The Restored Garden at Eastman House

 

I went out to the George Eastman Museum to see the current exhibits yesterday.  When I was done seeing those, I went out to see the restored gardens on the east side of the mansion.  This garden is known as the Terrace garden.  The bright sunlight was not my favorite choice of lighting for a garden but I made do with what I had to work with.  Because of the sun and shade combination I was unable to take a beautiful photograph of the whole garden, I just tried to find some lovely images of parts of the garden.

This is the closest thing to a wider view of a part of the Terrace garden.  They have done such an amazing job or restoration with complete replacements of all the brick walkways which makes the garden more accessible.  And they have done major replanting of all the flower gardens, and also restored the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden.  It is just beautiful now which is nice to see because it has been a few years now while the restoration took place.

These are Water lilies in the sunken lily pond in the center of the garden, which was completely restored.  I only wish the light was better so that I could a photograph, perhaps from the upper floor showing the entire terrace garden because it is something to behold after the restoration!

A Powerful Family Portrait

We are staying with Vince and JoAnne and in their guest bedroom, this framed photograph is on the wall.  I have been taken by this for years.  Look at those faces!  So the story is that JoAnne's mom, Jean is on the right.  This photograph was taken, get this, one hundred and one years ago in 1925!  On the left in the photo is Jean's sister Dorothy.  In the center is the baby Zoe, who sadly died at age 6 from the measles. What I love about this photograph is that way back when, if you wanted a family photo you gathered everyone up and went to a professional studio and deliberately had a beautiful photograph done.  Not just a quick snapshot, but a carefully composed, beautiful portrait.  The background of this, by the way, with the lamp ,is not a real lamp but rather a painted background. It is such a joy to look at this photograph, even after knowing the sad part of the story.

 

Upstate!

Oh No!  He is shooting photos while he is driving again!  No I am not!  Notice the white line on the right hand side of the photograph?  That shows that I actually pulled off the road and parked and got out of my car and took this photograph carefully and safely!  We drove to Rochester today to see Vince and Jo Anne. It was raining off and on the whole trip but traffic was light and the trip was easy, AND there were photographs everywhere because of the atmospheric effects of the rain and the clouds.  So this is almost an ordinary photograph but subtle and lovely.  I love the three "bumps" of the hills off to the left of the photo.  That was what caught my eye.  And of course, the beautiful, subtle gray clouds!

 

The View Out the Window

I am not sure what exactly attracted me to this scene.  I think it was the utility pole with all the different wires on it and the streetlight and then the wires coming in to the building I am in.  I looked at the pole and wires before deciding to shoot this.  Don't tell anyone, but Kathy and I were  having dinner at MacDonalds and this was the view out the window from our table against the wall.  I have viewed more beautiful scenes from restaurant tables in my time but there is some interest for me in this scene.  It is a little bit fascinating to me for some reason.

 

Lines and Diagonals and Squiggles

This is something I saw as we were eating dinner.  It is all about design.  Diagonal stripes in white and red and then vertical "things" and then a coiled cord in contrast to all the straight lines.  The view is through the doorway from the dining room to the kitchen.  The diagonal lines are shadows from the narrow blinds in the kitchen window, shining on the white wood doorway trim and the red wall of the dining room.  And of course there is the coiled cord from the telephone on the kitchen wall.  Did you figure it out at first glance?  A fun thing to play with design to make something of this scene.

 

At The Airport

I was going through some files of photographs and found this one.  I found it interesting to me because if you have not been to this terminal at JFK, it is a very strange photograph.  It does include one of the most beauriful aircraft every designed, but why is it there.  And the woman who does traffic control seems to be seeing this aircraft for the very first time.  So I like this because you are not sure what is going on.  The reality is that she is taking just a second during her traffic duties, to look at the airplane.  Nothing strange at all.

 

A Four Day Old Moon

This is a four-day old moon, meaning it has been four days since it was a "New Moon" and very close to the sun where we can not see it.  This moon is called a "waxing crescent" which means the crescent is getting "thicker" every day, on the way to being a "first quarter moon" which is half illuminated.  It is a beautiful thing to see in the sky!  If you click on it to see it in more detail, you can see smaller darker circular areas which are called "mare" because they looked like oceans or seas to the early people who first viewed the moon.  They are smooth because lava filled up giant craters and when it hardened it was so much smoother than the rest of the moon's battered surface.

This is closer to my original photograph where the crescent moon looks smaller and more delicate.  I could not decide after I took this photograph whether or not I liked the original image or the closer version.  What do you all think?