Baltimore is a vibrant, innovative city nestled around the tidal portion of
Patapsco river. With deep historical roots dating back to 1729, it is among the first immigration ports in the US. The city once was a major manufacturing center, but is currently known for it's service-oriented industry being a leader in medicine, science, technology and engineering. And also famous for the
Ravens, The
Orioles,
Ft. McHenry,
The Stars Bangled Banner,
crab-cakes,
Inner Harbor... The city is nearly synonymous with the world renowned
Johns Hopkins University, a global leader and innovator in medicine.
The Inner Harbor of Downtown Baltimore is one of the most cherished, photographed and visited areas of Baltimore. It offers an exciting array of restaurants, businesses and shops, museums and tourist destinations in what the Urban Land Institute calls as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world".
The Barnes and Noble of Inner Harbor area is built inside the Pratt Street Power Plant which was originally constructed between 1900 and 1909. It was designed in the neo-classical fashion as the chief source of power for United Railways and Electric Company, a consolidation of smaller street railway systems that served the Baltimore area.
The bookstore opened up in 1997 and is a sheer delight! The contemporary and modern interior design blends seamlessly and respectfully with the history of the building.
The 2nd story of the bookstore has a large aquarium for all the visitors to enjoy.
The Capital -
Washington DC is but some 30 miles away from Baltimore, a short 45 minute drive away on a good day. We decided to take a few excursions to the capital area.
Fall colors...
Strolling along the Mall and by the Capitol Building.
The fall weather was cool but sunny. One could not ask for more...
The
White House. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Housing every single president of the United States of America since John Adams in 1800.
Lincoln Memorial, dedicated in 1922, is among many of the monuments built in honor of the 16th President.
The Memorial has hosted many of the infamous speeches, including Martin Luther King's I have a Dream speech. Some 6 million people visit it every year.
One of the places we visited was the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It is an impressive 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) exhibition area of around 126 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts. Close to 200 professional natural scientists work in there, making it the largest group of scientists dedicated to this field.
The Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals has a mind-boggling exhibit of over 150,000 gems, 350,000 minerals, 300,000 samples of rock and ore and about 35,000 meteorites.
It is the home of the Hope Diamond, a 45.52-carat deep blue diamond, with an estimated worth of 200-250 million dollars. The Hope Diamond has a colorful history and is thought to originate from India. It was obtained by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a French merchant, who then brought it to France and sold it to the King Louis XIV of France around 1669. Since then it has been both smuggled and stolen, and has resurfaced in United Kingdom and Ireland, finally ending up in the Smithsonian collection in 1958.
Gold-nuggets of all sizes and shapes. :)
A fine specimen of Granite from Virvik, Finland!
Virvik is an area in Porvoo, a southern city near the capital of Finland, Helsinki.
The Hall of Mammals has numerous taxidermied animals in their natural settings.
A Black Panther stalking it's prey.
One of the most inspiring exhibit rooms was the
Nature's Best Photography. The pictures presented here were nominated and won the prestigious Windland Rice International Award. Below you will find some samples of the breathtaking images. All of them can be viewed from the website as well. I apologize for the light reflections on the images.
Burrowing Owls by Bence Mate from Hungary. "This picture was taken in the world's largest swamp area, the Pantanal, during the dry season. Over the course of a whole week, I spent every sundown in a hide to witness and photograph the owls’ life. These chicks started coming out of the nest one by one and were getting ready to leave their home. The biggest photographic challenge for me was waiting for them to be out of the shade my tent created. They seemed to like using the tent's shadows for protection from the sun."—BM
Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys by Katherine Feng of Colorado. "One spring, I was granted permission to join primate researchers from China’s Northwest University while they studied the behavior and habits of the golden snub-nosed monkey. As the monkeys had become habituated to the presence of humans, I could approach at a safe distance without disturbing them. I climbed up and down the mountainside looking for interesting photos. This baby monkey was only a few weeks old. He made cute faces as his mother and a juvenile monkey cuddled him." - KF
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall by Mike Reyfman Wheeling, Illinois. "Getting in touch with the natural wonders of Iceland can be a very exhilarating and enlightening experience. Located along the south coast is one of its most breathtaking waterfalls. To take a panoramic capture of the Seljalandsfoss, a photographer must be prepared for the intense mist and huge dynamic range."—MR
Volcanic Fortices by Bruce Omori Hilo, Hawaii. "On an early morning shoot at the Waikupanaha ocean entry, lava from the Kilauea volcano poured into the sea. This created a huge escape of steam. As it rose, multiple vortices began spinning off the huge, billowing plume. A vortex or two is a rare sight—but when one after another kept forming, my fumbling with the lenses turned into a panicked rush to switch to my wide-angle lens. I captured the incredible scene of seven vortices in a row."—BO
Oriental Long-headed Grasshopper by Toyoki Koyabu, Osaka, Japan. "In my neighborhood in Osaka, there are flower gardens in the local park. I go there often to enjoy the flowers and watch the insects. I spotted this tiny green grasshopper behind the petal of an Asiatic dayflower, and was instantly drawn into the insect's miniature world. He almost seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-seek, waiting for me to see him. I thought the colors of the flower and the grasshopper created a wonderful combination."—TK
African Bush Elephant by Ben Cranke, London, England, UK. "One sweltering summer day, I was resting in the deep shade of a camel thorn tree at my campsite on the Savuti Channel. A bull elephant came down to the water to drink. I sat and quietly watched him until he suddenly turned to face me and charged into the water. Fortunately, I had my camera in my lap and was able to capture this image. I was relieved when the magnificent elephant finally settled down, quenched his thirst, and peacefully moved off."—BC
Western Lowland Gorilla & Baby Gorilla by Laurie Rubin, San Diego, California, USA. "I just happened to get a once-in-a-lifetime shot of a mother gorilla holding a magazine as she stopped to look at a photo of her baby (sitting next to her). The book is one of the enrichment items that zookeepers put in the gorillas’ enclosure. I visit the zoo almost every weekend and each time there is a new behavior, the light is different, or the gorillas have new items to play with. It takes patience, but if you go as soon as the zoo gates open, you can see the animals at their most active and avoid the big crowds."—LR
Jumping Spider by Luis Manuel Iglesias, Galicia, Spain. "Looking for arthropods in a wild mallow bush near my home, I noticed a tiny animal only about 1/8-inch in size. As I got closer, I could just make out this spider’s outline. Attempting to get a photo took more than two hours because the spider was extremely restless. Finally, I could see that this was a male Saitis barbipes covered in pollen."—LMI
American Alligator by Larry Lynch,Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA. "While walking the river bed one evening during a recent drought, I found a group of alligators that had been feeding on fish trapped in a depression in the river bed. Just before sunset, I set up my tripod about 20 feet in front of them. After the sun left us in near total darkness, I used an ambient light exposure to capture detail on the alligator and a flash to illuminate the eyes."—RM
Grizzly bear and cub by Steve Hinch, Livingston, Montana, USA. "I had heard of bear cubs climbing onto their mothers’ backs but had never actually seen it happen. I headed out one early evening and came across this sow and cub. The sow began digging to catch voles and the cub took advantage and climbed up on her back. I was ecstatic to have an opportunity to capture the playful behavior in this humorous scene."—SH
Elk by Joe Sulik, Age 16 Fargo, North Dakota, USA "After waking up to an unseasonable late-May blizzard, I learned that all the roads out of the Mammoth Hot Springs area were completely blocked. When the storm finally subsided and the roads were cleared, I set off into an unexpected winter wonderland. Hours of exploring led me to this large bull elk poking through the fresh blanket of snow, looking for green foliage underneath. The encounter gave me the rare opportunity to photograph a bull in a snowy scene with velvet-laden antlers, typically seen in springtime. I removed my telephoto lens to include more of the scene. As he lifted his head, I captured the image I had envisioned."—JS
Subterranean Garden by Elizabeth Carmel Truckee, California, USA. "While traveling to Mexico for photography and to visit the Mayan ruins, I traveled to Quintana Roo, where a landowner protects an area of cenotes and allows public exploration of the caves. This image depicts the unique, magical plant life experienced there. Although this tree and flower were underground, sunlight reached the vegetation, creating a subterranean garden."—EC
The
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is a world-class art museum that displays one of the largest collections of masterpieces in the world including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, and decorative arts from the 13th century to the present. The National Gallery of Art collection includes an extensive survey of works of American, British, Italian, Flemish, Spanish, Dutch, French and German art
The gorgeous ceiling of Rotunda at the National Gallery of Art, soaring over 100 feet.
Centerpiece in the Main Floor. The West Wing is designed in the form of an elongated H, the building is centered on a domed rotunda modeled on the interior of the Pantheon in Rome.
The Morosini Helmet of Milanese origin, likely from 1550-1560. Repoussé and embossed iron or steel, with gilding and silvering.
The Capitoline Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus circa 15th or 16th century Rome. Made out of bronze. They are the twin brothers and central characters of Rome's foundation myth.
The Reading Girl by Pietro Magni in 1861, carved out of marble.Pietro Magni's marble statue The Reading Girl brought the Milanese sculptor international fame and recognition. It was exhibited numerous times at international exhibitions throughout Europe and America, each time to great public and critical acclaim. Stylistically it owes much to the artistic tradition of verismo or "realism" that characterized Italian art during the middle years of the nineteenth century, but it also recalls earlier aspects of Italian romanticism.
The Thinker by Auguste Rodin circa 1901. The Thinker is a more universal image that reveals in physical terms the mental effort and even anguish of creativity. As Rodin himself described: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."
Pablo Picasso: Family of Saltimbanques. Oil on canvas 1901. The painting depicts six saltimbanques, a kind of itinerant circus performer, in a desolate landscape. The composition groups them together, but they do not seem connected to each other and are not looking at each other.
Le Gourmet - Pablo Picasso circa 1901. Oil on canvas.
Marquise de Jeanne Antoinette Poisson Pompadour. Madame la Marquise de Pezay et Madame la Marquise de Roude avec les deur enfants 1787
Vincent Van Gogh,
Self Portrait. Oil on canvas. "They say—and I am willing to believe it—that it is difficult to know yourself—but it isn’t easy to paint yourself either". Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother Théo, September 1889
Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son by Claude Monet circa 1875. Woman with a Parasol was painted outdoors, probably in a single session of several hours' duration. The artist intended the work to convey the feeling of a casual family outing rather than a formal portrait, and used pose and placement to suggest that his wife and son interrupted their stroll while he captured their likenesses. The brevity of the moment portrayed here is conveyed by a repertory of animated brushstrokes of vibrant color, hallmarks of the style Monet was instrumental in forming.
Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honoré Fragonard circa 1770. Oil painting on canvas.
Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Shaw Memorial. This exhibition celebrates Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ magisterial Shaw Memorial (1883–1900), considered by many to be one of the finest examples of 19th-century American sculpture. The monument commemorates the July 18, 1863, storming of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War battle was waged by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first African American military units raised in the North. Although the 54th was defeated at Fort Wagner and almost a third of the regiment was killed—including Shaw himself—or wounded, the battle was seen as a turning point in the war: it proved that African Americans’ bravery and dedication to country equaled that of the nation’s most celebrated heroes.
Albert Bierstad,
Lake Lucerne 1858.
Best known for his panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains, Albert
Bierstadt began his career as a painter of European landscapes. In 1856,
during a period of study abroad, he spent time in Switzerland and
completed the plein air sketches he would later use to compose
Lake Lucerne, the most important painting of his early career.
Thomas Cole
The Voyage of Life, Childhood. 1842. Oil on canvas. Cole's renowned four–part series traces the journey of an archetypal hero along the "River of Life."
Thomas Cole
The Voyage of Life - Youth.
Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of "Youth" and its aspirations for glory and fame.
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life -
Manhood. 1842.
As
the traveler approaches his goal, the ever-more-turbulent stream deviates from its
course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where
nature's fury, evil demons, and self-doubt will threaten his very existence. Only
prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.
Thomas Cole,
The Voyage of Life - Old Age. 1842. From the innocence of childhood, to the flush of youthful overconfidence, through
the trials and tribulations of middle age, to the hero's triumphant salvation,
The
Voyage of Life seems intrinsically linked to the Christian doctrine of death and
resurrection. Cole's intrepid voyager also may be read as a personification of America,
itself at an adolescent stage of development. The artist may have been issuing a
dire warning to those caught up in the feverish quest for Manifest Destiny: that
unbridled westward expansion and industrialization would have tragic consequences
for both man and nature.
A violinist entertained the art museum guests with gems from the baroque era.
Autumn is beyond mesmorizing in the District of Columbia.
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial by sunset.
