. One of those griffins has been seen in these pages before. Mrs. C and I were married in the church on the right, um, some time ago.          

He Used To Be Famous

Alexander von Humboldt in Tower Grove Park. This used to be a big name. There's a Humboldt Park in Chicago near where my son lives. The other two statues on the main axis of Tower Grove are Christopher Columbus and William Shakespeare, but who today has heard of this guy?

Late post. I fell asleep last night with the computer on my lap, this half done.           

Color And Computers

I went out to Tower Grove and Forest Parks yesterday looking for the last bits of fall color. The pickings weren't that great but here and there I found spots of brilliance. It probably has to do with the species of tree but my arborist skills get a failing grade. On the one hand there is nature. On the other hand there is OS X, Photoshop, Photomatix, tripods and shutter burst mode. Technology saved the day. Appearances count for a lot.    

Madeleine Monday

Halloween is a silly season in this country, even for the two month old crowd.

                

Fall Color, At Last

Autumn color varies a lot from year to year in St. Louis. It seems to be a matter of the right amount of rain and temperatures in late summer and early fall. In many years, particularly dry ones, the leaves just turn brown and drop.

I'd say this is a medium year. The show came late but then we're pretty far south, about on the same parallel as Seville, Naples and Istanbul. One of my favorite spots to record this is the lawn and double colonnade of trees running south from the Arch. The trees form a cathedral-like cieling.

Skies were mostly dull yesterday. It's supposed to be sunny today. Maybe I can get one last blast in Forest and Tower Grove Parks.          

Thursday Arch Series

I got the day of the week right this time. It's always been my opinion that the Arch was placed on the banks of the Mississippi by the same aliens who created the monolith in the opening scenes of Kubrick's 2001. 

Been bad about visiting my friends blogs and leaving comments this week. Just too, too, much work. Things will turn around.                 

Right After The Last One

Yesterday's, today's (and maybe tomorrow's) pictures were taken on a September afternoon. I was walking around under the Arch shooting hand-held HDRs, some of them with a Lensbaby. This view is from the top of the stairs in Friday's post with the shadow of the Arch running down. If you look carefully you can see the shadow out over the river and hooking left.

AND THE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS CRUSHED LOS ANGELES 9 - 0 LAST NIGHT TO WIN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP. The Cardinals now advance to the World Series against either Boston or Detroit. The Series will be here Saturday, Sunday and perhaps Monday of next week. I hope to get to one and possibly two of the games. 

The Cardinals are a remarkable franchise. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Our's has reached the World Series 4 of the last 10 and 2 of the last 3 years.

 

       

That Occasional Arch Series

Back in the day I used to post an Arch picture every Thursday. After six and a half years of this blog it's hard to see it in new ways. Once in a while something gets my eye. This is the grand staircase that goes to from the monument to the Mississippi River. It was taken in late afternoon with the sun behind and to the left of the camera. And it's an HDR.         

Twisted

I made it back downtown with the fisheye lens. To complicate matters, I shot HDRs with it, something I've never tried. 

The top image is an old (by American standards) courthouse that gets great light in the late afternoon reflected from the windows of the building across the street. You can see a bit of it in the extreme warp at the top left.

The second picture was taken in exactly the same place as yesterday's lead pic, just different lens and digital technique. Note the weird digital noise outside the circle of the image. That area was theoretically dark, as the fisheye should have kept all the light within the circle. What you see in there was created by Photomatix, the HDR software. Kinda cool. I blacked it out in the top photo and left it in the second. Which do you prefer?

I've been terrible about comments. Too damn much work, with some special business planning issues on the table right now. On the current schedule, retirement is 43 months away. Maybe I should start a countdown clock.                                    

The South Lawn

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In this country, mention of the south lawn usually refers to the White House, where receptions are held and helicopters fly in and out. This, however, is the south lawn of the Arch grounds. It was a freakishly warm day for the first of December although the sky looked as bleak as frozen January.

This is a 5-image HDR taken with a Lensbaby. I needed some entertainment.      

And While In The Park...

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Like yesterday's post, a scene in Tower Grove Park. I photograph this oval of manicured evergreens over and over but often wonder what species they are. I'm no naturalist. Where I grew up there wasn't much natural around. Probably need a refresher course from an expert.

Power House And Moonrise 2

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Same power plant, same moonrise as yesterday's photo but a completely difference approach. The previous pic was taken from some distance away with a 24-105mm lens at 55mm and f 16. (The latter really wasn't necessary.) Today's was shot from closer in with a 100-400mm bazooka at 160mm and f 4.8. Both are HDRs.

You can see this smokestack and flag on the far right of the building in yesterday's photo. By the way, this plant is right on the Mississippi (I think they bring fuel deliveries by water) and within view of the Arch. And, of course, tomorrow being Thursday we've got the Big A itself.

Power House And Moonrise 1

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This, ladies and gentlemen, was St. Louis' first major source of electricity, the Ashley Street Power House. It was built between 1902 and 1904 and is still in use today. It provided the juice for the 1904 World's Fair. (Did you know we had the Olympics the same year?) It's a wonderful piece of Edwardian architecture and strange enough that you might expect to see it in a Terry Gilliam movie. The rising moon looks like it was burped out of one of the smokestacks.

Another but very different view of the same objects tomorrow.

Thursday Arch Series

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The Arch isn't exactly the main topic of this picture but it plays an important role. Besides, I think it's cool and I wanted to use it. The neoclassical building in front is what we call The Old Courthouse, built in stages in the mid-19th Century. It was used for state courts until 1940, when it was given to the federal government. This photo is part of the series of black and white HDRs of downtown courthouses I'm shooting for the office walls.

Kieth Haring boogies down Market today on Downtown St. Louis 365.

High And Mighty

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This is the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse, opened in 2000. Eagleton was a senator from Missouri. The building we saw yesterday was the former home of the federal courts, given to the state when this place opened.

It was state of the art when it was build. Indeed, it is the tallest courthouse in the country. Problem is, it completely blocks the view of the Arch when driving downtown from the west on the main highway. Doh! as Homer Simpson might say.

I swear I did not Photoshop those clouds in. I may have enhanced them a wee bit but that's just how they were. Maybe federal judges simply radiate power.

So, uh, what's across the street? This, if you care to look at Downtown St. Louis 365 today.