The Sites: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

If Chapel Hill is the "Southern Part of Heaven," then this bumper sticker's query is moot: if God is not a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina blue?

Sundial, Morehead Planetarium

The nation's oldest public university, Carolina's campus really can't take a bad picture.  The past, present, and future meet on its quads and in its buildings in a way that I've never experienced on another campus and that I've felt in very few places elsewhere.  Once summer arrives, the pace slows dramatically and the energy shifts, as if the buildings themselves are breathing during the brief respite from their occupants.  When the semester is in session, the students bustle about, putting an electricity in the air that buzzes around you with their collective energy - their pride in this place is palpable.  Classes have begun again this week, the excitement of a new year in the air, with all the possibilities and opportunities that it brings, just waiting for the students to take advantage of all that lies in front of them.  It is - for lack of a better word - magical.

facade of Wilson Library

Like most places, there are hidden treasures here, patiently waiting to be discovered, such as the reading room of Wilson Library, for me second only to the reading room at the New York Public Library in its regal and stoic beauty.  The science complex and the global center embrace the pace of the new, blending together with the rest of campus in a seamless manner, so that their facades don't look harshly out of place amongst the limestone porticoes of the older buildings.

On any given day, you can find a variety of visitors to campus, wandering amongst the quads, stopping to drink from the Old Well.  They may be local residents, coming to enjoy a walk through the arboretum; they may be alumni, returning to see what has changed (much) and what has stayed the same (also much) since graduation; they may be prospective students, visiting to see whether this campus is where they will spend the next four years of their educational journey.  

Old Well, McCorkle Place

It is somewhere that speaks to a sense of place in a subtle, quiet way, with images immediately recognizable to many who've never even set foot in North Carolina, let alone wandered barefoot through the grass of McCorkle Place: the Old Well surrounded by azaleas, the Bell Tower soaring into a perfect Carolina blue sky, the arc of the Dean Dome buzzing with anticipation of that evening's game.  It is, as Charles Kuralt described it, as it should be: the University of the people.

The Sites: Davenport and Bettendorf

Due to a somewhat nomadic life, my answer to "Where are you from?" will always depend on the circumstances of the question.  Most often, my answer is Iowa, specifically Davenport, the largest of the Quad Cities, set along the banks of the Mississippi River.  This is a place that always is as it was, yet is always just different enough to show the passage of time.  This is an area defined as much by its geography as by its people.  It is this intersection of place and memory that makes it so compelling to attempt to capture in images.

Centennial Bridge; Davenport

Mallards; Mississippi riverfront

The largest city on the Mississippi without a permanent flood wall or levee, Davenport is inextricably linked to the river and its ebbs and flows.  Every flood is devastating to the residents who watch their homes and their livelihoods drown before their eyes, yet the rest of the nation rarely hears of their plight unless it happens on a much grander scale, as it did in 1993.  Despite this, the idea of a levee or some other structure that would separate the town from the water is ridiculous to most of the residents.  The river is part of the landscape; it is as much a part of the city as the buildings and the streets.  It is at once the same and different: the movement of the water means that it is never the same river as when you were there before, whether it was two years ago or two days, but it is always there, flowing on past the city on its way towards the delta.  The iconic bridges that cross it - five in total, plus one rail - seem to merge with the water below.

Bettendorf Bridge and Leech Park; Bettendorf

One town over in Bettendorf is the area's only suspension bridge.  At its base is Leech Park, where my grandfather taught me to fish as a child and where the mallards gather to swim, eat, sleep, and do other fowl things.  Every trip back requires time spent here, sitting on the rocks, listening to the water lap against the shore, watching the barges carry their cargo up and down the locks.



Heading north from the Davenport riverfront (the river flows east to west here), you will head up the steep hills of the bluffs so common on the upper Mississippi.  Soon, you will encounter Vander Veer Botanical Park, modeled partly after New York's Central Park, tucked into a neighborhood of Tudor-style homes flanking its boundaries.  The botanical garden boasts some of the finest roses in the area; its playground and pond are a place for the young and old to play and rest.  The fountain at the southern end of the park has finally been restored and shoots its water 30 feet into the air before splashing back into its reflecting pool, where you can sit and dip your feet as the water cycles through its routine.

The Shot: Reflections

In April 2008, I spent two weeks in Madrid on business.  While the majority of the trip put our staff through long, stressful hours, we did have a few days in the middle to breathe and explore on our own.  A colleague and I set out into the city, seeking a bit of nature in Retiro Park, sustenance in the form of tapas, and culture in the collections of the Museo Reina Sofia.

Elevator, Museo Reina Sofia

After exploring the works of Picasso and company, we took some time to explore the exterior of the building.  Everything about this building seemed to speak to the contemporary visions of the artists housed inside.  The glass elevator in the courtyard afforded those inside a bird's eye view of the activity below, while adding a modern element to the otherwise classic design of the surrounding buildings.  

Atrium, Museo Reina Sofia

On the opposite side of the building, the atrium took the idea of architecture -as-art to the next level, with the reflective quality of the museum's nameplate and descriptors towering over its visitors.  Entering the space itself, the requisite bookstore sat tucked into the building, its entrance plain, as if it were simply trying to blend into the building so as not to distract the eye from the space itself.  

Sculpture and atrium, Museo Reina Sofia

In addition to the bookstore, the atrium held the entrance to the temporary exhibitions and a free access library.  While most visitors were fixated on the sculpture in the middle of the space, I found myself drawn to the library, located underneath the bookstore, visible through the giant ground-to-roof windows that lined the entire facade of the building.  The light filtering down from the afternoon sun made it somewhat difficult to see into the library, but I was able to make out shelves lining the walls, rows of tables in the center of the room, and a massive pile of books, assumingly waiting to be placed back on those shelves.  

I tried to find a proper angle to capture the pile, but the glass and the light prove to be an unstoppable combination.  At this point, I figured I would embrace the moment to see what I could get.  In the end, I captured a shot that captured the essence of that space: the empty library with its books below, the disembodied legs of the visitors hustling behind me, the shadowy outline of the sculpture fading into the background, and the lines of the tiles blending with the cacophony of  perspective that seemed to be pouring out of the 20th century artists held inside:

"Reflections"; atrium, Museo Reina Sofia

The Collections: Place

Morning; Venice, Italy

When we travel, we experience various aspects of where we go: the sights, the smells, the sounds, the tastes, the history.  Some images remain forever linked in our mind to a particular place and the feelings we had while we were there.  

Leech Park, Mississippi Riverfront; Bettendorf, IA

Even the places of our daily lives can have the same effect.  The thoughts and concepts we unconsciously associate with particular sites, even places we've never been, form our ideas about a place in a way that science is only beginning to explore, but that our human nature intrinsically understands.  


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The Collections: People

Lincoln Center; New York, NY

In a way, conventional portraiture captures us as we would like to see ourselves, while shots of our everyday lives captures us as we are: in the moment, a confluence of time and space forever frozen outside of either.  

Bicycles; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Our things betray our presence.  Our memories of those who have passed evoke a range of emotions.  Our stories are only as real as those who share them: who we are is just as dependent on those around us as it is on how we define ourselves.  



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The Collections: Nature

Sunset; Iowa City, IA

Along with the plants and animals, we are surrounded by the natural phenomena of our weather, the moon, and the forces of nature.  The power of a thunderstorm or a roaring ocean reminds us that despite all of the advances of civilization, we are at still the mercy of the planet.  

Harris Lake; Chatham County, NC

The moon's phases and eclipses, once sources of fear and anxiety for our ancestors, now are dependably predictable, but no less powerful in their ability to provoke wonderment and awe at their beauty.  The sun still sets the sky on fire twice a day, casting the clouds and our buildings into a mix of shadow and light in hues that even the most gifted painter can only hope to approximate.  Rivers and streams carve through the landscape, at once looking the same but forever changing right before our eyes.



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The Collections: Food

Grilled Cheese; John's Deli, New York, NY

Few things evoke such powerful memories as food: family dinners, the smells of a bakery, the vibrant colors of fresh produce.  In an instant, we are transported back to our childhood or back to that street market where we sampled the freshest honey we've ever had.  Food is rarely a solitary pursuit; it is something meant to be enjoyed with company, to bring people together around a table.  Even when we dine alone, we are still connected to the source of our sustenance through the buyers, sellers, and growers that brought those ingredients to our plate.


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The Collections: Flora

Brown-eyed Susans; VanderVeer Botanical Garden, Davenport, IA

When we think of flowers, we usually think of the gardens that line our streets or the bouquets that we bring into our homes to brighten the space or to mark a special occasion.  On the larger scale, a field of wildflowers or a rolling expanse of grass creates a landscape that more often serves as the backdrop for a given moment than as the moment itself.  Up close, the fractal geometry of a bed of brown-eyed susans or the folds of a daffodil force us to slow down and appreciate the complexities of the greenery around us.  Even the leaves of an oak tree after the rain possess an almost magical quality in the simplicity of its structure.  


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The Collections: Fauna

Dragonfly; NC Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC

The delicate simplicity of a spider's web, the vibrant colors of a songbird, the fragility of the wings of a dragonfly - the birds and insects that we see every day have their own beauty that is usually overlooked.  Something as ordinary as a turtle or as familiar to us as our own housecat can still be visually interesting if only we take the time to look.

Little Blue Heron; South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC

Even those animals less common in our daily lives can still seem mundane at first glance, but then we look closer at the wing of the flamingo or the gap in a heron's beak or the way the mud cakes in the folds of an elephant's skin and begin to see aspects of the familiar in the unfamiliar.

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The Collections: Architecture

The buildings and structures around us provide shelter and warmth, protecting us from the elements.  Some are so stunning that we cannot help but stop to marvel at their design, while others seem so common that we cannot help but pass through them without giving their walls and corners more than a cursory glance. 

New York Public Library; New York, NY

There are those spaces that are the blend of the utilitarian and the beautiful, where the balance between their purpose and their beauty exists in a state of tension.  Even something so familiar to us can become a new place when we approach it from a new perspective.

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