Architecture
I am about to take a week off from my blog, though ou won't notice this because I am posting a week's worth of photos today. Everyday, a new one will magically appear at midnight GMT. I am posting these photos with few comments, but you don't come to this blog for the words of wisdom, do you?Happy holidays! I'll be back on January 1, 2011.Oh, and today's picture is of Adam and Eve being tempted. Its from the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
There is a stretch of Summit Avenue in St. Paul that is lined with mansions that harken back to an era of of conspicuous opulence. The JJ Hill House is certainly an example. Completed in 1891, it was known as the "showcase of St. Paul." Today it is no longer inhabited but is instead open to visitors.This photo is a detail of the grand staircase that leads from the foyer to the second floor. Everything you see here was hand carved by meticulous craftsmen and the detail is amazing.I wonder how often they have to dust all of the woodwork?
I just finished reading a new book entitled The Kennedy Detail, which gives the accounts of the Secret Service agents whose job it was to protect John and Jacque Kennedy the day they went to Dallas in 1963. Until this book, these men had remained silent about their experience. It is a book worth reading.This is a shot of the famous "Texas Book Depository," which is now a historic landmark and a museum. If you look to the farthest window on the top floor, you can see where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that killed JFK and stunned the world. In the middle left of this photo is the so-called "grassy knoll." From which some conspiracy theorists say a second gunman fired shots.I was in the third grade when Kennedy was killed and I didn't really understand the significance of this event. Now, after more than 50 years, I can see that it was an event that changed the psyche of our nation, just as 9/11 has seemed to.I must admit that I don't think I have figured out the true meaning and significance of this event. Interestingly, the "truther" conspiracy movement has already fogged what some think is "true" about 9/11. Will it take us 50 years to understand the impact of this event?Incidentally, I have posted another somewhat similar photo of the Texas Book Depository. But today's photo gives you a broader view. I hope you don't mind.
This is a detail of one of the many photogenic buildings on the grounds of the royal palace complex in Kyoto, Japan. Like many of the places I've visited on our travels, I want to go back to this city for more photographs. When? I have no idea. . . .
The most famous Gothic cathedral in Paris is the Notre Dame de Paris. But I think St. Chapelle is the most beautiful, primarily because there is so little stone and so much glass in the walls.When I walked into this structure the first time, I stood for several moments in amazement. This structure was built in the 13th century. If I'm amazed, imagine how someone from the 1300s would have felt when walking into this sacred place the first time.
Of course the saying is that the "devil" is in the details, but it's hard to believe that when you look closely as the amazing amount of careful work that went in to decorating the interior of the Codington County Courthouse in Watertown, SD. The other thing that amazes me is that there are thousands of courthouses like this throughout the US. These structures were built at a time when there was enough time, talent and money to do such public works.Incidentally, this photo, and other photos of the courthouse, were done for an assignment I gave my Lake Area Tech Photo/Media students. I figured that if I could assign the project, I could just as well do it. To see the product of this effort, go to my Flickr account here.
When I went down to the Codington County courthouse to vote a couple weeks ago, I was reminded of how beautiful a building it was. Thus, I went back last week to take a few photos and this is one of my favorites.Though I like it, I'm thinking that someone else might see it and wonder what this is. Among other things, you are looking at the stained glass dome that covers the central foyer. They don't make public buildings like this any more.
This is one of the wings of the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a cool October day outside, but inside it was warm enough to grow flowers, ferns, palms and cactus, which makes this place a perfect escape.Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email
This is the Egyptology area of the Neues Museum (New Museum) on what is called "Museum Island" in Berlin, Germany. It may look like the museum was empty when I took this but it was actually fairly crowded. I got lucky to have the room to myself for a moment or two.Canon 5D 1/40s f/1.2 ISO400 50mm
This is another photo that has sat neglected in my collection of 60,000 photos. The photo was taken in Japan in the same vicinity as the tree root photo from yesterday, which I think is near the Golden Temple. But I don't know where I am. I suppose a more disciplined photographer would keep track of things like that.
We are learning about Ancient Greece in my world history class this week and I thought it might be appropriate to show a snapshot I took of the Parthenon a few years ago. I have been to Athens a few times since 1998, and every time there have been cranes and scaffolds present. I'm guessing that maintaining a 2500 year old building isn't easy.Here's a bit of an "easter egg" for my AWH students: The first person who posts a thoughtful reply to today's blog gets the iPad tonight. Sorry Katie S but you don't qualify.
I have said that I can remember taking many of the photos I have even years after the actual capture. I suppose I'm pretty focused when I do that. (Bad pun, I know) But I also take photos that are forgotten. This one would be an example. I was spending a little time going through my travel photos and came across this scene from the Louvre in Paris.These children and their teacher/mother/???? have set up shop by the easel of an artist who has permission to paint a copy of one of the paintings in this gallery, though when I look at the copy and the wall I can't see which one. The copyist is gone but the observers remain. Why, I don't know. And which gallery this is, I couldn't say. There are many unanswered questions. Maybe someone reading this has answers. . . ?