I had been commissioned to take photos of The Cascades Inn in Tiger, Georgia. En route to the location, we made a pit stop in Atlanta to visit the High Art Museum. Renowned for its architecture, the museum derives its name from the elevated state of mind one experiences while exploring the carefully selected and remarkable array of African, American, and contemporary artworks.
Feeling extremely excited, I unexpectedly discovered the current exhibition titled “Dutch Art in a Global Age”, which particularly caught my interest as Dutch art from the Golden Age in the 17th century is among my favorites. Renowned for its remarkable realism and portrayal of everyday secular life, Dutch art captivates me. With only 20 minutes left until closing time, I hurriedly made my way through the exhibition halls, wondering why I always arrive so late. I developed an interest in art about 2.5 years ago and have been exploring various exhibitions ever since.
Among them are
the Pérez Art Museum Miami
the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC,
the Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florida,
die Gemaeldegalerie “Alte Meister” in Dresden, Germany,
The Orlando Museum of Art
and the MOMA in New York.
I was sprinting through all of them. Why do I always get there so late or am so time restricted.
For example I had no time to look at this painting up close.
So let’s do it now. Ok, Google Lens, what am I looking at? Portrait of a Man, Franz Hals. That’s a fitting title. Franz Hals exclusively painted portraits and was highly successful at it. Just like Rachel Ruysch was in the genre of still life paintings.
This one is so interesting.
I love the time travel like feeling when looking at stuff like this. This family existed and posed like this some 400 years ago. I find that fascinating. Check out the kids, wow. The lady in the picture frame didn’t make it. Most likely she had an illness that would be easily cured today. Back then they didn’t know about infectious bacteria and diseases. A simple wound, if getting infected could easily be a death sentence.
Here is a Rembrandt.
If I had to pick a favorite artist of this time it would be Vermeer. I did ask one of the Museumsaufseher (can't find a good English word for it), if there was a Vermeer present, she said no, but I am not entirely sure if we were talking about the same thing, since I find it hard to pronounce the name in English, but a Rembrandt is pretty cool. I mean, top ten of iconic artists, easily, right.
Lastly a painting I actually got to enjoy for a minute or two, which is also one of my favorites of this period. The artist is Jan Steen and he often painted turbulent scenes with a good amount of humor in it.
The woman got all kinds of aces up her sleeves and on the floor. Eine Falschspielerin, but she ain’t worried. If the guy she is cheating out of his worldly goods, possibly they are playing for the Middle Eastern carpet on the table which is superbly drawn in all its detail by Steen, and which is a symbol for the wealth that the Netherlands experienced due to their dominance in trade at this time period, she would just make use of her drapier and he’d be done with it. Also, what’s going on back in that room in the background?
During my trip preparation, I came across information about the Anne Cox Chambers Wing, which features 1,000 light scoops designed to filter northern light into the skyway galleries. However, in the rush of exploring the building, I completely overlooked this area and missed out on experiencing it. It's unfortunate because it sounded fascinating, and I probably missed capturing some great shots. Nonetheless, the photos I took of the contemporary art on display turned out quite well. Here are a few of my favorite shots where I creatively combined different artworks into a single frame.
Please see my gallery or the video of this project for more.
Then their was the really cool kids area.
And the mysterious Stent Wing. This photo was taken 33 seconds before closing.
I didn’t have time to go there. What’s going on in there? It looks so mysterious?
That was the High Museum of Art. Right across the street is the MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art, oh, no, sorry, I mean the MODA, the Museum of Design Atlanta. Why be a boring graphic designer or architect, if you could be a pasta designer.
During our visit, we stayed at The Cascades Inn for four nights, during which I captured images of the interiors of all nine guest rooms as well as the exteriors. The inn is situated beside a charming waterfall, which inspired its name. Interestingly, the name is also quite apt for the inn's architecture. Be sure to take a look.
We quickly became friends with this guy. I gave him the nuts of my chocolate bar and he thought I was supercool.
"Hey Dude, you got any more treats for me?"
It got a bit smokey.
The waterfall was actually pretty loud. And never-ending. I used an ND-filter for this shot to slow down the shutter speed.
During our return journey, we made a stop in Atlanta once more. I aimed to capture some photographs of the "Center for Civil and Human Rights," an architectural masterpiece by Philip Freelon. Regrettably, the Center was undergoing expansion, leading to extensive construction work. Consequently, I could only find this specific angle that excluded any views of the construction site.
Here is a shot where I used plenty of Photoshop to get rid of the construction distraction.
Right across from the Center for Civil and Human Rights is the World of Coca-Cola. I hardly ever drink soda and I haven't had Coca-Cola in over a decade, but I do like how pleasing the structure blends in with the Atlanta highrises in the background.
Lastly we visited the Georgia Aquarium.
Imre was very impressed with this huge grouper.
My son and my wife also liked these immersive fish tanks. I mean, they really had a blast.
That was our trip to Georgia. While we were staying at The Cascades Inn Imre made a bunch of bracelets for the Taylor Swift concert on July 19th in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
This upcoming journey will encompass visits to Miami to explore the Art Deco district, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany, among other destinations. This trip promises numerous wonderful photo opportunities, and I am eagerly anticipating it.
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