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West 6th St. Bridge, Racine

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Alexandar Eschweiler is a name familiar to most anyone with an interest in architecture in S.E. Wisconsin.  His work includes the Wisconsin Power and Light Building in downtown Milwaukee.

Charles S. Whitney may not be as recognizable a name to architectural historians in Milwaukee.  Whitney came to Milwaukee in 1919 after receiving his Civil Engineering degree from Cornell University.  He worked for Eschweiler as an engineer until 1923, when Eschweiler brought his three sons into his practice.  Whitney moved to New York and became a partner in Ammann and Whitney, an engineering and design firm that became world famous and is known for designing the Walt Whitman Bridge and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York.

Whitney designed the West 6th Street Bridge in Racine in 1928.  The bridge is notable for its Terra Cotta bas relief panels. The Neptune styled faces on the side of the bridge provide outlets for storm water collecting on the deck of the bridge.

My Fire Lookout Tower Obsession Continues

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Monahan Lookout Tower

The Monahan Lookout Tower was constructed in 1934 on a site approximately 35 miles northwest of Eagle River, Wisconsin.  This tower is 100′ tall and is capped with a 7’x7′ cabin.  The Monahan tower was listed in the National Lookout Tower Register in 2004.

Turtle Creek Stone Arch Bridge

Turtle Creek (Tiffany) railroad bridge

Built in 1869, this bridge was constructed of stone quarried in east-central Wisconsin.  The 5-span, 387 foot bridge is located near Beloit in south-central Wisconsin.  A Chicago engineer named Van Mienen designed the bridge for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.  Van Mienen’s work was reportedly inspired by a stone arch bridge in Campiegne, France

Camping Solitude

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Camped in the Chequamegon National Forest west of Westboro, Wisconsin.  The moon was three-quarters full and, when not blocked by the forest canopy, cast a lit edge along the flowage.

 

I hiked on the Ice Age Trail east from Forest Road 108 and followed a semi-primitive lobe trail to the south.  The trail rimmed a bog that opened as a small lake.

 

The head of this small plant is suffering from Uncombable Hair Syndrome, otherwise known as Albert Einstein hair.

Sand Cliffs

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Photo of sand cliff erosion on Lake Michigan shoreline using 4×5 black and white sheet film.

Coldness on Lake Champlain

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It was a cold, drab, and damp day on Lake Champlain yesterday.  I’m finishing  a short business trip to Burlington, Vermont and since I remembered to bring a camera and I had a spare hour late in the afternoon, I walked to the lakefront to see how the winter wears on the lake.

Calatrava – Art Museum

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I was up early this weekend shooting in downtown Milwaukee during the earliest light before sunrise.  Once I was finished before the civil dawn, I thought I’d take the time to capture the sun rising over a low cloud-deck above Lake Michigan.  This landmark Art Museum building, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, makes an interesting foreground subject for a lakefront sunrise.

Here’s what the inside of this building looks like from a photo I took earlier this year:

This is what the building looks like when the wings are lifted:

FocalPoint

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I’m not normally taken to mentioning products, plug-ins, or presets.  FocalPoint 2 from onOneSoftware is an exception I don’t mind making.  All of us don’t have the resources to buy $2,ooo f1.2 or tilt/shift lens that provide ultra shallow adjustable Depth Of Field.  This plug-in for Photoshop gives you tools that you otherwise might not be able to afford.  Here are a couple of examples where DOF was adjusted in post -processing using this plug-in:

More Blinds in the Lab

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I searched for a set of black window blinds to use in a couple of ideas I had for a noir-ish look I was trying to get.  You can’t get them at the hardware store – just shades of white and wood.  Amazon had some for about 8 dollars.  Then came the hard part – light shot through the blinds didn’t create a focused shadow the way you’d expect.  You need a hard light either a long distance from the blind or focused with a lens to get a strong shadow.  I tore apart a very old slide projector and created a focusing “nose” for a snooted strobe.  Here’s the kind of shadow I wanted to create.

The shadows and hard light creates a noir look that I really like.  My model was very co-operative and helpful with a very appropriate hair-do, dress and facial expression.

Taking one of two focusing lenses off allowed the background to hold the blind pattern, but smoothed out the light on the model.  The snooted, gridded strobe still provides a nice key light.

I thought it would be fun to shoot through the blind.  Good eyes!