Memorial Art Gallery [Sky Watch Friday]

Rochester has a variety of outstanding museums that attract visitors from all over the world. These include the Eastman International Museum of Photography, the Strong Museum of Toys, the Susan B. Anthony House, and the Memorial Art Gallery. It was to the latter that we paid a visit this afternoon, specifically to see the newly opened Max Escher exhibit. The exhibit was fabulous [open until the end of January], and I would recommend it highly. Since photography was not permitted, I cannot show you examples of his unique and brilliant works. However, there were photo-ops outside the museum, including the buildings, as well as the extraordinary sculpture garden containing stone and metal figures.

Today we hit a record high temperature in Rochester, so it was fun to wander around the garden; here are some sample images of these unusual and humorous figures.

Rochester Skyline at Sunset [Sky Watch Friday]

I have posted many images of Rochester sunsets and skylines, and I thought I had seen it tall. But, several days ago, my wife and I went out for dinner in the heart of downtown. As luck would have it, the garage was fairly crowded and we had to park on the sixth level. As we began walking to the elevator, I saw this amazing view. I used my cell phone to try and capture what was left of the sunset along with several iconic buildings silhouetted against the sky. 

Image City Gallery Assignment

Once a month a group of amateur photographers meets with two professionals at Rochester’s Image City Gallery to share photos and engage in discussion of our work. Since its inception several years ago, I have learned a great deal about creating, looking at, and critiquing images. What is especially fun is getting a specific assignment as to the nature of the photos we are to bring in. For example, for this November's meeting, we were to bring in three shots we took in which our feet had to remain planted; i.e. we were allowed to turn our torso in any direction, but without moving our feet. This was designed to slow us down as we surveyed our surroundings and thought about what it was that we wanted to shoot. Perhaps more importantly, by looking around, we might discover a more intersting shot to make than the one we initially saw.
Here are my three images, taken in the Wilson Commons at the University of Rochester. These were taken from a second floor balcony, a great vantage point with nice views in several directions.
The image below is that of he Rush Rhees Library rotunda, looking up and to my left.

 

This next image was shot straight down looking into a portion of the cafeteria. This one is my favorite image of the three. I find all the diagonal and vertical lines particularly appealing.

 

This last image was shot to my right. As it was fall break, there were relatively few students on campus. Otherwise, all the tables would have been occupied.