Capitol Silhouette © 2010 Bo Mackison
New news from Seeded Earth Studio! I have recently taken official steps to branch my photography into two directions.
I shoot a lot of nature and landscape photography, and these photographs will continue to appear (almost daily) on the Seeded Earth blog.
But I also have a passion for visiting and photographing historical places, and I’ve recently started a new website and blog which focuses on this genre of photographs. The new site is called, quite originally, Historic Places Photography. I feature a historic building (for now, mostly from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Arizona) two to three times a week.
I intend, in the future, to offer architectural photography to the dedicated people who undertake restorations of historical properties, and also to provide downloadable walking tours featuring photographs and information on the architecture of historic buildings in smaller cities and towns throughout the Midwest.
For now, I hope you’ll visit Historic Places Photography and check out the photography.
Historic American Exchange Bank Building
The American Exchange Bank is on the Capitol Square across the street from the State Capitol Building. The building is constructed with huge blocks of Wisconsin sandstone. That seems to be the building material of choice for many of the historic buildings in south-central Wisconsin, and the sandstone apparently holds up well. This structure, built in 1871, is still a handsome place.
One of the best things about Madison’s downtown square, however, is the number of benches always available to a quick rest or people watching.
Historic Quincy Casket Company Building
The Quincy Casket Company, also known as the S J Lessem Building, is a brick and stone, three story building perched on the bluffs of Quincy Illinois, and has a fine view overlooking the Mississippi River. Built in the mid 1850s in the Italiante Style, it was used as a factory and warehouse for its first 100 years. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 due to its architectural significance.
Colorful Window Display at Crate and Barrel
I love these spring colored banners at this store entrance on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. And all those curves and lines makes me smile at all the energy. I always find so many things to photograph when I visit Chicago!
As far as photography goes, I read dozens of articles a week on photography and such. There is always much that I’d like to share, and so I’m going to start posting a list of links every Wednesday.
Photo Link Day!
- Joe McNally’s article, We Just Can’t Help it! Are we photographers different from regular folks? Here’s a quick quote from the article, but the whole article is worth a read:
“We [photographers] don’t stop seeing things. We try to push reality into a better composition. We keep shooting until we’re satisfied that we captured the story we’re trying to tell.”
- I know it’s a little late in most areas of the country to be photographing snowflakes. Still…it HAS been a crazy winter and March generally has a storm or two saved for many of us, especially in the northern states. Here is an article from EarthSky, in case you want to know the REALLY cool way to photograph snowflakes. It’s either now or wait ’til next December.
- Anyone ready for Baseball’s Spring Training? (Me! Me!) These great photos from DenverPost.com of baseball players in their spring digs sure got me in the mood! (You’ll have to click the link after you click this link–I don’t know why!) Spring Training starts. . . TODAY! (But the Milwaukee Brewers don’t play their first game until tomorrow. Boo hoo!)
“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” —Roger Hornsby (Roger must have been very single minded – perhaps he would have enjoyed a Polaroid.)
- PhotoCritic talks about a subject that I used to feel guilty about, because I hadn’t done it – yep, backing up photographs! – but I’ve finally gotten my act together. Now I’ve backed up ALL my photos. In two places! Here’s a good article, and a good reminder, on backing up your photos properly.
Arizona Capitol Museum
Built in 1900 as Arizona’s State Capitol Building, it was replaced by rather typical office buildings for the legislature in 1960. Now it has been restored and is used as a museum, mostly for the state’s school children. Exhibits are quite basic and focus on the history and culture of Arizona from its early days to the present, Arizona’s symbols, natural history, the story of Arizona’s statehood, and a display about the USS Arizona.
Taliesin West - Garden Room
I would like to be relaxing in this room – right this very moment! Maybe with a book in hand, or a notebook filled with words that flowed easily from mind to paper, and so now my writing project is neatly done.
Maybe I’m drinking an iced tea, or even better, indulging in a fudge brownie and a glass of cold milk. And while I’m daydreaming, I’ll go all out – the sunlight is streaming through the windows, and warming my face. Warming my soul.
A Nice Place to Relax
Say, this is a daydream, right? Maybe Mr. Wright will walk through the door, in an amiable and expansive mood, and share a few of his theories on architecture, or better yet, tell stories of the happenings of his boyhood, about the land he lived on and loved, and where he built the other Taliesin, the home and studio where he spent his summers, Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Blue Seating in the Garden Room
This is in the Garden Room at Taliesin West, Mr. Wright’s winter home and studio on Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a sprawling complex, now the winter home for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. The school moves east to summer in Wisconsin from May through October, just as Wright and his family did when they were alive.
Amusingly enough, on a recent tour through Taliesin West, our guide was an architect and an instructor at the architecture school. He had made the acquaintance of Wright several times. He mentioned that one of Wright’s express wishes was “Don’t ever attach my name to anything having to do with a school.” Though Wright appeared to get his way much of the time, seems no one paid attention to that request (or demand) once he was no longer around to speak up.
Taliesin West is a wonderful space to visit, the tour guide was knowledgeable and witty, and had a rather genius way of passing on Wright’s heritage and philosophy.
Steeple against the Bluest of Skies
Before we left Phoenix for the trip to Tucson, we got off the Interstate for awhile and drove the streets in downtown Phoenix. I saw this church a few blocks away, and said the now famous phrase, “That would make a great photo…” I am getting so much better at accepting that it is OK to go back for photographs, and so we drove in circles a bit until we found the right streets and the church.
I thought I remembered that the church had written on the front, in huge letters, “First Historic Church”. That made me curious. I get the historic part, but I wondered how it could claim first in that category. It didn’t look that old. Then I went back in my photo archives and realized it said “Historic First Church,” so that made more sense. Amazing how a turn of words implies a different concept.
When I Googled “Historic First Church,” I discovered there are numerous church buildings that are historic and first – Brooklyn, Pasadena, Albany, and yes, Phoenix. But I gave up trying to find much information about the building in Phoenix after several more Google searches.
I did learn that this was the first Protestant church organized in the Arizona Territory and that it has served downtown Phoenix as the First Presbyterian Church since 1879, but I could find nothing about the building itself.
And on a side note, Arizona has the bluest skies I have ever seen.
Tubac Arizona
On my recent trip to the Southwest, I noticed one big difference between Arizona and Wisconsin. Summed up in one word – SUN! The sun seems to shine all the time. Now I know that is an exaggeration. We actually had one day (out of ten) that was cloudy and we did get caught in a rain shower. But for the most part, the sun was shining in that big, bright blue sky.
The sun makes for some great photo opportunities of shadow play. This adobe building not only had strong shadows from the wooden ramada, but also had more subtle shadows from a nearby palo verde tree.
La Placita Village
The Visitor Center in downtown Tucson is housed in a group of buildings, all painted with bright colors. Pinks, yellows, blues, and yes, this delicious turquoise color. I love the lines in this photograph, and the reflections in the windows that quite invite you to tell an imaginative story to explain what it is you see.
Pool and Courtyard
One of my first stops was to see Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. I took many photographs – the tour guide was most kind and accommodating – and so will have a few more to post. More info about the architecture itself will be coming.
