Grad school has been intensely busy over the last month and unfortunately it has cut sharply into my posting/processing/photographing time. However, I did manage to blow the dust off the ol’ portfolio. Enjoy!
“The KKKKK took my baby away…” (Apologies to the Ramones).
The Temple of Dendur, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina, Joint Services Open House 2010, Andrews AFB.
Curtiss SB2C-5 “Helldiver.” This beauty, which was on display at the Joint Services Open House, is the only surviving flying type in the world.
Constitution Avenue entrance, looking up, West Building, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Have I mentioned that the building itself is magnificent?
Sketching the Rotunda, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
I love watching artists in museums doing there thing. Most of the time they can be found in gallery G10 on the ground floor, sketching the numerous Rodin marbles. But I rarely see them in the rotunda, which is a shame because the building itself is magnificent and I often find myself taking photographs of it rather than the works contained within. I took this almost two years ago and it has taken me this long to process it in a way that does the image justice.
“Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” Yeah, I had to go there.
Skull, 2006-09, by Brian Jungen, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC.
If you get a chance to visit the NMAI, the Strange Comfort exhibition is not to be missed. Jungen takes ordinary objects and reworks them into “sculptures that are simultaneously fake and authentic, playful and political, common and extraordinary.” This skull is made out of baseballs and softballs.
The nose of the Enola Gay, National Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, VA.
“Spring Cleaning”.
This is the second spiral staircase on the climb up the central tower. The first was stone, enclosed, and got narrower and shorter as the climb progressed. The last was in the same room as the carillon, which filled that part of the tower from floor to ceiling. Both of these segments masked the perception of height, since you either couldn’t see how high you were getting or there was something massive in the room that helped mask the room’s overall scale.
This one was in a large, open room, which in a lot of ways made it the most unnerving part of the climb. The higher you climbed the greater the sensation you have of being really high up in a very large, open space. And going down is even worse. At least on the climb up you can stare at the posterior of the person in front of you (my wife Megan’s, in case you were wondering). On the way down you are staring out over the head of the person in front of you and it is just you, your thoughts, and a really large open space.
But it is so worth it.
The North and South towers, Washington National Cathedral.
One of the highlights of the Flower Mart is the Tower Climb. For $10 you can climb the 300+ steps of the central tower to where the bell ringers do their thing. The bell ringing demonstration is impressive, but for me the highlight is being able to climb out the windows and be treated to the most spectacular views of Washington DC. And by “climb out of the windows” I mean just that: you literally hoist yourself through a narrow window and onto a balcony of sorts. These balconies are only four people wide and one deep. They are not for the fainthearted, but as I said: the views are spectacular, and thus worth it, even for an acrophobe like me.
This photo is admittedly not art, but it gives you an idea of how high you are. That row of windows at the bottom of the frame? That is the normal observation level in the North and South towers. So not only are you at the highest elevation in DC, you’re a good hundred feet or so above the regular “best view” in the city.
Just one of the many reasons to go to the Flower Mart.
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Washington DC.
Orthodox architecture is, to use an architectural term, pretty gnarly stuff. So gnarly, in fact, that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America devotes a quite lengthy webpage to the subject. With a suggested reading list, no less. These people are serious about their art and architecture.
And can you blame them? Look at this magnificent building. It is breathtaking, is it not?
