Lines, shapes and patterns ... in the Sunken Garden

I took a stroll to the bank this afternoon, and went via Garfield Park, as I always do. On the return trip, I took a quick look at how the outdoor tulip bulbs were doing in the Sunken Garden, adjacent to the conservatory. While leaving the Sunken Garden, the lines, shapes and patterns of the entryway gate caught my eye, and I started shooting -- yes, I'd brought along my PowerShot G12 -- and ended up with these images. I provide a perspective shot immediately below so you sortakinda know the sections I picked on to isolate in the closeups.

I end the post with a shot of the flag poles, to illustrate how windy it was this afternoon, and closeups of the Sunken Garden name on the bottom of the entry gates.

 

 

Out in the country ...

Re the headline: Anyone for a little Three Dog Night? OK, I thought not, so I'll just move right along.

I had an opportunity to shoot landscapes, flowers and nature on Sunday on some private property near Martinsville in Morgan County (Ind.). It was an outing of the Indy Meetup Photo Club, so I used the occasion to capture multiple exposures on most of my landcapes to later process in Photomatix, the high-dynamic range (HDR) melding software I acquired a couple months ago.

My "nature" shots were limited; there were birds all over the place, as the property owner maintains quite a few birdhouses and feeders. But the birds must not have trusted or liked me; I could hear them quite a bit, and on several occasions, I camped out on a bench where the property owner suggested I wait because, she said, eventually they will come. But, no such luck for me there, except for a shot or two of a bird on a tree branch, no where near any of the feeders. Nor did I see any frogs at the frog pond, a man-made basin the owner installed at the foot of a steep hill in the back of the property that helps collect runoff and leave the remainder of the property relatively dry in damp weather. 

Now ... I did get a shot or two of a baby alligator in the west pond ... except that ... well, the gator isn't real. The owner has it there to dress up the scene -- and perhaps for comedic effect. So I shot it in HDR to try and help make it seem real. I did grab a few shots of lady bugs on flowers and some floral macros sans bugs or other insects (mostly early-season blooms like crocus). I'll post those on another day. 

This post is about the HDR shots from Sunday. The shots I was most excited about were the tree reflections on the southwest pond, the shots of the landscape along the road on the property's south perimeter and -- leading off the post at the top -- the one of the silo in the distance, a vista visible from the end of the property's owner's dead-end street.

To view a full gallery of HDR images from this shoot, follow this link.

Above and next two below: Different shots of the southwest pond, where I was struck by the reflection of the trees in the background. 

Above: the "alligator" that isn't real. 

Above and below: Portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) perspectives of a scene in the property owner's peace garden. I tend to prefer the portrait version; it doesn't have the distraction of the foreground birdfeeder.

Above: A two-layered birdhouse. Upper- and lower-class housing?

Above and below: Views of a wheelbarrow, whose color and shape provide a nice change of pace to a bucolic scene. Rustic ... and rust.
  

Above: A closeup of the dead -- and contorted -- tree in the background of the wheelbarrow photos. 

Above and next three below: Scenes from the creek that forms the east property line. The bridge is part of a road that forms the south property line.

Above: The frog pond that produced no reptiles for me to photograph during my visit. Instead, I tried to focus on some tree reflections in the small pockets of clear water on one end of the pond.

Above: Another birdhouse.

Above and next three below: Views of the look east along the road that flanks the owner's property. The bridge you see in the distance is the one pictured above from creek bank level.

 

Above and next two below: Western views of the same road, a vista I enjoyed mostly because of the tree on the road's horizon.

Above: A bark-stripped tree in the wooded portion that dots the ravine leading to the lower level.

RIP: Tom Mullinix

It's not an uplifting way to usher in the new year, but I learned this morning -- from a blurb in The Indianapolis Star -- that longtime jazz and Dixieland horn player Tom Mullinix has died in Florida. According to the newspaper's story, Mullinix's wife, Donna, The Star's onetime social news writer ("Painting the Town"), told friends her husband died of a colon infection developed while being treated for a leg wound in a hospital in St. Petersburg.

Mullinix, best-known for his trumpet-playing but also played other instruments, led the six-member Naptown Strutters when he lived in Indianapolis. He also led and performed with other ensembles through the years. According to The Star article, he opened a Dixieland jazz club called the Jam Cellar at Union Station in the late 1980s.

On Aug. 21, 2004, as part of the Friends of Garfield Park's "Music in the Garden" free concert series, Mullinix and the Naptown Strutters performed in the Sunken Garden of Garfield Park, a show I happened to attend and photograph. The picture above, featuring Mullinix on trombone, was from that show.

A tomato for the ages?

This is a still life of something I picked off the vine of a beefeater tomato plant in my yard the other day. I tried to explain this to someone in an email yesterday, and had trouble doing so. I finally said, "You have to see it to appreciate it!"

Which is what put the idea in my head to capture this as a still life. This is, indeed, one fruit -- a sort of siamese twins (triplets?) thing with two parts smaller than the third, and one part yellow, two parts red.

This fruit measured 15 inches at its maximum girth, in case you're wondering about perspective. I used window light from camera right and the angle was slightly left of center.

I haven't consumed this fruit just yet; it's hard for me to do it!

Cheese: Concert comfort food?

I've seen a lot of people tote snacks and drinks to casual outdoor concerts, so this image wasn't unusual in that respect. I saw this gentleman pull out some cheese for his snack at Saturday's shoot at the Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra's show in the Sunken Garden of Garfield Park, then noticed how the setting sun was highlighting his beard and shirt, so I felt compelled to grab this frame.

Here's to finding comfort and making the best out of your experience -- on what was a very uncomfortable, hot and humid evening.

Jazz ensemble livens up the Garden

It was a hot and humid early evening, but that didn't stop the Indianapolis Jazz Orchestra from keeping its date Saturday to perform in the Sunken Garden of Garfield Park as part of the "Music in the Garden" series.

With temperatures reaching into the mid-90s for the sixth consecutive day, organizers wisely staged the ensemble at the west end of the garden, where the stage and a good 30 yards of audience seating area extending into the garden lawn were protected from the setting sun by the shade of at least a couple dozen trees. Joining the band on several numbers were vocalists Lydia McAdams and Rick Vale.

A note of gratitude to Indianapolis Star photographer Alan Petersime, who I ran into at the show Saturday. He was covering the performance for the newspaper. Alan showed me a striking image he had captured of some people sitting on a cement bench under the sprawling limbs of an expansive tree lining the north fringe of the garden, so I felt compelled to grab a copy myself. It's the image you see at the very bottom of this post. I think his turned out better (you can see it in his gallery posted at the multimedia area of indystar.com); Alan grabbed a frame with the full tree displayed, which I think made the image more powerful because it really dwarfs the people underneath. Also, he caught it at a time when the sun splashed highlights on the full tree, contrasting it nicely with the out-of-sunlight trees behind it.