I Shoot People

War Memorial Center, Milwaukee WI

The War Memorial in Milwaukee Wisconsin was built when I was young.  It was the destination for many a summer day trip; those idyllic times in the 50′s, and 60′s when a young lad could wander around town without fear of kidnapping or disappearing.  I remember warm summer days, I remember running up and down on the stairs — and alongside the stairs where the architect had installed rainwater drainoff routes.  I remember standing on the deck and looking over the lake.

Now that the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum has been attached to the War Memorial Center it changes the dynamic of the old structure quite a bit.  I didn’t want that excessively altering my view of the building so a little careful image framing was necessary.

Milwaukee has added a nice pedestrian feature. Called the Riverwalk, this paved pathway leads down both sides of the MIlwaukee River as it winds its way through downtown.

On a quiet weekend morning
it’s a pleasant meander. As the day warms the crowds pick up and people watching challenges the river and architecture as the focal point. During the winter ice formations add heightened interest. But always there is the Midwestern Town aesthetic that keeps Milwaukeeans rooted in their home town.

This image troubled me. I didn’t know whether to convert it to B&W or not. It’s what I’d usually do with a shot like this.

Art is about choices.

The image is more powerful in black & white, and that was the problem. I didn’t want an image of power, I wanted on about waiting; about the endless hours of standing in place waiting for workmen to come and do their job so this scaffold could be taken down and once again stored away.

The scene is the Milwaukee City Hall. It’s Flemish Renaissance
architecture is beautiful, but the building was raised on a site that took Milwaukee City Fathers 7 years to accept when it was first donated to the city as the site for a city hall.

Anytime it takes 7 years to decide whether to accept a gift it seems to me that waiting is a big part of the city’s personality.

Architecture is not only functional, it’s also beautiful. At least it is to some of us.

A recent opportunity to photograph interiors of the Calatrava Wing of the Milwaukee Art Musuem netted this image.

It’s a HDR version of the central foyer.

Patterns, texture, repetitions: they are what life is all about. Our lives pass with a texture unique to the individual. Our history, genetics, and education determine the patterns, or route we take through life. And our character determines the decisions we repeat over and over again.

From overview to detail study the interior view offers detail upon detail for us to pay attention to, and the positioning of the exterior wings changes those patterns by the moment.

Architecture is a metaphor for life.

I’ve been playing around with High Dynamic Range images again. This one of the Calatrava came out nicely.

Sometimes reality isn’t; and fiction is more real than life.

For years Milwaukee had a pretty stagnant skyline. The last few years have changed all that.
Funny….. Once in a while I like to look BACK 10 or more years and remind myself what used to be in order to better appreciate what is now.

I’m an unabashed Milwaukee Lover. Sure, there will always be some things that any place on earth has that a person may prefer to be different, but I can’t think of a place I’d rather live.

And in the summer…. When the skies are blue and Lake Michigan is at her best the Milwaukee harbor is lovely.