Atlanta
I couldn't resist posting one more High Art Museum (Atlanta) interior. Like the other one, I think that this photo shows one of the reasons I like most art museums: there is great light and warm wooden floors (that often creak when you walk on them.)
I used the HDR mode on my Canon 5DIII for a series of shots in the CNN Center because there was a sizable difference between the very bright part of this interior (above and to the left of the CNN sign) and the relatively dark part (underneath the canopies a little to my right.)I could have gone with a photo-realistic treatment of this scene when I processed the shots in Aperture/NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 but I picked one that gives this a bit of a cartoonish look. Do I like it? I'm not sure. What do you think? Be honest. . . .(The people at the table in front of me are photographers who are/were attending the ImagingUSA conference. I didn't get a model release because this is a public space and they had no expectation of privacy. I do believe I'm on the right side of the law.)
Am I reaching a bit too far down into the barrel to have something to post today? I'm not answering that question.
Here are three of my Lake Area Technical Institute photo/media students taking photo at the Coke Museum in Atlanta. I enjoyed our visit to the museum, though I think it is interesting that throngs of people (like us) are willing to pay Coca Cola Company $16 to be immersed in a giant advertisement. America: it's a great country.Canon 5DIII 1/400s f/10.0 ISO1600 22mm
On the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed a small group of people. And in that speech he said
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life--longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now… I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
The cause he was in Memphis to help further was a strike by the newly formed Sanitation Workers Union, who were working to get better pay and improved working conditions. One of the signs that the strking workers carried said, "I am a man."Yesterday, as I returned to my hotel, I rounded the corner on to Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta and encountered the Martin Luther King Day Parade. It was an eclectic affair, comprised of groups representing the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, the "Free Tibet" movement. And many more.The group photographed here carried replica signs that copied and extended the message of the Memphis sanitation workers union: "I am still a Man."On the day after a black man took the oath of office for the presidency of the United States, I am left thinking about "the promised land." No, America isn't the promised land and I don't think Barack will lead us there. But I believe we have moved much closer to the promise that the US holds for all of its citizens.Two days ago, I gave up my seat at the front of the bus to an elderly black woman, who smiled pleasantly at me as she sat. I was not trying to make a statement. I was not thinking about race. I was only doing what was right. Today, I realize that perhaps my act stands as a small symbol of the promise King spoke about the night before he died.
Today's image was taken only a short time after yesterday's and yet they seem to me to be a world apart. And, frankly, I enjoy the world depicted in this photo.This photo was taken at the High Art Museum of Atlanta and I was lucky enough to visit shortly after it opened on a Saturday morning. And for much of the time I was there, I had several of the galleries to myself, including this one of the top floor of the main wing.There is a juxtaposition of warm and cool tones in this photo, accentuated by the way my camera sees light. The wood floor is very warm of course, but the ceiling light (which is daylight) is obviously blue. Did the designers of this space consider this? I would guess they did . . .
This location is a world apart from the abandoned farm photos I posted a week ago. I'll admit that I am more comfortable in the quiet expanses of the South Dakota prairie than I am in a underground train station. But both places intrigue me.
I am in Atlanta, Georgia, for a few days to attend the annual Imaging USA conference. And four of my Lake Area Technical Institute photo/media students are with me. It should be a good experience for all of us.This photo was taken on the run. I was more interested in getting to our hotel than taking photos but I couldn't resist when I saw this scene. But instead of taking my big camera out of the bag, I snapped a single iPhone photo.When I photograph architecture, I look for symmetry, which is kind of the opposite of what I look for in landscapes. But in both, I look for lines and texture. And there are lines and texture galore in this photo. . . .