Impressionism from the Journeyman: Cityscape

Showing posts with label Cityscape. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2015

St. Louis: The Old State Courthouse

We made the time to visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. I had never been but my wife had spent some of her childhood in the state of Missouri and had some memories of past visits.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Starting the St. Louis Arch Tour Day

Itsy-Bit was anxious to begin the day tour of the St. Louis Arch.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Itsy Bits Photogenic Pose

The Old State Courthouse was well-maintained and reflected well against the modern glass buildings. Getting tickets for a paddle-boat ride or a tour of the Arch is accomplished currently in the Old State Courthouse while the waterfront National Park area is under renewal construction.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 The Old State Courthouse

The interior of the Courthouse is majestic with cool, limestone floor blocks and soaring columns to the capital dome. There were lots of opportunities to view historical displays in different wings of the building.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Old State Courthouse Interior

A view of the old staircases in the Courthouse wing.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Old State Courthouse Staircase

A mural in the Courthouse depicts the Intercontinental railroad and buffalo, two factors influential in the westward expansion of the United States through St. Louis, the gateway to the West.

Original Photo: Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Old State Courthouse Mural

And mural detail of train and buffalo.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Courthouse Mural Detail 01

And mural detail of buffalo.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Courthouse Mural Detail 02

The Courthouse had a buffalo skull on display.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Buffalo Skull Display

My youngest child, Itsy Bit, was surprised to see a full-size Conestoga wagon, an old-fashioned version of our Honda Odyssey, that brought families ad their belongings westward from the big cities.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Conestoga Wagon Display

A mural reproduction depicts the Golden Land of milk and honey with a view to riches untold in the Western mining fields.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Immigrants Guide to the Golden Land

And miner detail.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Golden Land Mural Detail 01

Some more detail of the gold miners.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Golden Land Mural Detail 02

And more detail of the gold miners.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Golden Land Mural Detail 03

And a final view of the gold miners in detail.

Copyright James E. Martin 2015 Golden Land Mural Detail 04

Today's blog entry reminds me of the previous blurb I did on Precious Dust: The True Saga of the Western Gold Rushes by Paula Mitchell Marks(1994).

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Simmons Spire: Been Watching This

Took a brief excursion into Boston the other day. Walked through the Simmons College campus and took a photo of this spire. I had seen it from other perspectives from the street side while on the move in the car. My daughter is going to school elsewhere in the vicinity so I have had frequent opportunities to view this.

But I enjoyed being able to capture this perspective at a closer view from the campus quadrangle during a walking pace.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Simmons College Spire

Friday, October 17, 2014

Sunrise Over Boston: The Best View

My daughter, Little Bit, captured the best view of the Boston Sunrise, I think. She scanned and panned the Charles River waterfront and got the long landscape view. This is how the Boston jaunt started and our adventure was a wonderful birthday gift from Little Bit to spend time with her Daddy.

Copyright Anna K. Martin 2014 Boston Sunrise

This is best viewed by clicking on the image and seeing it in a larger depiction.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Final Leg: Jamaica Pond Jaunt

Every time we take our daughter, Little Bit, back and forth to nursing school in Boston, we pass by the Jamaica Pond. We wanted to explore the detail. So, today, Little Bit and I spent some time walking around the reservoir! It's a beautiful 68 acre pond, 50 meters deep, designed and created by Frederick Law Olmstead. The boat house with rowboat and sailboat rentals is on the east side of the pond.

"Let it be not for present use and delight alone, but let it be of such a work that our descendants will thank us for it."
Frederick Law Olmsted

Internet Fair Use - Preliminary Plan Jamaica Park

Parking is available on the north side of the pond. There is a small island in view with a weeping willow on it framed by the boathouse and church steeple towards the southern side of the lake. We walked from north-, to west-, to south-, to east-side, in our jaunt.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Jamaica Pond Island

There are lots of Joggers, Walkers, Dog Walkers, Baby Strollers, and Sun Sitters around the pond. Even a few fishermen!

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Out at the Pond

There are many trees surrounding the pond of arboretum variety, quality, and size.
All in fall foliage colors at this time of year.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Arboretum Trees

Birch trees on the north side.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Birch Trees on the North Side

On this particular day, a lot of dappled sun and shade offering exquisite variety of color and hue.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Shoreline on Shadow

Plenty of views and perspectives offering natural framing of the image in foreground and background as we approach the west side of the pond.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Foliage Framed

On the west side of the pond, many majestic trees along the pedestrian pathway.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Majestic with Dappled Sunshine

It was hard to decide whether to traverse the shoreline or the pedestrian pathway. Both offered excellent photo shots.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Bonsai on the Western Shore

Another of the arboretum quality majestics with numerous branches. This is a real tree climber!

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Majestic Branches

With plenty of shade still left in mid-afternoon, the dark blues and violets abound.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Blue Trunks in Shadow

A teeny-weeny child framed against the massive giant. A nice moment to capture the scale.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Dwarfed by a Giant

This ol' tree had lots of carved initials of loved ones from days gone by.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Initials in the Tree

My Itsy Bit loves to catch unusual perspectives in her viewfinder.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Catching the Angle

The shoreline is beautifully landscaped and protected with well-placed granite erosion control. With the reservoir down a bit in the fall season, the stones are arranged and even piled for dramatic effect.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Roots and Rocks

There was still plenty of sunshine left in the day but we were fast running out of camera battery or photo memory.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Southern Knoll

The smartphone camera didn't quite capture the brilliant color in this shot and I was not able to f-stop the shot up or down to bracket the contrast better and reduce the brilliant glare. Next time with a different instrument.

Copyright James E. Martin 2014 Leafy Knoll

There were many opportunities for pleine-aire painting for those so inclined. Early morning or late afternoon light would be extra special.

The last picture before my battery ran out.

So thank you to Frederick Law Olmstead for this day at Jamaica Pond and these views. I can see early spring being a great time for a revisit.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Boston Morning Photos: The North End

Strolling from the Boston Common with a goal to reach the Old North Church in the North End of Boston means traversing the financial district with a view of the urban skyscrapers.

A bit more modern than Beacon Hill but still provincial..

The plaque below indicates the location of the first meetinghouse in Boston in 1632. Preachers were John Wilson, John Eliot, and John Cotton. To read these biographies is to gain substantial insight into the early religious controversies and theological debates of the New England church as it transitioned from the Old World lineage including the issues of free will versus free grace, the commingling versus separation of powers between church and state, the mission field to the native american Indians, and the expansion of the colonies as a direct result of dissensions and disagreements.

Who can forget the elementary school teachers reciting the lantern signals to Paul Revere of "one if by land, and two if by sea" in the Old North Church?

Lots of tourists at the Old North Church so we moved on toward the waterfront.

We walked out to Sargent's Wharf on the waterfront.

There is a tiny part of me that thinks that a small condominium on the wharf, a slip on the canal to dock a sailboat, and not much else in life would be a deliberate way to live life on the water. It could take a lifetime to explore the upper east coast by sail.

We circled back along Commercial Street. Lots of tour buses parked from FL, PA, NY, NJ, CT loaded with sightseers.

Internet Fair Use - Map of Boston's North End

Viewed the Coast Guard ships at the CG Station, walked through the North End, picked up cannoli and blueberry scone at Mike's Pastries. There was so much to see and do but the camera's were running out of memory and battery! Between us, we took over 1200 pictures on this jaunt. And there was so much more to do!

Internet Fair Use - Mike's Pastry

So we rode the transit back to Cambridge to get the car and head out to Jamaica Pond before returning home. Gave us time to recharge our batteries!