A blustery day if there ever was one, with all the clouds blown somewhere else entirely, we had nothing but blue sky, bright sun and that constant wind, gusting to over 40 miles per hour. I had saxophone duty this morning and a meeting with a photo co-worker this afternoon, so it was almost 5 when I rolled into Forest Park looking for a good spot for the coming sunset

My friend Gregg came by the studio this morning for a sensor cleaning and critique of his photos - harbor photos from Florida, photos of his wife, street photography - man on bench, hammer dulcimer player, sunset, etc. And I asked the questions I typically ask; 

What’s the subject? What do you want the viewer to see? Where should we look in this photo?

In my photography and in the classes I teach, the goal is to rise above the level of photographic document to photographic art. It is not an easy task

Forest Park has many rooms; areas of the park that seem to stand by themselves. These are places where you can sit, stand, or just wander through and imagine that you are somewhere else entirely. Mark Twain is alleged to have said, “You can’t see clearly when your imagination is out of focus.” I think that is very true.

It can be a hot, crowded summer day in Forest Park, and there is still a place where you can be, a room there in the park, just for you, although one or two others may wander through it occasionally. But it is there, just for you. You can sit there in that room, relish the sunshine or shelter in the shade, and ruminate on all manner of things.

It is easy to think that in winter there is not much to find in nature, but the reality is that we really do not look very hard or in the right places. Interstate 64/ US 40, runs through the southern most part of Forest Park, cutting off a narrow strip of the park on its southern border with Oakland Avenue. Turtle Playground, created by the late, great, Bob Cassily in 1996

It was the fog that invited me to Forest Park this morning. The day was full of chores: crawling out of bed to walk Rigby in the crunchy frozen rain that covered my corner of the planet, persuading Rebecca to leave the house so I could drop her off at school, nursing my aching back with a long hot shower and getting a load of laundry started in the washer. That’s when I noticed the fog.

About 9 was when it really set in, as warm air moved over the cold, cold earth. I had a client coming by for a photo session at 10, so I was heading to the studio when Forest Park called my name. Everything was magical; the trees, the roads, the grasses. I rode

At the dedication ceremony for the opening of Forest Park in 1876, the then-presiding judge of St. Louis County (this was before the city/county split) Chauncy F Schultz said,

I present to you, the people of the County of St. Louis, your own, this large and beautiful Forest Park for the enjoyment of yourselves, your children and your children’s children forever . . . The rich and poor, the merchant and mechanic, the professional man and the day laborer, each with his family and lunch basket, can come here and enjoy his own . . . all without stint or hinderance . . . and there will be no notice put up, ‘Keep Off the Grass.’

There’s a lot that goes on in Forest Park every day. Many who work nearby park their cars there during working hours, and there’s always at least one jogger on the trails that lace its grounds, a wide variety of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals inhabiting its spaces and frequently humans who spend the night there. 

Today I drove to the park from my studio in the north via Delmar, Union Avenue and Lindell Boulevard, passing those grand old homes across Lindell from Murphy Lake. A dozen or two Canada Geese harried the grass there and a blue jay descended in a

You may never have heard of him, but in 1903, when the Saint Louis Art Museum’s original building in Forest Park was finished, Cass Gilbert had already become one of the most important American Architects of his generation, having risen to national prominence with his design for the Minnesota state capitol in Saint Paul and the United States Custom House in New York City. The building is indeed magnificent, and is one of two public buildings in St. Louis designed by Gilbert,

It was out into the dusk today with Mark Glenshaw, the Owl Man of Forest Park. Yes, yours truly and a band of four other intrepid souls armed with only 60 pounds of photo gear took on Mother Nature’s most fearsome aerial predator as we walked with Mark, our fearless leader, deep into the ancient forests of America’s premier urban park. Well, maybe not ancient, but older than me and I’ve had some young punks tell me that I was older than dirt. But there we were, looking

It did indeed start snowing at 12 noon, just as the weatherman had predicted. I was in the park planning a series of photos of the Grand Basin & Art Museum when the first flakes drifted lazily down, almost as if to say “We’re thinking of snowing, but right now we’re reviewing our options.”

You must have seen and felt it today; the relatively balmy high temperature of 56º F with bright sun, beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds floating languidly past. It was a perfect day to go wandering in America’s premier urban park, so I walked the three short blocks from my studio to the Delmar Loop and took the Loop Trolly. The two cars I rode today, number one and number two, are replicas of 1903 model street cars built in the 1990’s, so while they look new

118 total vehicles were parked today along South Skinker Blvd from Oakland Avenue, the south border of the park to Lindell Blvd, the north border of the park. Of these vehicles, 52 were pickup trucks. That’s a lot of pickup trucks! I see them every day as I drive north on Skinker toward Studio 858 where I teach photography classes and do commercial, corporate and portrait photography. Why so many trucks? This is America, my friend, and this is also where the workers

I have been asked to take a look at what is going on in the Muny, so I strapped on my gear today and marched resolutely to the door of the offices of the nation’s longest running outdoor municipal theater. And I rang the doorbell. And I waited, wondering if I looked slightly ridiculous in my cold weather gear adorned with two cameras and a backpack. At least I didn’t look

Can you believe it, the Zoo was closed today!?! A bit of ice covering everything in sight, a few accidents here and there, and people don’t show up for work! What’s wrong with the world today? All those animals and no visitors; it’s a darn shame.

So, I went to the Art Museum instead, which, due to all the ice, opened a few hours late, but at least it was opened. There is a bill in Congress to

Today I was to be at the bride’s house at 10 am to photograph the makeup session before the wedding. Before I did that, I needed to put gas into my truck, take a shower, get all my wedding gear together (there is a lot of it) and visit Forest Park for my daily photo walk. The makeup session was quite long, keeping me on my feet for about three and a half hours! But, since the house was warm, the company was good and there were plenty of photo opportunities, I rather e

The temperature was falling as I ventured into Forest Park today. I waited until afternoon as I had gotten enough rain walking the dog this morning. The sidewalks in my neighborhood were streams, and the streets rivers, and I did not wear my boots. Big mistake. Rigby hesitated when I opened the door and I had to urge him to go out. In fact, I think I gave him a nudge with my foot before he slowly stepped onto our porch. I, at least, had an umbrella, but he, poor hound,

Like any urban park, the presence of Homo Sapiens is a given, and like many other urban parks said human creatures are up to a lot of different things. Some are just traveling through the park on one of the two highways that cut across it, or on the Metrolink train that also transverses these hallowed grounds. Still other motorists view it as a shortcut for avoiding city streets,