Category: Photography

Switzer

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 15, 2007

Sunday, I discovered that the Switzer Building was being destroyed starting on the 14th; the first wrecking ball would fall at 10pm. This was my last chance to take pictures of the building I’ve come to be fond of.

As I was taking pictures, others would show up from time to time: to look at the building, to reminisce, and take pictures, themselves. A person I talked with on the Eads Bridge mentioned about visiting the riverfront and the licorice aroma that would gentle pervade the area. Another person I ran into at the base of the building talked about his family being here before the building was created, and how too many of these unique buildings are now gone.

With the images below, I’ve included links to other sites with more on the Switzer Building, and other buildings at risk in St. Louis. Many of these sites have pictures far superior to mine, so don’t judge my photos too harshly. I had hoped to find an image of the building when licorice was still being manufactured at the premises, but no luck.

First, though, a couple of photos of what the building was like before the storm damage that doomed it.

Switzer before damage

The rest of the photos were taken Sunday, May 13th.

Side of building

The Damaged side

Full view of damaged side

Front cast iron work

Building Number

Smile You Being Watch

Three quarter front view

The Ecology of Absence web site

Ecology of Absence weblog entry on the building

Urban St. Louis thread on the Switzer Building

Vanishing St. Louis post on the building.

Built St. Louis Switzer page

St. Louis Today article on the building damage

LaClede’s Landing Walking Tour

Switzer Sign from Fading Ad

Photography

Digital Photography Review bought by Amazon

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 15, 2007

I was surprised to read in Digital Photography Rreview that it had been bought by Amazon. I would assume this signals a major move by Amazon into the digital photography field, competing against that granddaddy of photography sales, B & H.

I purchased my Nikon D200 through Amazon, but getting it was somewhat a mistake. When these popular cameras were first out and impossible to find, I decided to put in a pre-order at Amazon while I thought about whether I could afford to buy the new camera. I figured it would be months before getting the camera, and I’d have time to get my finances in order. What I didn’t know is that Amazon had a stash of these and next thing I know, I get an email that my order was filled. Whether I could afford it or not–I really couldn’t–was moot.

In a couple of days, UPS delivers my camera: packed loose in a box, with one little air pillow to fill the large, empty space into which my camera was placed. Bounce, bounce. Bounce, bounce. Luckily, Nikon makes a sturdy camera.

Amazon has a ways to go before it can take on B & H. In the meantime, congratulations to Digital Photography Review. It will be interesting to see what comes from this purchase.

Photography Places

Mississippi Runneth

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 14, 2007

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The Missouri river flooding is enough to raise the Mississippi, though not to the same levels. The water along the St. Louis waterfront rose to the level of the road, but luckily no further. Enough, though, to drown the area where I normally park, as these two pre-flood and flood pictures demonstrate.
Flooded waterfront in St. Louis

The water level was 29 feet above normal levels, which is one hell of a lot of water. However, unlike the Missouri, barge traffic was still moving on the Mississippi. I was lucky to be on the Eads Bridge just as one moved beneath, giving a nice birds eye view.

In September, 2006, the city installed a new statue dedicated to the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. It stands 23 feet tall, and is installed just below the Eads Bridge, along the lower portion of the waterfront. All that showed above the water was Captain Lewis, waving his hat triumphantly.

The top view of the statue shows the swirls and eddies in the water. This is an incredibly dangerous river anyway, but with the flooding, if you fell in you wouldn’t be getting out.

No one was killed with this flood, though the damage was extensive in the north and west. It served as a reminder that Missouri is a state bound and threaded by rivers, and that we live here at the sufferance of nature.

Tags Missouri

Photography

Religious wars…no, not RSS

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date April 30, 2007

You thought that we techs could be fanatic about our likes and dislikes, loves and hates, you should see photographers and their cameras.

The Online Photographer reports on the responses to his review Leica M8:

Well, naturally I’ve gotten raked over the coals in many of the Leica forums this morning, for insufficient worship… of the M8. I’m getting called names, insulted, denigrated, accused of name dropping and bias and of having no qualifications, and of course everything I wrote was outrageously wrong in nine kinds of waysâ€”one guy called my report “piffle” and another jumped in and listed the several specific kinds of piffle it was. (To another it was “tripe.” Well, which is it, piffle or tripe? I’m afraid that’s something they’re going to have to work out amongst themselves.)

I sometimes wish I had started out with a different camera. I like my Nikon, but I’ve never felt particularly passionate about my equipment. I wonder if that’s what’s needed to do good photography–you have to feel passionate about your equipment?

My main fixation as regards my camera is stress with having to clean the camera’s innards and really hoping not to drop my telephoto. Both of these are directly related to my ability to afford replacements. If someone were to tell me that what I’m using is shite, I’d probably nod agreeably, and then go back to stressing about cleaning the sensor.

This is worrisome…I must not have the true soul of a photographer.

Read the Online Photographer’s Leica M8 reviews: part 1 and part 2.

Photography

Bees 2.0

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date April 24, 2007

Bee in flight

Here’s a great rumor to start: too much cellphone use makes one think and act like Tiny Tim:

Tiptoe through the window
By the window, that is where I’ll be
Come tiptoe through the tulips with me.

Oh, tiptoe from the garden
By the garden of the willow tree
And tiptoe through the tulips with me

Knee deep in flowers we’ll stray
We’ll keep the showers away
And if I kiss you in the garden, in the moonlight
Will you pardon me?
And tiptoe through the tulips with me

Red Tulips