Waymarking Photos

It's always a disappointment to me when I have to photograph something for a waymark on a gray day (which happens quite often here in Washington State.) The difference between a sculpture set against gray, versus one set against a brilliant blue sky is amazing - it brings out an energy in the object being photographed, and the colors just pop!

Yesterday I spent the day in Seattle visiting the new wing of the Seattle Art Museum and taking a friend to see the Olympic Sculpture Park for the first time. Last time I was at the park it was pretty gray but this day was a day for taking photos. I took pictures of EVERYTHING! The colored glass "shadows" on a gravel path, a vandalized pane of glass in the "Seattle Cloud Cover" piece, every possible shot of the Calder sculpture with the Puget Sound in the background... When I started taking pictures of the gravel path my friend wandered off to make sure people didn't realize she was with me. ;) The shots turned out great though and now I need to get around to adding them to the galleries of all the different sculptures that I have waymarked in the park.

Oh - little photography tip for those taking photos of landscapes. Divide the image you see in your lense into 3 rows both horizontally and vertically. Never have the horizon line, or main horizontal line of the shot running straight through the middle of the picture. Either have it at the imaginary line at the top or bottom third of your shot. Also, if there is a subject that is part of the landscape shot - say a lighthouse on a bluff near the coastline - don't center the subject! Frame it so the subject is on the left or right "1/3" line that you've drawn vertically through your shot. Seems picky, but it will make a world of difference in your landscapes. So often I see waymarking pics come through that would be magazine quality shots if only they had been framed using the "rule of thirds".

The above photo is of the piece "Seattle Cloud Cover" that runs the length of the pedestrian bridge in the park. The light was being cast in all of these wonderful colorful shadows and I must have taken about 30 or more photos of the gravel alone. This shot shows the end of the piece and the shadows that it casts. I liked the perspective of the shot.

Mom's Day Waymarking

For Mother's Day this year I asked for a morning in Seattle at the Olympic Sculpture Park and then a quick stop at the Seattle Public Library to visit Rose Red's waymark there.

What a glorious day of waymarking. Troy and Hunter actually enjoyed the sculpture park (I was a bit worried) and we spent over an hour wandering the park from top to bottom. The only disappointment was missing the pavilion, because it didn't open until 11 a.m. Oh well, that leaves a few sculptures for someone else to waymark.

It's a magical place. Truly amazing and photographs can't do it justice. One of the greatest accomplishments of the designers is the vistas and perspectives that are created as the park steps down the hillside to the waterfront. Sculptures can be enjoyed up close, from a distance with the water as a backdrop or on the other side, from a distance with the city as a backdrop. The photo at left is a close-up of "Seattle Cloud Cover" looking through the piece to the Space Needle and city beyond.

Troy's favorite was the sculpture "Love & Loss". It's much more interesting in person than can be displayed in a photo. The piece uses 2 benches, a table and chairs, a reflecting pool, and a tree to form the words "love" and "loss" with both words intersecting at the letter "o", which is a reflecting pool. Spinning above the words is a red, neon ampersand.

Other stops included Henry Moore's, "Vertebrae" and the Rem Koolhaas building for the Seattle Public Library.

Above you see the neon ampersand from "Love & Loss", and Calder's "Eagle" framing the Space Needle.

Above is Richard Serra's "Wake" and Henry Moore's "Vertebrae".

So even though I spent Saturday tearing my hair out while writing code for a Website, Sunday was a beautiful day full of world class art and REALLY good coffee and muffins at Macrina's. (I can't believe there isn't an independent bakery category yet. Someone needs to get on that so I have an excuse to go back to Macrina's for another orange-hazelnut twist and some of their delicious coffee.)