Tag Archives: travel

I.M. Pei — Design That Endures

National Gallery of Art atrium

photo ©John Siebenthaler

The National Gallery of Art East Wing

News of architect I.M. Pei’s passing this week at the age of 102 touched off memories of my early years spent as a commercial photographer shooting everything from rock bands to cookie-cutter real estate housing developments to a nightmarish oxy-acetylene catalytic torch that could melt concrete. One of those adventures included two days in Washington, D.C., for an assignment at the then still new National Gallery of Art East Wing.

Though usually associated with his unconventional Egyptian pyramid inspired design solution at the Louvre, my path crossed his for a very brief moment the time I photographed his landmark atrium, with its signature Calder mobile floating lazily overhead while my client’s grove of ficus trees softened the sharp angularity of the structure’s beautifully polished marble surfaces, in the nation’s capitol.

If It’s Thursday It Must Be Washington

National Gallery of Art East WingThe gallery shoot was part of an extended romp around the heartland, with previous stops on the road that week in Wichita, Milwaukee, and the still under construction Minneapolis Zoo. It was the last leg of an exhausting schedule, which perhaps explains why I failed to take advantage of the unique access I was granted to this memorable national landmark. Continue reading →

web w.o.m. – careful what you wish for

You! Customer! So What!

Will anyone, anywhere, ever say anything nice about Delta again? The answer is… no. Never. Just when I thought the statue of limitations on self-inflicted airline stupidity had run out after the Pringles/Virgin Air episode, Delta’s merger completion with Northwest last January actually signaled a fresh round of lowering the bar of customer expectations to depths previously unknown.

Reporting for Feministe, Jill Filipovic hit the mother lode of original travel horror story source material on her recent “trip” to Austin’s famously famous SXSW. Lucky for Delta, Jill’s a lawyer with a samurai writer’s instinct.

So even though the year’s still young, here’s my nomination for Best of Show – Travel Horror Stories (Domestic). Turn off the phone, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy.