Architecture
This was originally published to my scottshephard.posterous.com account from Instagram, but I'm trying to cover a few missing days in this blog.
This was taken from the Getty Center, which I have concluded is one of my favorite "buildings" in the world. Of course, it's not a single building - it is a series of buildings, an amazing location and the landscape surrounded the buildings. And that's not to mention thevgreat art inside.
I didn't make the word "iPhonography" up. It is a "school" of photography these days and you have noticed that several of my recent posts have a different look. That's partly because I've been use my phone quite a bit to take photos. It is also because I have been using an app called Instagram to edit and then post the photos.Of course, it's not the camera or the software that takes the photos. But in the case of these iPhone photography, both the hardware and the software are more prominent in the look the pictures have. Like it or not, I will be playing around some more with these cool tools and sharing a few of the products here.This photo, incidentally, is in the atrium of the Holiday Inn next to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, SD.
I'm not sure if a pattern can be abstract, but from 30,000 feet this new housing development somewhere close to Denver seems unreal and a bit abstract too me.iPhone 4
Here's something that just occurred to me when I saw this picture: Much of "Reality" is what we perceive superimposed with what our culture tells us we should think and feel about our perceptions. Thus, the distorted image of the Colorado state capitol building reflected in a nearby office building isn't real. But if that's not real, is Fox News or or any work by Shakespeare more real?If you are intrigued by this, go back and re-read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." And for now, that's enough philosophy!
There were three of us photographing Kendra and Brandon's wedding today. My self-assigned mission was to capture architectural details. In the nearly-empty sanctuary hours before the wedding ceremony, I found this stained glass window casting its colored light onto the wooden pews of St. Anne's Catholic Church in Miller, SD.Visit our MobileMe web gallery.
This is a view of the altar and huge wood carving that graces the front wall of Holy Name Catholic Church in Watertown, SD.
This is a room at the Minneapolis Institute of Art that features the design work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The chairs at this dining table don't look all that comfortable. But they are certainly stylish. I'm guessing that high-heeled shoes share the same quality.
My photography students and I were at Holy Name Catholic Church this afternoon looking for good photos. After they took off to various places in the church, I looked around the room I was in and this was the first photo I took.This is a smaller copy of a bronze version of this statue that graces a small outside seating area near the church. The light in the room I was perfect for taking a portrait. In this case, my subject were made of stone.I don't know the name of this work of art or who created it but I will post both when I know.
The Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis has many fascinating architectural details, including the confessionals in the vestibule I walked through. Each confessional door had "Pax" carved into the stone that surrounded the door. Pax means "peace" in Latin and I thought that it was the perfect way to welcome a parishioner to the sacrament of reconciliation.
This photo started out in color but on a whim I converted it to a fairly high contrast black and white photo. The light was certainly marginal and I think the B&W turns the photo into a better study of the impressive architecture of this basilica, which is located on the west side of downtown Minneapolis.On a technical note, this is hand-held at 1/10 sec with a non-image stabilized lens. I teach my photography students that it is unwise to shoot below 1/60 of a second without a tripod, but I guess it is OK to test the limits once and a while.Canon 5DII 1/10s f/4.0 ISO1000 17mm
We were free men in Paris, unfettered and alive, posing somewhat awkwardly in front of a structure that is anything but awkward - the Nortre Dame de Paris. I handed my camera to a passing tourist. So I guess that this isn't really my photo is it?When I give my camera to a stranger so I can pose, I try to pick someone who appears to be slower than I am so that if they decide to run with my valuable equipment, I can catch them. I wouldn't tackle them, though, since that might harm my camera. . . .