May 15, Astoria's Doughboy Monument: Finding an angle

In the center of this photo is Astoria's Doughby Monument. I like the photo with its nice-looking historic houses, but there's one problem - you can barely see the doughboy. I'd decided to use this monument for the ShutterDay photomeme on my other blog, Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo. And then I ran into the complications. You can see those below, and you can read my thoughts about the monument itself on the Astoria Daily Photo blog.

The closest I could get to making the background disappear was lying on the grass in front of the monument. Actually, it was so bright out, I didn't see the one wire or the edge of the lamp until I downloaded the picture.

Here he is in close-up.

I really like the expressive legs and feet with their vintage boots and the snarl of barbed wire - a nice touch by the artist.

This angle might have been interesting if not for the power lines. And of course, there is no longer a river view here.

Impossible. Here the doughboy looks like an urban street fighter.

Eeesh. Way too cluttered, but you can see the massive curve of the Astoria-Megler Bridge and also the access to the restroom housed in the monument. This is thoughtful. There are a few public bathrooms around town if you know where to look for them, but not a lot.

Also impossible.

Here's a photo showing the plaque. I was going to leave it large so you could read it, but I spaced out and sized it. You can read the text here on my other blog. Just scroll down.

I thought I'd include the commemorative bench. Click here for further info on the monument.

The doughboy may be one of Astoria's two free-standing public statues, but I'll keep my eye out for more.

Does your town have public sculpture?

Oct 15, Part 14 - In the north transept of St Denis Basilica

As we came back up out of the crypt, Hermentrude was one of the first tombs we encountered. Sometimes she's called Ermentrude, especially, it seems, in genealogies.

As I said before, they have the tombs marked out clearly. Here are a couple of very famous monarchs.

I didn't do a good job of noting which monument markers went with which photos, though. Online I found that this is the tomb of Louis XII of France and Anne de Bretagne. Louis was crowned in 1498.

Stained glass and architecture of the cathedral.

There were some nice displays for tourists. As I said, the place seems about half church and half museum. What history there is here!

I don't know who they are. This is just another interior scene of the basilica.

Gothic arches and stained glass.

Another nice tomb sculpture with details of the clothing.

This photo shows the three main levels of the basilica. We're standing on the ground floor. The stairs go up to the main altar level, which also contains monuments and tombs. You can't see it well, but on the far right below the banister, stairs go down to the crypt. This is the design on both sides of the church. It makes a really interesting plan for the visitor.

More leaded glass.

I'm not sure which tomb this is. It's one of the few really large ones.

A nice detail of the stained glass. Yes, it's in focus and exposed well. I love it when that happens! :)

This photo again shows the southern rose window of St-Denis, which is being repaired. The amount of glass they were able to build into the walls of this church is amazing. But that's what Gothic was about.

It occurred to me to record what the floor tiles looked like. In some churches they put carpet down that resembles the floor, but in this case I think it was the real tiles.

Here's another favorite.

I don't remember if this is the only brass tomb cover, but there are not many. I took the photo because it was unusual, and because I like the way the stained glass is reflected.

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Go to Part 15