Looking Out a Window: At the Dali Museum

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A recent visit to the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL gave me a new perspective on the Looking Out a Window photography project I started six months ago. From the third floor atrium the Enigma, a geodesic glass dome, floods the inside with natural light from above and swoops down overlooking the water, carrying the avant-garde theme of the museum into the natural world.

At first I wondered if those windows ‘counted’. Most of my portfolio for the project to date looks out various versions of the standard rectangle in all its permutations, the standard mental picture when we hear the word ‘window’. I stood there for some time, taking various photographs but mostly just observing.

Glass panes separate us from what is beyond them, not only physically but often mentally. Think of looking out a window at a wet, rainy, and dark day. Your position on the other side of that glass keeps you dry, and artificial light brightens your world. You exist physically and mentally in a different place from the raw, dark outside. The Enigma, perhaps by virtue of its lines, separate you on one hand and pull you forward into the view on the other hand.

I started this project to explore the world looking out a window, and realized that the only thing in the way of making this part of my endeavor rested on my own preconceived notions of a window.

Visit the Dali for its art, browse the magnificent shop on the first floor for unique books and items, but spend some time on the third floor just absorbing the light.

Looking up into the sky

The marina a street below

Brooker Creek Preserve September Hike (click for full post)

Karl and I led our first hike of the season on Saturday. We always preface the hikes with the phrase "No guarantees, this is a nature preserve not a theme park!". My earlier pre-hike showed higher water in the creek, and I heard no bird activity.

We set out after a brief classroom session, cut short by an inadvertent double booking of rooms. The truly cooler weather starts around mid-October here in west Central Florida, but we get little tastes of it from mid-September on. We felt the humidity as we started, and once the sun achieved its mid-morning height we felt the heat too.

The "usual suspects", an alligator on the bank and an anhinga perched on a branch over the main channel of the creek never appeared. The branch appears smaller, perhaps a piece broken off in the recent storms, so I wonder if the bird found a new perch. If he did, we did not find him.We hiked and talked of the nature of the preserve, and about photography itself and cameras.

We saw Blue Curls (Trichostema dichotomum) along the edge of the parking lot. Karl showed a macro portrait of a blue curl he had done, and the difference between the portrait and the actual tiny size of the flower itself stood out. Later in the hike we came across a member of the Carphephorus family getting ready to bloom, then some starting to bloom.

As we ended the hike, the light shining through the tea colored creek made interesting patterns. Leading the hike, Karl and I don't get to shoot much. I found a few subjects, but mostly played around with abstractions.

Our next hike is October 29 at Brooker Creek Preserve. We hope to see you there.

Sunlight through the water of the creek

Carphephorus

Signs: Wildlife you Might See...

Signs: Swimming Area...Only if you can Swim

Signs: Wild Bird?

 

 Karl and I often photograph unusual signs found in our travels. Sometimes a chance angle or addition illustrates the wording. This one certainly did.