Gateway

Silhouette

2010-05-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

An oldie but a goodie excavated from the archives. Sort of makes me think of the opening scene in 2001. If I had a music player on this blog I'd put on Also Sprach Zarathusta.

Apex

2010-05-06T00:05:00.001-05:00

We almost always look at the Arch from the side, more or less. Well, what if you look straight up at it from underneath? This is the point where the pieces come together, the keystone. The narrow rectangles are windows in the observation deck. They are angled down at about 45 degrees. Bring your Dramamine.

Post-Industrial Arch

2010-04-29T00:05:00.001-05:00

The Arch sits in a leafy park but there are old, run down industrial areas to the north and south. It all looks rather nice from the south with sunshine on it.

Apparition

2010-04-22T00:05:00.001-05:00

I'm going to try real hard to do at least one post a week on Gateway and keep it going.

Sometimes the Arch seems not quite real to me. I mean, how did Eero Saarinen and a bunch of space aliens drop this far-beyond-human scale metal epiphany in an ordinary Midwestern city? Sometimes when I walk or drive by I start thinking what the hell is that doing here? Building the Arch was one of the few acts of real vision in the modern history of this sometimes indifferent burgh.

A Much Neglected Blog

2010-04-15T20:23:00.003-05:00

I've been terrible about keeping Gateway up to date. Time is the issue. Work, shooting for and maintaining St. Louis Daily Photo, whah whaa whah. I'll try to be better. I shot this from the top of the water tower in Compton Hill Reservoir Park.

Renaissance

2009-12-25T20:54:00.007-06:00

Gateway has been moribund for four months. Good intentions but not enough time. The new plan is to post images that have appeared in the Thursday Arch Series on St. Louis Daily Photo and any other images I come up with. They don't need to be new Arch pictures; they just need to celebrate the monument. So Gateway is back with levels on levels of arches.

Another Hammer Blow

2009-08-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

I've posted a number of pictures lately on St. Louis Daily Photo of the sculpture Kindly Geppetto by Tom Otterness in downtown's Citygarden. The last couple of them (here and here) have been titled Geppetto's Hammer because this old woodcarver in in the process of whacking little Pinocchio to bits with a gigantic mallet. Not kindly at all. I find the work dark and fascinating.

But here's another hammer: a view of the north leg from inside the curve. It looks to me like a titanic blow from Thor or John Henry or maybe Maxwell blasting our city center.

Salvage Job

2009-08-20T06:00:00.004-05:00

An exercise: this photo has a close relative appearing today on ST. LOUIS DAILY PHOTO. They are parts of a seven image sequence of the same subject, shot at 2/3 stop intervals from -2 stops to +2 stops. The aperture remained the same and the shutter speed varied. They were intended to become part of a seven layer HDR of the Arch. However, when I blended them in Photomatix, the sky came out with a marked box-shaped weave pattern in. It looked like fabric. Actually, it looked terrible. If any HDR experts can explain that to me I'd appreciate it.

So, I started playing with the individual pictures in the sequence. This one was +1 stop (ISO 100, f 6.3, 1/100 sec., spot metering). I always shoot in RAW so I could mess around with the image a lot. This is what came out.

Click to see the companion photo on ST. LOUIS DAILY PHOTO. Which do you prefer, assuming that either one does something for you?

Detour

2009-08-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

You could read all sorts of things into this. I'll leave the interpretation to the viewer.

Small City, Big Sky

2009-08-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

The writer Jonathan Franzen was born in Chicago but grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, the town where I have lived for 22 years. He wrote a novel, set mostly in St. Louis, called The Twenty-Seventh City. That was the city's U.S. population rank at the time. It's fallen considerably since, what with devastating suburban sprawl, although we remain the 16th largest metropolitan area if you believe Wikipedia. It doesn't look like much in this view from across the Mississippi but the Arch is ever glorious and we are covered by the boundless Midwestern sky.

Summer Arch

2009-07-27T06:00:00.001-05:00

Sunday was a day you could have ordered out of a catalog, to use an old expression, with the Arch surrounded by the expressions of summer. And it pays to keep a wide angle lens in your bag.

Horizon

2009-07-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

If you look at the Arch from the side, the very top has the most gentle of curves. You notice the slope when you are in the observation deck inside the top but it's no big deal. Then, as you move down the leg, things go downhill in a hurry, to borrow an expression. When you stand at the foot, you see a horizon part way up, like the way the earth drops away on the ocean.

Magic Mirror

2009-07-20T06:00:00.003-05:00

I've been neglectful of this blog, although I do get something posted on St. Louis Daily Photo every day. It's not that I've lost interest in the Arch but rather that my time is spread so thin. Taking and editing the pictures themselves has become a compulsion. Everything gets shot in RAW, everything has to be sorted, all the final choices get edited in Photoshop. It's become compulsive. Maybe I should look for a local chapter of Photographers Anonymous. Hi, my name is Bob and I'm a photographer.

Anyway, I got back by the monument over the weekend, trying to slow down and think. The result was a series of Lensbaby shots about the surface of the metal and how it interacts with what's right around it. My friend Lisa, a painter and photographer who is working in Morocco these days, said that this image felt like a childhood memory. I hope it has some sense of wonder.

Summer Sky Arch

2009-06-25T06:00:00.002-05:00

This photo has a similar look to the one posted today on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog but this one is an HDR. It gives more detail and dynamic range than you might otherwise get. The image sort of looks like an avalanche is about to engulf the monument.

Peek Over The Wall

2009-06-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

A more traditional, if that's the right word, HDR, with slightly garish color and big tonal contrast. I have mixed feelings about these in color. They are eye-catching but loud. There's a black and white version of this photo on Flickr here. You can see which you prefer.

The bad thing about shooting the Arch from the new overlook in Illinois are the eight damnable high voltage lines that run right through the middle of your picture. In many of the previous photos from this location I have Photoshopped them out. It's a slow, tedious process. I decided to leave then alone this time.

Soft Touch

2009-06-10T06:00:00.002-05:00

Nice light. More Lensbaby. What else is there to say? Well, maybe that this was shot from Eads Bridge.

From The East Side

2009-06-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

This is from the same series of photos as today's post on St. Louis Daily Photo Blog. St. Louisans refer to all the Illinois suburbs as the East Side. This is obviously an HDR. When you look at views like this it's hard to accept that the Arch is exactly as wide as it it tall. It's true, though.

As mentioned today on St. Louis Daily Photo, the much-anticipated overlook in East St. Louis, Illinois, opposite the Arch opens on Saturday. It could lead to a repetitive motion injury of my right index finger.

A Gamble

2009-05-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

St. Louis factoid: this place is awash with casinos. There are three in sight of the Arch. This billboard rises from the parking lot of one of them in Illinois opposite the monument. It advertises that it has the loosest slot machines in the whole country (that is, the highest payout percentage) but it's still a bad bet.

Lightening

2009-05-21T06:00:00.003-05:00

This is an old photo, taken almost four years ago. I was just starting to explore the monument, trying to find different ways to look at it. This is the north leg reflecting the afternoon sun, creating a streak down the stainless steel.

OOPS - Thursday mid-morning: I just noticed that I posted this picture in March. Oh, well. Better get some new material this weekend.

Long Time No See

2009-05-11T06:05:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry that posts here have been so infrequent. There are a dwindling number of Arch photos in the inventory and I haven't had time to shoot there in weeks. Finally got by last Saturday.

Another problem is finding a fresh approach. Thousands of snaps over the last few years, a hundred and something posted here and on St. Louis Daily Photo Blog and what's new to say? Photographic technique offers options. The original of this image, shot from Eads Bridge, looked pretty mundane. With a little Photoshop razzmatazz, there's something worth looking at.

Sci Fi Arch

2009-04-24T06:00:00.002-05:00

Yes, another silly HDR, shot just before sunset. I should have Photoshopped two moons into the sky. Take me to your leader.

Shooter

2009-04-09T06:00:00.001-05:00

Team member ShadowyOne shoots the monument. I'm learning to make better use of my wide angle lens. The Arch is so big that you need one if you want anything in the foreground. Hooray for digital cameras with full-sized light sensors.

Low Rider

2009-04-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

I think I used this photo on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog way back when. It didn't get a lot of response but I like it a lot. People will pose for you if you are polite and friendly. Love his eyes and low rider jeans.

Elements

2009-03-26T06:00:00.002-05:00

This photo of the Arch was taken three and a half years ago, around the time my obsession began. Compare it to today's picture on St. Louis Daily Photo, shot earlier this month. This shows the reflection of the afternoon sun streaming down the plates of the north leg. There is some simplicity and purity that I've lost in recent pictures of the monument. Let us know what you think.

The Basics

2009-03-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

A shot that couldn't be simpler or more straightforward (except it's an HDR - not immediately evident). Just an illustration of why I love it so much.

Apotheosis

2009-03-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. There is way too much on my plate. This photo is a companion to today's picture on the St. Louis Daily Photo Blog. shot moments earlier. It's grandiose, I admit that. I have a soft spot for high quality bombast. For example: the Dies Irae from Hector Berlioz's Requiem (start this track at 5 minutes 30 seconds and crank it up). When I was young and stupid, I liked to make a tent out of two loudspeakers, put this track on a full volume and stick my head in the middle. Bliss. Now I make pictures like this.

Barely There

2009-03-01T06:00:00.002-06:00

Sorry no posts here in so long - just too much on my plate. This picture was shot on January 3, 2009, in fog with a Lensbaby.

More Arch In The City

2009-02-19T06:00:00.002-06:00

More of a series emphasizing the Arch in its urban setting. This is taken from the old industrial area a little north of the monument.

The Arch In The City

2009-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is a companion picture to today's post on St. Louis Daily Photo Blog. I haven't done much about how the Arch looks in the city where it lives. This is looking south from North Broadway. That unfortunate bit of architecture to the left is the Four Seasons Hotel and Lumiere Place Casino.

A Warped Sense Of Scale

2009-02-05T06:00:00.003-06:00

There are a lot of tricks the Arch plays on our eyes. For example, most people find it hard to believe that it is exactly as wide as it it tall. In this photo, it looks like the family taking pictures gives us a sense of scale. But the Arch is so tall and, viewed from the side, it recedes more and more sharply as it goes up, that we really can't gague what we're looking at. One of its many wiles.

By the way, there is another new Arch photo today on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog.

Undisclosed Location

2009-02-02T06:00:00.003-06:00

Looks like the entrance to a bunker. I don't think Dick Cheney is down there, though, or else the sign would say "Do Not Enter." This is the entrance to the underground museum beneath the Arch and the tram that takes you to the top. The other leg is immediately behind where I was standing.

Disappearing Arch

2009-01-30T06:00:00.001-06:00

I enjoy the Arch on foggy days, when its great mass plays peek-a-boo with us groundings.

Today is a particularly auspicious day for Arch pictures. The Mildred Lane Kemper Museum houses the art collection of Washington University, as well as special exhibits. A biggie opens tonight: Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future. Saarinen was the visionary architect who designed the Gateway Arch, among other notable works. The exhibition traces Saarinen's career and achievements, with special emphasis on the history, design, engineering and construction of my beloved monument.

There is an opening reception tonight and I'll be there, getting my 15 minuted of fame: the muesum's director of education contacted me awhile back and asked if they could use some of my stuff on the exhibit's web site and printed materials. Why, yes, of course. The educational resources page of the exhibit's web site has links to my Gateway Arch photo blog and my big Flickr set of Arch photos. There's also a link to the American Institute of Achitects' web feature on the Arch; most of the photos in the slide show are mine. Lastly, click the link to the Eero Saarinen Connections guide and, um, scroll down to page 14, making note of the photo credits and the last quotation.

Feels good, doesn't it?

Winter Arch

2009-01-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've taken a lot of pictures of the Arch like this, maybe because when viewed from this angle it reminds me of the monolith in 2001. I suspect that the Arch has similar powers.

Winter Arch

2009-01-22T06:00:00.005-06:00

Howling cold winds on the levee. The Arch takes it without blinking.

Carnival Lights

2009-01-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Once again, no special effects in either camera or computer. Just a 4 second exposure, lots of huge spotlights to ricochet around inside the lens barrel and some variation in color around the scene. That bright green on the near leg of the Arch is from Lumiere Place casino and the Four Seasons Hotel. Carnival itself will come soon enough.

A Bend In The Night

2009-01-15T06:00:00.005-06:00

The Arch is floodlit at night. I took this shot with a telephoto from a few hundred meters away, standing on the portico of our Old Courthouse. There will be a picture of that building tomorrow on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog.

I like the way this photo shows off the plates that form the skin of the Arch and how irregular their surfaces are. From a distance, the Arch looks it could have been cast in one giant piece of metal. Close up, we can see a variegated quilt of stainless steel.

By the way, there is another new Arch photo today on STL DPB.

Night Under The Arch

2009-01-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned in today's post on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog, I went to the riverfront Sunday night to photograph the full moon rising over the Mississippi. Got some cool shots of the Arch, too, which is floodlit in the evening. This isn't an HDR, although you could certainly do that with such a range of light levels (next time). The photo is a 13 second exposure at f 5.6 and ISO 400.

Desaturated

2009-01-08T06:00:00.004-06:00

This photo is the desaturated (a/k/a/ black and white) version of today's post on my other blog, St. Louis Daily Photo. It's interesting to compare the two. You don't see a lot of B&W HDRs around but they can be very interesting. Most HRD images are in lurid color. It's hard to choose, but I think I prefer this one to the color version. If I went back to it in Photoshop, I think I'd darken it and/or increase the contrast some.

Which version do you prefer?

Below Red

2009-01-06T06:00:00.002-06:00

A company called LifePixel will convert DLSRs to an infrared sensor for a reasonable price. I had them do my old Canon 10D, which was in storage. I'm having a hard time learing to use it but this is an IR picture of the Arch that turned out well.

Something really nice happened yesterday. Washington University in St. Louis has a newish art gallery, the Kemper Museum. A special exhibit opening on January 30 is about Eero Saarinen, the designer of our own Gateway Arch and architect of many other important buildings. One of the curators emailed me, asking if they could use some of the text from the sidebar in this blog in the exhibit's printed materials and link to my blog in the in its web page once the show opens. Uh, yeah, I think that's okay. Everybody loves recognition.

Slash

2009-01-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

I must have been using a tripod when I shot this one since it's pretty sharp. The slits are the windows in the observation deck, looking down from about 630 feet / 192 meters. No, they don't open.

Christmas Arch

2008-12-25T06:00:00.004-06:00

Okay, cheesy but seasonal. But there's a concept behind it.

When I was an undergraduate at St. Louis University lo these many decades ago, all the kids would get bored and antsy in the run-up to Christmas break. True, we were like that all the time but it was worse at that time of year. While sitting around in various states of consciousness, the guys sometimes talked of pulling a Christmas prank at the Arch. We'd get a bunch of lightweight fishing line and real light red mylar fabric or something like that and tie it into this humongous bow and then we'd get some big balloons from somewhere and a tank of helium, see, and fill the balloons up with it and figure out a way to attach them to the top of the bow and then take the fishing line and tie it around the bow and then around a leg of the Arch with a big slip knot and just let the whole thing float up to the top. Wouldn't that be frickin cool? No one ever got off their rears and did it. No one ever thought about police, either. It worked out okay, though. Eventually, I graduated.

Graph Paper

2008-12-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

This is not an attempt to reawaken bad memories of high school math class. The picture was shot inside the Old Cathedral, a/k/a the Basilica of St. Louis, King. It was build in 1834 (ancient by local standards) and stands on the ground of the Arch. King? You knew our city was named after the canonized Louis IX, Roi de France, didn't you? The interior feels more like a colonial-era New England Congregationalist church than a Catholic cathedral, with its plain white walls and clear windows. The window grid reminds me of the Arch's underlying mathematics, which they didn't teach us in high school in The Bronx. I wouldn't have gotten it anyway.

Winter Arch

2008-12-18T06:00:00.003-06:00

Slushy snow on the slope below the monument, sun low in the sky all day and an early sunset. Sometimes you just get lucky on cloud patterns.

From On High

2008-12-11T06:00:00.002-06:00

It's rare that I get around to riding the claustrophobic tram to the observation deck at the apex of the Arch. Well, sometimes. The monument's shadow becomes part of the geography, a giant sundial that you can't appreciate from the ground.

Solar Flare

2008-12-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

The lens flare in this photo was a happy accident (as are so many of my better pictures). It was shot on a hot, cloudless summer day. As you can see, the camera was pretty high relative to the leg of the Arch. It was taken from Eads Bridge, a good ways up from ground level at the foot of the monument, on the same day as this post on Gateway from November 15. The Arch doesn't look tethered to the earth.

Depressed Lanes

2008-12-04T06:00:00.002-06:00

Photos of the Arch never reveal this; certainly none of mine to date. Interstate 70 essentially runs in a ditch between the monument and the rest of downtown, creating a moat separating the two. It is crossed by streets, as at the left above, but it still creates a physical and psychological barrier between the big wicket and its city. The National Park Service, local authorities and foundations with money to donate have debated what to do about this for years. Nothing ever happens. Local traffic reports refer to this stretch of highway as the depressed lanes. Maybe it would help if a truckload of Zoloft got into a wreck down there.

This photo was taken on November 16, 2008, the same day as today's post on my St. Louis Daily Photo Blog. I risked life and limb to get it since there's no sidewalk where I was standing on a narrow curb, beside a traffic lane of Memorial Drive.

The Skinny

2008-12-02T06:00:00.004-06:00

Shot while lying on my back directly under the apex on a blazing summer day. The Arch has a little of the monolith from 2001 in this image.

Non-Euclidian Geometry

2008-11-27T06:00:00.003-06:00

It's about curved surfaces in three dimension, their edges and their position in space. Plus it looks kind of cool.

Keep It SImple

2008-11-23T08:58:00.003-06:00

Can't get much more straightforward than this. Shot from the top of the steps at the Old Court House, which provides an unobstructed view.

What To Do If You're Bored At Work (STL Division)

2008-11-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

Take pictures of the Arch from your office window. It's easier to get away with if you are the boss.

Arch Rorschach Test

2008-11-20T06:00:00.001-06:00

Do you see anything besides the Arch and a lamp pole in this image? I can think of a few possibilities. Tell us your deepest thoughts, anonymously if they are too sensitive. Then we will adjourn for group therapy.

Curves Of Different Density

2008-11-17T06:00:00.005-06:00

A beautiful fall Sunday afternoon, a lovely sky and a polarizing filter. What else could a photographer want? Well,the Arch, Photoshop and a MacBook. That's good, too.

Straight Up

2008-11-15T06:00:00.004-06:00

Looking straight at the north leg on a brilliant summer day. This was shot from Eads Bridge, the oldest bridge over the central Mississippi River.

Welcome To Gateway

2008-11-13T00:01:00.000-06:00

I have been publishing a St. Louis Daily Photo Blog since March 2007. Since it began, there has been a photo of St. Louis' Gateway Arch almost every Thursday, more that 70 by now. Sometimes I get discouraged, perhaps even burned out, with the subject. What else is there to say about it? However, my friend PJ of Pensacola Daily Photo suggested I start a blog just for Arch pictures. A brilliant idea, and here it is. Please tell me what you think.

There will not be daily posts but over the months to come you will see many images of my city's great monument. Visit again from time to time.

Establishing Shot 2

2008-11-09T06:00:00.004-06:00

The Arch dominates St. Louis' city center from its pedestal over the Mississippi river. It is the international icon of our city.

Establishing Shot 1

2008-11-08T06:00:00.006-06:00

Photography teachers tell you that when you make a series of images on a single topic you should have some establishing shots to set the context. Here it is: the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, standing on a bluff over the Mississippi River, linking the water, land and sky. Many more of these pictures to come.