NORTH FARWELL AVENUE, MKE

Recently, I saw a brief article about an urban alley on Milwaukee's East Side that is being converted into a venue for public art, and I thought I would check it out with my camera.  For any locals who may be interested, this venue is located directly behind the Oriental Theatre, in the alley running between Farwell and Prospect just south of North Avenue.  I decided that I was about three weeks early but took a few photos anyway, promising myself that I would return later in September.

The photo in the article that caught my eye was of the following mural, which has been completed.

This mural is huge, by the way, located one story up on an exterior wall adjacent to the alley.

I then ventured into the alley, which was crowded with dumpsters.  There was a signature mural that was partially completed.

And then there was an alley off the alley.

Kind of ugly, to be honest.  

I also got a couple of shots of some stenciled fish on the pavement.  These same fish have appeared elsewhere in the downtown area.

Besides looking down, I also looked up and caught this shot of a fire escape staircase.  

Back on Farwell Avenue, I took a shot of this older public mural that was showing some wear.

But my favorite shots of this series were not of public art but of the flora of the planters lining the avenue outside of the Oriental Theatre.

The first is of some ornamental wheat-like plants.

My goal here was to use a shallow depth of field to eliminate any background distractions and to focus on the one linear stem.  It worked OK, I thought.

My favorite of this series was a shot of some largish leafy plants in various shade of dark green and purple.  The day was overcast, so I did not have to worry about shadows, a good thing.  In this case I chose to leave the image relatively dark, allowing the empty spaces to go black.

John