I arrived at my astronomy club meeting tonight earlier than normal, and it was still daylight, which is unusual. Tonight we were meeting in a basement room of the Vanderbilt mansion itself, instead of in the planetarium. Since it was daylight I decided to walk around outside the mansion to see if I could find a blog photo. Bingo! I shot a few things, but this is the winner. I love the old wrought iron railing, with the curlicue adornments. And what made this extra special for me is the "low-key" aspect of the image. Low key means the image contains mostly blacks and grays, and none of the lighter grays and white tones. It makes it look more sombre I think. I tried lightening the image and adding contrast, but it changed to picture dramatically, so you are seeing the image as I first visualized it.
Ah, so pretty and so delicate. It looks like you painted it or used a light blue wash. It looks like you were in a different country in a different century. Di
ReplyDeleteHere is some more information on the history of the mansion. It WAS, in fact a different century! This is information from the Vanderbilt website:
ReplyDeleteThe "Eagle's Nest" mansion is unusual for estate architecture on Long Island because of its Spanish design, a style that is seldom seen in the region. The palatial, Spanish Revival style is actually less "Spanish" than it is a personal evocation of Vanderbilt's Mediterranean impressions as interpreted by his architects during a period of estate building that lasted over twenty-five years. The mansion was begun in 1910 as a modest bachelor's retreat, built at a comfortable distance from the legendary concentration of Gold Coast estates located closer to New York City.