Civil War Museum

Civil War Museum

2/23/15

     As an independent trip, we went to the Civil War Museum. Although I did not know what to expect going in there besides a bunch of artifacts, the layout on the outside and inside of the building was awesome.

CIVIL WAR MUSEUM

     This is an example of the outside of the museum. The whole landscape is kept very clean, and in addition to the blue sky, it makes for a great panoramic landscape photograph.

DRESS

     This dress caught my eye as soon as I glanced at it. It has a lot of detail in the fabric, and the more I think about the dress, the more I think about how female clothing, and clothing in general, has changed over the decades.

CURRENCY AND GUNS

     This exhibit was probably my favorite because I have always been interested in different types of currency. Each and every bill is detailed so much and is different from one another. They are so unique, and it was cool to see them all arranged in this way with Civil War guns behind them.

HORSE

     This horse was very massive and detailed. Although it was fake obviously, it helped paint a picture in my mind of what the horses during the Civil War times would have looked like carrying wagons with people, supplies, or gear.

WHEEL

      I love the way this wheel looks leaning up against this brick wall. You can tell that it was used a lot because of the scratches and ware marks on it. They built them very well during these times out of wood. Compared to how they make them now, it took a lot more work to craft one of these than to use a plastic or metal press to make a wheel today.

Downtown St. Charles

DOWNTOWN ST. CHARLES

2/19/15

     Downtown St. Charles is a beautiful area, especially during sunrise and sunset. It has many buildings that have fascinating architectures that are vibrant with colors as well as detail. Along with the Lewis and Clark historic sites, it holds many cool shops and pubs right on the river.

ST. CHARLES AND JEFFERSON RIVER

JEFFERSON RIVER AND IAN

     St. Charles is located right along the Jefferson river, and I wanted to capture some of its beauty right at sunset. I went out on a rock jetty that went to the center of the river. The ice, sunset, trees, rocks, and buildings all created a neat image.

BUILDINGS

     These few buildings were all unique in their own ways. Their bright colors, textures of brick and granite, and designs made them beautiful. The lamp post and bright blue sky brings out those colors in the buildings.

COCA COLA ADVERTISEMENT

     I came across this advertisement in between a few of the buildings. It was worn down and looked very retro. The tree and bench provided good accents to it, and the snow displayed great contrast to bring out the faded white logo as well as the red brick color.

SIGN AND BUILDING

     I loved the design of this sign and that it was the focal point on one of the spaces in between the buildings. The stairs on the sign of that building was also something I admired and it just happened to surround the sign from the angle I was standing.

Lafayette Square

LAFAYETTE SQUARE

2/4/15

I have heard about Lafayette Square before, but have never been to it. I did not know what to expect, but for how many things seemed dead, it was a beautiful park, and I cannot imagine what it looks like when it is lively with plants. 

SWAN

The liveliest part of the park was the geese, ducks, and swans. There were so many of them, and one of the swans came up to the fence and I was lucky enough to take this picture and others without him running or flying off. The swan is standing straight up, as if to guard its ground which is what makes it look so majestic.

BUILDING AND GAZEBO

     This building and gazebo looked great with the lighting present. All of the leaves on the concrete surrounded them well too. I thought it would be really neat and different to focus on this leaf and also still be able to see the outlines of the building and gazebo as well as some of the detail on them.

BRIDGE

GAZEBO AND POND

     The pond and bridge area of the park was my favorite to photograph because of the ice on the pond, as well as all of the plants surrounding it. Surprisingly for being in the winter, there were a few green plants, so I decided that I should take pictures of the few "bright spots" of the park that included life. The plants also make the black bridge and gazebo stand out very nicely.

SILHOUETTE

     I managed to get this silhouette photograph of one of the gazebos in the park. I positioned myself so that the large tree was right next to it. While focusing my lens on the sun itself, the rest of the picture, besides the sky, turned a nearly black color giving it this effect.

Cathedral Basilica

Cathedral Basilica

1/28/15

This was not my first time at the Cathedral Basilica. I had been there a few times for some of my cousins' Confirmations as well as my own. I feel I had an advantage over others in some aspects because I knew where all of the good shots could be taken based on positioning and lighting. The lighting in this beautiful building makes it difficult to photograph sometimes, but with a little planning I was able to get some great shots.

MAIN ALTAR

     The main altar was the focal point of the entire building. The rich detail sort of directed attention to the front stage. Most people would have tried to get a straight on picture of the altar, but I wanted to create an angled picture including one of the bright red umbrella-looking decorative pieces. It brightens the whole picture and gives it character.

WOOD CARVING AND CEILING

     The overall detail in every part of the Cathedral was incredible. I wanted to get a close look at some of these while including the beautiful ceilings as a background. The complexity, yet simplicity of this wood carving is enriched by the background that the ceiling creates.

STAINED GLASS WINDOW

          It was a must for me to include a picture of the legendary stain glass windows that are displayed in the cathedral. I wanted to get a picture that captured the window's massiveness and strength. This part of the cathedral was possibly my favorite to look at, especially at this time of day because the light shined through giving them rich color.

PEWS

    I love this effect of getting a clear detailed view of the first pew end followed by multiple pews that become blurrier as they get farther away. Again, every part of the Cathedral Basilica was detailed so much and I wanted to capture that.  

PORTRAIT AND ROSES

     The lighting in this part of the Cathedral was terrible and difficult to capture. I thought that the best way was to use my flash to sort of cancel it out and create my own shadows on the objects. The roses placed below the portrait show life, and they get more beautiful the closer you get to the top, starting from the base of the vase. Once you reach the top of the roses, your attention is directed to the most beautiful part of the picture which is the incredibly artistic portrait.