ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

In May I took Amtrak down to Chicago with my camera to visit the Art Institute, a world-class art museum, especially in the area of Impressionism.  I was not disappointed.

There are of course a number of recognizable masterpieces, including the following:

The museum also includes a fine collection of Van Goghs.

I particularly like photographing three-dimensional art because it offers more options and opportunities in the way of the use of light and context.

This last features a Rodin marble sculpture entitled "Eve After the Fall" that I positioned in front of what I think is a Monet.

The museum also features a goodly number of off-the-wall pieces including the following.

This was part of a much larger work, but what had struck me was the woman's hair, which I decided to feature.

The Art Institute is currently featuring a large (some 120 works) of Cezanne.  His art was much more diverse, both in terms of subject matter and medium, than I had realized.  Here are a couple, including a self-portrait:

Anyone with even a modicum of interest in art should put the Art Institute on their bucket list.

John

CIRCUS WORLD MUSEUM

Baraboo, Wisconsin had been the summer home for the Ringling Brothers Circus in the heyday of the traveling circus.  Generally, circuses, traveling or otherwise, are no longer a thing, but the romance of the circus survives in the form of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo.  The museum is generally open to visitors except in the winter months and features daily performance shows from late May through late August.  In early May I drove up to Baraboo with my camera to capture some of the circus paraphernalia.

The museum features all manner of memorabilia in various states of restoration, especially old posters and circus wagons from a time when the circus would roll into town, including a number of exotic animals and equipment.

One thing I realized, especially as portrayed in the posters, is that the circus took advantage of exaggeration and fantasy.

The museum has a number of buildings devoted to circus wagons and similar equipment.  When I was there individuals, perhaps volunteers, were working on the restoration of some of the wagons.

Many had already been beautifully restored.

Some wagon wheels especially were nicely restored.

The Cinderella wagon below was especially nice, particularly in how it was placed in front of the light from a window. 

Here is a detail from that wagon.

The following detail shot illustrates the deterioration in some of the wagons before restoration.

Still, I liked it for its decrepitude.

John

WISCONSIN STATE CAPITOL

 After a long hiatus, I have decided to resume posting to my photography blog.  Part of my motivation has been the fact that I recently purchased a new camera.  I stayed with the Nikon family but have moved to mirrorless. I also acquired a new lens compatible with the new camera.  This one is a 24-200 mm zoom.  I plan to do some travel with my camera, and the 24-200 offers great versatility and convenience for that purpose.  But enough of the technical.

One of my first trips with my new equipment was to an old haunt, the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison.  This is "old ground" for me, as I have photographed the capitol numerous times in the past.  But that was part of my motivation, as I wanted to get comfortable with the new equipment and see how it handled this sort of subject matter.  In general, I was pleased with how it performed.

Here are some of the photos that I got.

This is the only exterior shot I am posting.  It was a cloudless day and there was plenty of light.  So to emphasize the building's lines, I converted the shot to a black and white and darkened the sky to make it a bit more dramatic.

The rest of the shots are of the beautiful and beautifully restored interior:

The central dome area features amazing mosaic murals.

I was able to use post processing software to rectify the support pillars that otherwise would have appeared to be on an angle.

Nice detail in the ceiling of a side corridor.

My standard procedure for making ceiling shots, where possible, is to place the camera on the floor pointed up. It works well as long as I am able to position the camera properly.  Sometimes this takes several shots.

Generally, I was quite happy with my new equipment.  One thing I noticed was that the technology has improved in terms of image stabilization.  Generally, in the past I have shot such venues using a tripod, where feasible.  Here I was able to dispense with the tripod and didn't think I lost much in the way of sharpness.

John

CEDARBURG SCENES

 Cedarburg is a city of some 12,000 residents located in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee and about 10 miles from my home.  It was founded in the 1840s as a mill town taking advantage of the water power available from the river that flows through the town.  When the mill industry ended decades ago, the town became a bedroom community located within a reasonable commuting distance from Milwaukee.  More recently, Cedarburg has developed into a tourist destination, attractive for its quaint and well preserved downtown shopping district.  I have not spent as much time as I should have exploring the town for its photo opportunities.  After all, it's only a 15-minute drive from my home.  Yesterday, I had an opportunity to spend a couple of hours in Cedarburg with my camera, and this is what I got.

Some of the "trappings" of the town are predictable.  They include a clock "tower" and posters of civic opportunities.

They also include nicely restored homes, many of a victorian style, that have been converted to various commercial uses. This first has been converted to a museum.  

The masonry of this house has many fine details, including the following.

I believe the following was converted into a B&B. Note the ceramic goose.

Cedarburg also features a number of churches, all of which appear to be well maintained.  Here is an entrance to one and a gorgeous stained glass of another.

The town has more than its share of boutiques and other shops, many featuring whimsy and kitsch.

(No, I do not.)

(Not sure what Uncle Sam [?] is supposed to be holding.

I think this was the entrance to a (newer) drinking establishment.

This being August, the town had a fair amount of flora on display.  This coneflower had a visitor, a Japanese beetle.

A hosta that had an unusual turquoise central element, the color of which I was not quite able to capture with my camera to the same extent that my eye witnessed.

And some coleus leaves that, yes, were as "electric" as what appears in the shot.

Finally, because I can't seem to help myself, here is a shot of a couple of barrels that I rendered in black & white.

My guess is that this is not exactly a "fan favorite," but I liked the image for its simplicity of composition.

John

FUCHIA "GILLIAN ALTHEA"

This year we got baskets of something called Fuchia "Gillian Althea" to hang at the entrance to our home. The plants feature abundant showy flowers, each two to three inches across. The blossoms have a complex system of petals, and I decided to use my macro lens to photograph just a portion of one of the blossoms to create a colorful abstract. 

What drew me to this particular flower was the fact that the backlighting of the blossom's interior created a sense of depth that appealed to me.  

My macro lens allows me to get very close (2-3 inches between the front of the lens and the subject).  As a result the image is not greatly cropped.  The drawback is that the optics reduces significantly the images depth of field.  I chose to focus on the leading edge of one of the petals, but even at relatively narrow aperture of f/22, the overall focus is a bit soft.  Because the image is semi-abstract to begin with, in post processing I softened it further by reducing contrast.

The next day I took another shot of the same blossom but in different lighting conditions.  Here is how that turned out.

In this shot I wanted to emphasize more the backlighting of the blossom's interior.  The light was warmer as well.  I also introduced a bit more overall contrast between lighter and darker elements.  All of which served to make for a more dramatic shot. This was taken at an extremely narrow aperture of f/64, my macro lens's limit.  Even so, there are elements of greater and lesser sharpness of focus.

John

© 2020 John M. Phillips