Category Archives: Photography

Ben

Posted on by annandmeg

Benjamin Franklin is one of our nation’s most beloved and celebrated founder. Truly a leader of men, he was a diplomat to France, author of the original Poor Richard’s Almanack, authored portions of the Declaration of Independence and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. And that is just the beginning of his talents and accomplishments.

Noted for both his eloquent descriptions of life and government, he could be witty, pithy and wise.  This wonderful sculpture of Franklin, created by George Lundeen, [1] sits by Latte Land on the Country Club Plaza.  Feel free to sit with him for a while.  There is plenty of room on the bench.

                                                   Where liberty dwells, there is my country [2]

[1]George Lundeen sculpted this wonderful bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin.  It is a warm representation of Franklin, one of a series of similar sculptures, large and small.  Lundeen’s creations include national heroes, child athletes, newspaper boys, Native Americans and others are charming and seem to capture the spirit of our national character.

[2] Widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin

Last Days of Summer on Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on by annandmeg

It is the last days of summer.  Vacations have ended. The summer crowd has left the beaches. I comfort myself with a friend’s reminder that much as we love summer, winter is when things happen.

Still, we already yearn for the return of the lazy days of summer!

Wandering the Grounds at the Kemper Atkins Museum of Art

Posted on by annandmeg

Weekends are for wandering, pondering and enjoying life.  Especially gorgeous September weekends.  What could be better?  Casey is almost always with us on our weekend jaunts.  He is not a particularly well-disciplined dog.  We forgive him since his sense of adventure is similar to ours.  

Sunday evening we headed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  It is elegant and inviting.  While most of my museum time has been spent wandering the galleries inside the buildings, Sunday we focused on the grounds.

Since my earliest childhood, Auguste Rodin’s, The Thinker, has symbolized the Nelson for me.  Originally inside the museum, he now sits outside, prominently displayed near the front entrance.  The question has always been “What is he thinking about?”  I have no answer.

Sharing the front lawn with The Thinker are the shuttlecocks.  A total of four shuttlecocks  rest on the front and back lawns.  Presumably, the museum itself is the net.

The Kansas City Sculpture Park, located on the grounds, includes formal and more casual gardens with more than 30 sculptures by 20th and 21st century world-class artists.   It includes the largest collection of Henry Moore bronze sculptures outside England, as well as works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, (one of my favorites), Isamu Noguchi and Pierre-August Renior.

The original museum building is an architectural treasure.  Designed in the neoclassic style by Wight and Wight architects, it was completed in 1933.  Even the exterior lighting displays the grace of the design.

When the decision was made to expand the museum, the project was awarded to a renowned contemporary architect, Steven Holl.  He created a building strikingly different from the original museum; focused on fusing light, shadow and water.

Not to be ignored is the artistic nature of the landscaping itself.  Pathways meander through the trees, encouraging visitors to explore the nooks and crannies of the gardens in search of the art spread throughout the park.

If you live in Kansas City, visit the gallery for an afternoon.  If you are from out-of-town, spend a weekend.  Enjoy!

Bug on a Tree

Posted on by annandmeg

After Meg and Jake’s somewhat relaxed weekend with family and friends, they are back at work.  Meg is working crazy hours for a couple of months so she asked me to take primary responsibility for the blog in her absence.

All is not lost.  She did contribute a great photograph of a locust she took here in Kansas City with her Olympus camera. The scientific name for the locust is “cicada” or even more technical “cicadodea”.  But we all know them as locusts.  Whether cicadodea, cicada, or locust, it is, apparently, among the most widely recognized of all insects.

Shakespeare might have said, “a cicada by any other name” is still a funny looking creature.  So is its shell!

Warthogs and other zoo experiences

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Lions and tigers and bears–that is what zoos are all about. Right?  I had not been to Kansas City’s zoo for years But I charmed my great friend, Denise, into a weekend visit.  We never did see any lions, or tigers or bears.  It was hot outside and they were hiding somewhere cool.  This wonderful leopard was alone worth the visit.  Even as it slept in the shade, we knew we wouldn’t want to meet it in the wild.

Today’s zoo is nothing like the zoo of my childhood.  Once packed into a small area within Swope Park, the zoo has grown to provide an environment for animals and visitors that give us at least some sense of how the animals might actually live in the wild–well, absent the whole process of catching and eating other zoo animals!

Some areas of the zoo property appear to the eye to be in the wilderness.  It is easy to forget we are in the middle of a metropolitan area. The challenge is that it can actually be difficult to find, let alone photograph, the zoo’s inhabitants. The sense of isolation is worth it.

Denise and I bought platinum tickets which allowed us to ride the trains, buses, trams and gondolas without standing in additional lines. The rides themselves became part of the fun.

With many animals we expected to see napping in the shade, we transferred our attention to animals and birds that seemed to thrive in the sun. We had a great time watching the warthogs bath in the muddy stream. Seriously, I have rarely seen animals in greater need of a makeover!  But they were wonderful to watch.

While giving the appearance of open country, the zoo’s exhibits are carefully divided in such a way that the animals are safe from each other.  Often multiple animals and birds were in the same areas.  They happily ignore each other.

There were a wonderfully rich variety of colorful birds throughout the exhibit.  Many were best seen from the gondola.

We will return in cooler weather.  Hopefully we will find an entirely different group of interesting zoo inhabitants to photograph.  I am looking forward to it.

Prague, Glorious Prague-Charles Bridge

Posted on by annandmeg
Prague, Czech Republic is truly glorious.  Described as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, it also has been a cultural and economic center throughout much of European history.  Among the wonders of this ancient city is the Vltava River that winds by Old Town. The river is a source of transportation;  power, supplying much of Prague’s electricity; and also a major source of commerce.
18 bridges span the width of the Vltava.  Most prominent of these bridges is the massive Charles Bridge. Built in the gothic style,  construction began in 1357 and was completed in the early 1400s.  It is offers majestic views of the city and serves as a promenade for locals and tourists.  The bridge is approximately 33 feet wide and provides a venue for artists and vendors of all sorts.
The Old Town Bridge Tower, completed in 1380, is one of three watch towers guarding the bridge.  It was originally designed and built as part of the city’s fortifications to guard the Old Town from invaders.  Now it watches over locals and visitors with more peaceful plans-shopping and celebrating life.
In addition to the commercial, military and tourist uses of the bridge, it also has a significant religious place in the life of the community.  Thirty statues mounted on the Charles Bridge sit in two rows, one row on each side of the Bridge. St. Francis of Assisi, St. Wenceslas, St. John the Baptist and St. Francis Xavier are among those depicted on the statues. An elaborate statue of Christ on the Cross dominates the rest.  This sculpture replaces earlier statues of Christ erected since the 1300s. The two figures depicted here  below the cross are of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist.
If a visitor to Prague had only one day to spend in the city, the bridge itself would be among the “must see” sites.  Prague Castle, the Jewish Cemetery and Old Town itself would also be on my must see list.  All are easily accessible and within minutes of the bridge.  What are you waiting for?

Meyer Circle Fountain

Posted on by annandmeg

Have a wonderful day!!

_________________

Meyer Circle Fountain is located at Ward Parkway and Meyer Blvd. in Kansas City, Missouri.

Sophia Begins British School

Posted on by annandmeg

I woke up this morning with this photograph of our granddaughter, Sophia, waiting for me in my g-mail. Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer here in the U.S.  There is no similar holiday in the Netherlands.  But the change of seasons is marked, there as here, by the beginning of school.

For Sophia that means splitting her 3 year old attention on two schools–Dutch School and British School–both located near her home in Amsterdam.  It is important to her parents that she be comfortable speaking Dutch and English.  A great way to accomplish this goal is to send her to schools where she will be encouraged to speak, read and think comfortably in both languages.  Here she is in her uniform for British School.  To Sophia, school is all about fun, friends and activity.

For the moment, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gargoyles in Mom’s Garden

Posted on by annandmeg

Goblins, ghosts and gargoyles.  They delight us and remind us of the demons that haunted our dreams as children.

The garden is always full of interesting creatures. This gargoyle sits and guards the flowers and the trees, with elegance and a touch of magic.

Two Cameras: Two settings, Same Image

Posted on by annandmeg

My old Canon FTb was a wonderful camera.  I used it to take this shot of a rusted metal sign advertising Kent cigarettes overlaying an earlier advertisement for L & M cigarettes.  Never a smoker myself I was attracted to the worn, faded image rather than the message.  The original photo was taken 35 years ago.

Since I bought my new Nikon D-5100 DSLR I have been struggling to master the camera’s potential.  Because this weekend is wonderfully dark and dreary, I have little opportunity for outdoor photography.  No complaints here, we’ve needed the rain!  But I am anxious to continue to explore, and have fun with, my camera.

I decided to manipulate  the image of this ragged old  sign.  Here it is.  The photograph was taken using he “effects” mode setting on my Nikon,  dialed to “color sketch”.