Category Archives: architectural photography

Archives and Architecture

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“We all work with one infinite power.” ~ from the book  The Secret 

One of the most magnificent of all museum buildings in America is often over-looked by tourists visiting the Nation’s Capital of Washington, DC. Many walk right by one of the most interesting Federal Buildings, not knowing what they are missing. The real secret attraction is the architecture inside! Fulfilling the need to know what else is in it, lies just inside the walls of the building. The magnificent structure  houses the Library of Congress. Add this Federal Building to your “must see list” of sites to visit next time you are in the surrounds of Washington, DC. 

The structure  is so large  that  it can contain 147 million volumes of cataloged books, music, newspapers, pamphlets, films, technical reports/journals, textbooks, artwork and other published material. It is a library so enormous that it takes up three buildings, all connected by underground passageways. The museum houses publications on an amazing maze of 838 miles of shelving.  

Not only does the Library contain volumes of books, film and sheet music, it is the “bank”for copyright protection and copyright registration, and it is home to the United States Copyright Office. 

The Library of Congress also includes a motion picture and television reading room, the Mary Pickford Theatre which hosts free screenings of contemporary and classic movies and TV shows.

In recent years, a whole different class of publications have been added to the cataloging system at the Library of Congress. A small but growing collection of archived books is now available on the internet through a library initiative called American Memories. Now, some very frail volumes of books, audio visual materials, manuscripts and maps dating back as far as 1400 have been digitized. For more information on the Library of Congress, please visit http://1.usa.gov/mhUZy2.

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Glassworks Inspired by Nature

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 “I will be the gladdest thing under the sun. I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay 

 

Tiffany glass is a remarkable example of artists being inspired by elements of nature. Lamps, vases, stained glass designed and created by Louis Comfort Tiffany incorporate birds, flora and fauna into the composition of the piece.

Huge installations of stained glass windows, depicting the life of Christ, are incorporated in the architecture of many churches. In the city where I was born and raised, Baltimore, Maryland, there is a church, the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, which is noted for its 12 outstanding Tiffany stained glass windows. It is also the place where in 1887, the church’s minister, Maltbie Babcock wrote the beautiful hymn “This is My Father’s World.” 

Today, the church still honors the creator of the magnificent stained glass windows that grace the church’s walls, with “The Tiffany Series.” The series of stellar classical concerts and lectures draw distinguished speakers and avid followers. For more information on this church, exceptionally rich in culture both in its programs and its architecture, please visit http://bit.ly/eTDFtF. 

“Clara and Mr. Tiffany” written by Susan Vreeland, and newly published in 2011, is a book of historical art fiction. This book,  has been of great interest to me. It  gives insight into the artist, Louis Comfort Tiffany, the development of the process of stained glass- making and how nature inspired Mr. Tiffany’s work. 

“New age thought” does not include drawing inspiration from nature. Artists from the beginning of time, in places all over the world, have been motivated and illuminated by the natural world. 

There is an issue, brought to light by one of the characters of the book, that brings conflict to many Artists. Artists have faced this dilemma for decades and it is carried throughout the main theme of the book “Clara and Mr. Tiffany.” We will explore this theme later in the week on All Things Fulfilling. Come on back!

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Have we Met Before?

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“Books are the best of things if well used; if abused, among the worst. They are good for nothing but to inspire.”    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Increasingly businesses are stepping into the arena of e-marketing. It is a whole new tactic of promoting products, services, individuals and companies in the business world. Knowing how to use internet marketing effectively is key. 

I read something the other day that made me think there may a fulfilling reason to communicate with people on-line,  that I had never considered before.  According to a study in the journal Cognition, http://bit.ly/hRtWxK our ability to remember faces peaks between ages 30 and 34. People 35 years and older are now finding there are ways to put faces and names together over the internet.   Maybe that explains why kids are no longer the only ones connecting on the world-wide-web. Am I over-thinking it by saying “the younger generation is compassionate and are developing ways of connecting faces and names, on-line, to help out their forgetful elders ?”  Perhaps! 

The viral world is helping to connect people around the world through meet-up groups, too.  People with similar business interests can now get together on-line or arrange “face to face” meetings. 

 Denver is home to the nation’s largest meet-up group in the country. The group is comprised of creative professionals www.meetup.com/creative-connections. It has a growing membership of over 1,000 strong. So large is this group, they meet at the Colorado Community Church http://www.coloradocommunity.org/ , a facility that can accommodate all. Creative Connections draws Artists (all forms), writers, photographers,  marketing and advertising creatives. Professionals who make their living through TV, the internet, radio and video production also attend the twice weekly meetings. 

If you have a specific career interest, and are looking for opportunities to meet up with like-minded people, connect through www.meetup.com.    

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Check it and Protect it!

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“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” ~ Galileo Galilei 

Now that e-publishing (internet-based publishing) has arrived on the scene, an all new dimension has been added to the already confusing and complicated issues around copyright infringement and plagiarism. 

There is a company, Integrated Writer Services, LLC www.writerservices.biz that is fulfilling the need for guidance, education and consulting services regarding  issues of copyright clearance. 

In June 2011, a detailed, hands-on guide will be available to help creative people take the necessary steps to protect their work to be published (both fiction and non-fiction) in digital formats and in print. The on-line guide will also address issues such as:

  • Finding good legal content
  • The process of copyright clearance including request forms & sample letters
  • Copyright lawsuits and how they apply to the creative industries
  • Resources for permission departments for art collections, publishing houses, government agencies and music administrators. 

If you pre-order the Copyright for Creatives e-Workbook, you will receive a 50% discount off the Integrated Writers Services, LLC Workshops that will be offered in May. For more information on this very valuable guide, keep your eye on details that will soon be available on www.permissionacquisition.com. 

The issues that the professionals at Integrated Writers Services, LLC deal with are, indeed, complicated and are time consuming to research. Even given the self-help tools that Integrated Writers Services so generously offer, in the way of an on-line guide and workshops, many prefer to hand this part of the publishing process over to the professionals. If you an independent publisher looking for individual consultation on copyright regulations, contact www.writerservices.biz today!

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Breaking down Assumptions

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“All I want is for people to listen to it with unbiased ears, and decide for themselves.”  ~ Melanie Chisholm 

Isn’t it true that we form assumptions about places we have never been before by what we hear, see and read in the media and by our preconceived notions? Sometimes the things we think of other cultures, and of people we have never met before, are way off base. 

The other day my husband arrived back from his travels to Turkey and handed me two gifts. I didn’t immediately rip into them, because I was busy studying the packaging!  Finally he said “what is your big interest in the outside of the package?”  I said” I think of Turkey as a country much less modernized and therefore, not up to American standards in their merchandising.” I was surprised to see gifts that were beautifully boxed, wrapped and bedecked with ribbon that could rival even the fanciest gift wrap here in the United States. I had made an assumption of a country based on my own notions. 

There is a Colorado non-profit organization 50l(3)C  here in the United States, whose mission is to break down the assumptions that we Americans place on cultures and countries that are in far off reaches of the world. Their goal is to bring a diversity of art and culture to this side of the world. The Macedonian Mission will be presenting two films, Getting to Know Us and Soul Mates on March 11th in Steamboat Springs, CO at the Bud Werner Library. www.steamboatlibrary.org. This is a fundraising event. The non-profit organization has hopes of once again fulfilling the dreams of an American artist or two with the opportunity to travel to Macedonia to exhibit or perform in a city known for its ancient civilization. It will be a chance of a lifetime. 

For more information on the Macedonian Mission and the artists that have already had the opportunity to exchange art and culture, made possible through their fundraising efforts, please visit http://bit.ly/dRRQMk.

Hope to see you at the event on March 11th. I have no doubt we will come away from the films knowing more about the country of Macedonia and it’s people.

 

 Ohrid Summer Festival, Ohrid, Macedonia.

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