Wednesday, January 8, 2025

A QUESTION OF VISION


The roads were passable yesterday so I took my camera out to Laumeier Sculpture Park, a lesser known gem in our area. It has 102 acres / 42 hectares of open fields and hilly wooded trails studded with contemporary art. A piece called Aurelia Roma by Manuel Neri has a protective wrap for the winter. The park’s iconic work, Tony Tasset’s Eye, stares back.

I should acknowledge that this picture was inspired by one that appeared in our local newspaper this week. Although the paper is a shadow of what it once was (Joseph Pulitzer’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, it has some damn fine photographers.)                      

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

TOYOTA ON ICE


The snow, sleet and freezing rain ended Monday morning. It wasn’t a record snowfall but there may have been an unusual record: if you melted all the varieties of precipitation and just measured the liquid, the total volume may have been a record for a winter storm.

This was Mrs. C’s Prius encased In ice on Sunday afternoon. It was completely snow-covered by Monday. We were not able to get out of our street yesterday but we will today.                     

Monday, January 6, 2025

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

 

A significant winter storm has been sweeping across the middle latitudes of the U.S. from Kansas toward the east coast. This was my street yesterday afternoon. Snow is predicted to continue through Sunday night into Monday morning. It will be followed by very cold (for us) temperatures, 2 F / -17 C Wednesday night. We are on about the same parallel as Madrid and Rome so this doesn’t happen much, but there is a lot of flat land between here and Canada.                   

Sunday, January 5, 2025

TOWN HOUSES IN LAFAYETTE SQUARE

 

Five of the elegant townhouses along Lafayette Square. They are architecturally identical with different decorative details. You might be able to see it if you enlarge the image, but all but the left building have unusual scroll decor on the top floor dormer windows. Two of the five have identical filigree fencing on the top. The one on the left appears to be for sale if you are interested.

By the time this post goes up, we expect to be in a big snow and ice storm. I’ll get out with a camera but probably not further than our door.                   

Saturday, January 4, 2025

A POND IN THE SQUARE

 

A charming landscaped pond in Lafayette Square, containing the park's two resident swans. There are lots more geese and ducks in a bigger pond. The square’s elegant row houses are in the background.

We expect to get bombed by a snow and ice storm tonight and tomorrow, followed by frigid cold. What can I see from our front porch?                               

Friday, January 3, 2025

NOT THE PAINTER

 

Back into the Lafayette Square images. We are expecting a significant ice and snow storm from tonight into Monday morning, followed by bitter cold (by our standards). Won’t be on the street for a bit.

When you walk into the park from one of the corners you are confronted with this imposing, pompous statue. A few people walked up to the base and I asked them about the small black plaque on the base. They said it referred to Thomas Hart Benton. "Oh,”I said. “The famous painter of the Midwest and the Mississippi River.” But what about the inscription on the pedestal? Turns out this THB is a Missouri politician, one of our original senators when we entered the union in 1820. The painter is his great great grand nephew.

The inscription on the pedestal is still very strange.     

Thursday, January 2, 2025

NOT SNOW

 

So, it’s 2025 and rolling towards the end of St. Louis Daily Photo’s 18th year. Also looks like I’ve made it through my third quarter century. I need to go out and find some fresh ways to look at this town but I may have to look into the archives for a bit. This looks like it could be a winter scene in Forest Park - but what’s with that very liquid water jet? The image is one of my attempts to do infrared in color, taken in summer.