LAKEFRONT SCENES

Last Thursday evening it was foggy near home, and I was hoping for some interesting shots along the lakefront in downtown Milwaukee.  The fog proved patchy and simply didn't make an appearance downtown, but I decided to hang around and look for other photo opportunities.

My first stop was, naturally, the Milwaukee Art Museum.  I've shot the Calatrava addition so many times that I find it difficult to come up with anything new.  First are a few "traditional" shots.

The second shot was taken a little later when the evening sun was nicely warming up the brise soleil. And here's a shot in which I was trying to be a little less orthodox.

I also took a couple of shots of the pavilion that fronts the Calatrava addition, again trying for something a little different.

The couple helped a bit, I thought.

On Thursdays the museum stays open until 8 p.m. and I wandered into the atrium.  The museum entrance is available to visitors without obligating them to pay for admission to the exhibits.  The atrium is an architectural goldmine, and each time I go I find myself taking similar shots, including the following.

I would really like a lens that provided a wider angled view.  I just couldn't quite include both the floor and the peak in the same shot.

It was late in the evening and there were few patrons.  While I was there I had the opportunity to make virtually the same shot with no one present in the shot.

Not as effective.  It's missing something: perspective.

One thing I've learned is that if I am attempting to get a truly symmetrical shot, the camera needs to be very close to the axis line of symmetry.  I mean within an inch or two.  I still like the symmetrical shots best, but I also tried to capture some asymmetrical ones.

A little difficult to interpret, but it does hold some interest.  I also took a shot from the lower level looking up toward the Calder mobile.

Discovery World is a science and technology center on the Lakefront south of the Milwaukee Art Museum.  In some ways its architecture complements the museum's Calatrava addition.  I strolled around the center to get a few shots.

And here's one looking up that seemed to work.

On the lake side of the center is a handsome amphitheater area constructed of unpainted lumber.   Here is an abstract shot of that area. 

Finally, I noticed that the lakefront's resident three-masted schooner, the Denis Sullivan, was sailing into port and waited to catch a few shots of it.

I didn't notice any passengers disembarking, so it may have been simply a practice cruise for the crew, who spent some time securing the rigging after the docking.

This last is not much of a shot, but I did like the combination of elements that it incorporated: the dock, the water, the reflections, and the line.

John