Opposites Reflect

Milwaukee has added a nice pedestrian feature.  Called the Riverwalk, this paved pathway leads down both sides of the MIlwaukee River as it winds its way through downtown.

On a quiet weekend morning
it’s a pleasant meander. As the day warms the crowds pick up and people watching challenges the river and architecture as the focal point.  During the winter ice formations add heightened interest. But always there is the Midwestern Town aesthetic that keeps Milwaukeeans rooted in their home town.

Scaffolding

This image troubled me. I didn’t know whether to convert it to B&W or not. It’s what I’d usually do with a shot like this.

Art is about choices.

The image is more powerful in black & white, and that was the problem. I didn’t want an image of power, I wanted on about waiting; about the endless hours of standing in place waiting for workmen to come and do their job so this scaffold could be taken down and once again stored away.

The scene is the Milwaukee City Hall. It’s Flemish Renaissance
architecture is beautiful, but the building was raised on a site that took Milwaukee City Fathers 7 years to accept when it was first donated to the city as the site for a city hall.

Anytime it takes 7 years to decide whether to accept a gift it seems to me that waiting is a big part of the city’s personality.

Calatrava Interior

Architecture is not only functional, it’s also beautiful. At least it is to some of us.

A recent opportunity to photograph interiors of the Calatrava Wing of the Milwaukee Art Musuem netted this image.

It’s a HDR version of the central foyer.

Patterns, texture, repetitions: they are what life is all about.  Our lives pass with a texture unique to the individual. Our history, genetics, and education determine the patterns, or route we take through life.  And our character determines the decisions we repeat over and over again.

From overview to detail study the interior view offers detail upon detail for us to pay attention to, and the positioning of the exterior wings changes those patterns by the moment.

Architecture is a metaphor for life.

Time to Play

Summer is the time for play: outdoors, in the sun, with the family…. often at the beach… often not wearing a lot of clothing — just enjoying baking in the sun.

It’s a special time: family time. With all the rush and hurry, sometimes it’s easy for forget that when all is said and done it’s family who are there with us in the good times and the bad.

Take time for yourself. Take time for your family. I’ve never met anyone who upon their death bed said, “I wish I spent more time working.” But I’ve known a lot of people who wished they’d spent more time with their family.

Invest in your family. You can horde away all the gold and stocks you want…. but in all of your hordeing — make sure you record some memories and friendships to last you your entire life.

Changing Skylines

For years Milwaukee had a pretty stagnant skyline. The last few years have changed all that.
Funny….. Once in a while I like to look BACK 10 or more years and remind myself what used to be in order to better appreciate what is now.

I can hear the metallic clank of the rigging

The sight of a harbor full of sailboats brings with it the sound of metallic clinking in the rigging as the boats rest at their moorings. It’s not the sound of breathing. It’s the beating of the harbor’s collective heart; waiting for the skippers to come aboard and bring the sleeping craft to life with the breath of the wind.

Milwaukee In Summer

I’m an unabashed Milwaukee Lover. Sure, there will always be some things that any place on earth has that a person may prefer to be different, but I can’t think of a place I’d rather live.

And in the summer…. When the skies are blue and Lake Michigan is at her best the Milwaukee harbor is lovely.

Clear Skies of Spring

Spring is clearly my favorite time of the year. There is a certain green that never seems quite as bright or quite as pale as during the spring. A certain clarity of air that summer cannot match. As the earth warms the pollutants become more noticeable and smog or haze seem to take over the sky.

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White, Blue and Green

I may still be worried about our one of a kind work of art housing our works of art…. I’m a born skeptic about long term maintenance issues — but I love the look of the Calatrava.