HOLYROOD PALACE AND GARDENS

Holyrood Palace is located at the opposite end of the Royal Mile from the Edinburgh Castle and is the official Scottish residence of the British monarch.  Queen Elizabeth has traditionally spent a week each year at the palace, usually in June.  The palace and grounds are lovely, and this time the weather cooperated for our tour.

I particularly liked the exterior structures.

I often find myself using doorways and other structures to frame my shots and with the hopes of providing additional interest and content for the shot.

Some architectural detail.

The structures included an intricate and unusual monument portions of the detail of which I found interesting.

Here is a shot of the grounds through a window, another technique that I like to try because of the framing it can offer.

The interior had some interesting elements as well.

Ceiling moulding detail.

Mural in center of the ceiling of one of the palace rooms.

Interesting tapestry subject.

And a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots (not exactly flattering).

The exterior grounds boasted a number of flowers in bloom, including irises and poppies.

I found myself photographing the following dying leaves (dracaena?) on the garden grounds.  My goal was to highlight the yellow leaves by narrowing the depth of field.  Ideally the background leaves would remain recognizable but out of focus enough not to distract from the main subject of the image. 

John

EDINBURGH CASTLE

The local guide for our tour of Edinburgh Castle was excellent, but the weather was poor--a cold rain and significant wind (the only bad weather we had during the entire trip).  I was somewhat concerned for my camera and lens in the rain.  Perhaps as a consequence, I did not get many photos.

Note the umbrellas.

I turned the following shot into a black & white to emphasize the mist and the way the tree framed the towers (faintly) visible in the distant background.

A couple of interior details.

Our guide, decked out in Scottish regalia, did a great job, despite the rain.

I thought the following shot pretty much summed things up.

John.

ST. GILES CATHEDRAL

This June I visited Great Britain for  the first time as part of a tour group, beginning in Edinburgh, Scotland and ending in London, England.  I thought I would document my trip through a series of posts to my photo blog.

On my first afternoon in Edinburgh I walked over to St. Giles Cathedral to take some photos, beginning with the exterior.

It appeared to me that the unique "crown" structure visible at the top of the cathedral was off-center.  On the left is an unusual monument, and in the photo below Tried to incorporate a detail of that monument with the cathedral behind.

Here is another detail on the side of the cathedral that I found interesting.

Following are some interior shots.

The portion with a blue ceiling appeared to be a more recent addition.

The pulpit was intricate.

Ceiling detail in a room named the Thistle Chapel.

The stained glass was excellent. Here is an example.

John Knox was important in the establishment of the church and the founding of Presbyterianism.

John.

REFLECTIONS ON THE BEAN

 One of the popular  attractions located in Chicago's Millennium Park is the Bean, formally known as Cloud Gate.  On my recent trip to Chicago to visit the Art Institute I also paid a visit to the Bean, which is just a block or so north of the Art Institute.  

The surface of the Bean is a highly polished stainless steel, which allows it to create a variety of distorted reflections of Chicago's skyline, as well as of the visitors.

The Bean is large enough for visitors to walk underneath and observe the sculpture's concave underside, known as the omphalos (Greek for navel).  I decided to take a photo of the omphalos from the western edge.  This is what I got.  Somehow, it reminds me of Dante's Inferno.

Once I got a chance to review the photo I realized that there were multiple images of me and my camera.  In spotting them I was helped by the fact that I was wearing an orange polo shirt.  By my count I found a total of 25 reflections of my image in the shot.  Perhaps my least distorted reflection is the one in the center close to the bottom of the image.

John

KOHLER ART PRESERVE

 Recently, friends tipped me off to a new art museum, the Art Preserve of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.  The museum is located just outside of Sheboygan, only about 40 minutes north of my home.  It opened a year ago and is dedicated to the preservation of bodies of work of folk artists.  The museum is housed in a new, architecturally interesting building and is home to the art of about 25 artists.  It is terrific.

It is hard to define what is meant by folk art.  Generally, folk artists do not have formal training and their art is characterized by a certain primitiveness in which perspective or proportions may be distorted.  Of course, many of the Impressionists might be described as folk artists, say, for example, Van Gogh.  But no one would classify his art as "folk."  So perhaps it is that folk artists are not intent on commercial success.  Their art is more a function of a need to create than an interest in making money from the art.  Perhaps the most that can be said is that you know folk art when you see it.

First, the building, which was completed in June 2021. 

A little odd, but overall more attractive than this photo might indicate.  Oh, and the restrooms--after all this is a Kohler facility.

The museum houses the works of about 25 artists and is organized by artist rather than by subject matter, medium, or style.  Here is some of it.

One of the artists featured is Mary Nohl, a Milwaukee artist who died in 2001.  She was eccentric, to say the least, and had placed many of her sculptures in her yard.  But she also produced wall art, which I found interesting.

I highly recommend that you pay this place a visit.  Besides, there is no admission fee, though they are happy to receive your donations.

John

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