Menomonee Valley Park - Chimney Park

See the 2010 update - the chimneys have been demolisherd.

Chimney Park runs along either side of the 35th Street Viaduct, on the northern half of the site.

This is one of the central features of the area - there are two tall smokestacks, the only remnants of the site’s long history as one of the nation’s largest rail yards.

Chimney Park also offers more passive uses, such as unprogrammed turf areas organized around naturalized stormwater management ponds and meadows.


RenewTheValley.org is a broad group of partners working to restore the neglected river valley at the very heart of Milwaukee. Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc. envisions a redeveloped Valley that is as central to the city as it was in the past.

Kletzsch Park Falls

Glendale is an area once inhabited by Potawatomie Indians, it has been said there are burial grounds along the Milwaukee River as it winds through the park. Kletzsch Park had become one of the most popular parks in the county park system during the early 1930’s – with a river swimming beach and picnic area.

Kletzsch Park was also greatly improved with the use of relief labor. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established in Kletzsch Park in May of 1935 and discontinued in November of 1935.

The CCC projects completed included a new dam built across the Milwaukee River with CCC labor. The new structure, built of reinforced concrete in a serpentine design to lengthen the crest, provided increased discharge capacity without widening the river. Models prepared by the landscape design section of the planning department served as guides in erecting the stone facing and the fish ladder built into the face of the dam. The dam has the appearance of a natural waterfall.

Historical information from the “Friends of Kletzsch Park" website - and click on Kletzsch History.

Brewers Hill project...

Milwaukee River East Bank view of the Gallun Tannery unoccupied building. The Holton Viaduct Marsupial Bridge is at the far right side. View is from the EdgeCondo River Walk. This version was overlaid with a B & W infrared layer in Lighten mode in PS CS4 to bring out the evening light on the trees. Full resolution image is 50" x 10". The first in a series photographed in the Brewers Hill area.

Milwaukee's Park East Corridor

Click on this image to see a larger view - this is created from four separate images.

The Park East Corridor is comprised of 64 acres and 29 blocks. The area became a focus of development after Milwaukee took down the 1971 Park East Freeway spur in 2002-2005. You can access maps of the area, its history, and lots of information about the development plan for the Park East Corridor at the Milwaukee Department of City Development website.

Precious Lands... views from the corridor.

Milwaukee's City Gulls

Beautiful to watch flying over the Lake Michigan shoreline.... sometimes creating a mess when they establish a community in a downtown parking lot or public buildings. During the past few years, the gull community at the McKinley Street bridge over the Milwaukee River has been a sight to behold. While noisy and not without an odor, one can view the community, as if on display. Baby gulls can be seen right now.






Edited June 29. 2009
Growing up!

Inner voice and other rambling...

I was recently asked if I had found my inner voice - this was of course, within the context of photography. I suppose I was being asked this in an effort for me to find the direction my photography was taking me, and possibly narrow my photographic vision towards a specific course. This seems to be what many fine art photographers do, and those who are most successful enjoy gallery representation because of their specific vision.

On a spiritual level, I found this on spirithome.com "Where there's a swinging pendulum, there's a 'paradoxical tension', where the different approaches correct each other. On one hand, you find yourself through the inner voice - that is, through exploring yourself. On the other hand, you find yourself through order, place, work, authority - in short, through other people. "

This probably explains where I am at because I photograph what I am drawn to - be it portraiture, documentary, figure, street photography, city and landscapes and whatever else moves me. Each offers their own particular challenges for me to address.

With this in mind, I am taking the opportunity to partner with other photographers on photo walk-abouts to share in photographic camaraderie. These images were taken on a recent hike with Eddee Daniel in the Riverside Park area adjacent to the Urban Ecology Center.

While I have photographed early spring landscapes in the past, I did not enjoy the results due to the lack of color and interest - Eddee is quite happy with it however, which is why I welcomed the opportunity to shoot with him. I am particularly drawn to the bare tree limbs against the sky, and converting to black and white infrared completed these images for me.

I am quite focused on such excursions, and reminded of the Bob Dylan lyrics "Ain't talkin', just walkin'" and let my mind wander with what I experience - what this scene was and what it might become - and portray it for it's aesthetic and spiritual value. [/ramble]

The second day of spring...

I drove around this last Saturday to check out locations in the downtown Milwaukee area, to use for high school Senior portraits this summer. Of course, it was also an opportunity to do some things I thought about doing for some time. This image was not on my agenda. It was on my way home on a seasonally pleasant day when I was passing Bradford Beach and decided to stop for a 'look see'. I took a variety of images... this was my favorite after finishing it in Photoshop®. I believe Man Ray said he never knew what he was doing untill he was done. That was one of those days for me.

Photoshop® services - retouching and image enhancement...

Click on image to see an enlarged view...

I offer my services for Photoshop® work done on images after they have been captured correctly in a digital camera. I have been educated in photography and have continued with workshops both in photography, digital imaging and Photoshop®. I am a member of NAPP (the National Association of Photoshop® Professionals) which offers continuing education with Photoshop® techniques and practices.

This service is offered to consumers and professional photographers who own the copyright to their images. If you do not own the copyright, I will need a copyright release from your photographer (this is between myself and your photographer - and not a "says it's OK), giving me permission to work on your images. Pricing is by quotation after I have reviewed your images and have an understanding of the work you require.

Basic retouching for portraits includes exposure and contrast adjustment, colour neutralizing and simple blemish removal - $25.00 each image. Services for scenic and art images also includes exposure and contrast adjustment, colour neutralizing and conversions such as black and white, toning and edge effects - range from $25.00 and up.

Click on image to see an enlarged view...

My take on Pop Art....

.... is far from that of the Pop Art movement. My rendition, of course is from a photograph, but using Photoshop® in place of the screen process for creating various renditions. A future interpretation will utilise Painter® to more closely resemble the Warhol palette. This image is of Ali, a model/actress who styled this image in the likeness of Marilyn Monroe.

History

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a key figure in Pop Art, an art movement that emerged in America and elsewhere in the 1950's, to become prominent over the next two decades.

Unlike the Fauve colours, the non-representational colors of Pop Art do not depict the artist’s inner sensation of the world. They refer to the popular culture, which also inspires Warhol to experiment with the technique of silkscreen printing, a popular technique used for mass production. In doing so, Warhol moves away from the elitist avant-garde tradition. Initially, many spectators received this new marriage between art and commodity culture with little enthusiasm.

Using photo-stencils in screen-printing, Warhol uses photographic images for his screenprints. The screen is prepared using a photographic process, and then different color inks are printed using a rubber squeegee to press the paint onto the painting through the screen.

Citation and additional info here.

Remember when?

This image was dated in the late 1800's - I believe it was taken in Germany. I purchased it in an antique frame at a flea market some 20 years ago. It needed restoration, which I completed recently. I thought it rather nicely depicted the early days of my profession. The space occupied by this studio is not unlike the space I currently occupy... sans the skylight.

Portrait studios like this found their way in to society as photography technology advanced - prior to this, painted portraits were generally regarded as the privilege of the wealthy. Regarding the emerging portraitists, Lady Elizabeth Eastlake wrote in 1857: "... were it not a half a generation ago the existence of such a vocation was not dreamt of; tens of thousands are now following a new business, practising a new pleasure, speaking a new language and bound together by a new symphony". These words, written more than 150 years ago, could also be spoken about the changes in photography just during the last decade, or so.

That was a period in which portraiture was perhaps more characterised for the quantity of production, rather than by its quality. Some photographers were more concerned with making a quick profit than to "portray" the sitter. The lighting for many of these was uninteresting, the setting so often stereotyped that one can almost date the photography by the props. Some of these images show evidence of very fast impersonal photography, where the practitioner was out to make a quick kill and had little or no time or interest for the sitter as a person. In some cases again, not to different from today.

The purpose for this discussion is to point out how little things have changed for the portrait, as far as art is concerned. Prior to photography, the creation of a hand painted portrait was time consuming and relied on the extensive experiences and talent of the artist. Only the wealthy could afford this. Today, with the advent digital photography, the portraitist has not only their camera and lighting, but also the computer palette to create a portrait that is again, personal for the subject. It is also a lot more affordable.

More can be said about the value of classic portraiture as opposed to contemporary portrait photography... I believe it starts with the understanding, practice and knowledge of classic photography, that can then transcend to the contemporary realm. Regardless of the style, the most important value is that the portrait is timeless...


HERE is an interesting read regarding the history of photography.

The Milwaukee Public Museum has a replica of a turn of the century portrait studio in it's "Streets of Old Milwaukee" display. The photographers studio is a "walk-up" at one of the buildings