Fortunately, my visit back to Charlotte overlapped with the grand opening of the Bechler Museum of Modern Art. Charlotte’s architecture is largely bland and corporate, the same glass and steel that’s typical of un-imaginative “efficient” building designs. Now that the Bechler is open, I hope it becomes the face of the city. Housing some awesome pieces only bolsters its amazingness. Who knew there were so many modern art tapestries? Or that said tapestries were woven by Picasso?

Sure, its far from perfect as @thediscochicken will tell you. But this is the kind of challenging provocative space Uptown CLT needs desperately. The only awesome building in Blandcouver is the downtown library… the only structure that stands out from the countless towers copied and pasted from Hong Kong.

The Boathouse at Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I still have so many amazing photos to post from my road-trip from NC to BC. This is one example. I’m longing for the sun and blue skies of the Canadian Rockies after the incessant gray that hangs above the trees and building of Vancouver winters.

As one of the most iconic images of the United States, Mt. Rushmore was very different from my expectations. Everyone sees the typical view above (although not in HDR) but most people don’t see the entirety of the monument depicted below. Located in the gorgeous Black Hills of South Dakota, the monument is strange. I expected the carving to be on a massive rock that juts out of the flat earth, but in reality you have to drive up the mountains to reach it. These really are mountains, not the Rockies or the Appalachian but definitely mountains. The nearby town of Keystone is nothing more than the town that Rushmore built. My visit to Mt. Rushmore was definitely the most touristy thing I did the whole cross-country roadtrip. And that is saying something, I also went to the 18m (~60ft) Jolly Green Giant.

]]> http://jritchphotography.com/267/feed 0 http://jritchphotography.com/265 http://jritchphotography.com/265#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:16:04 +0000 jritch http://jritchphotography.com/?p=265 Chicago’s Millennium Park is an incredible place, after seeing it I now feel disappointed when I visit any other park in any other city… except for maybe Stanley Park in Vancouver. I really like the ghosts in this photo as the people walked through my shots.]]>

Chicago’s Millennium Park is an incredible place, after seeing it I now feel disappointed when I visit any other park in any other city… except for maybe Stanley Park in Vancouver. I really like the ghosts in this photo as the people walked through my shots.

This is an oldie but goodie. A few weeks ago when @jameswillamor and I took a flight around Uptown this picture came out nicely. When I move to Vancouver I hope to do a flyaround of that city as well.

At the millennium gate in downtown Vancouver, the entrance to Chinatown is guarded by these picturesque Chinese dragons.

It was a cold night when I was there but had a lot of fun walking through the area.

When I had an opportunity to visit Jane in February 2006 during her spring semester in France, I truly enjoyed the week I spent in Paris. Because it wasn’t tourist season, Jane and I got to see more of the real France than most people get a chance to. Also our visit to Limoges didn’t hurt either. Paris was very relaxed and vibrant, I could totally live there.

I like this picture because I see so many people in it, I feel it conveys some of the chaos/exhiliration of a tourist as opposed to the usual framed shots take of Parisian landmarks.

the statue from the main entrance at UNC Charlotte, clearly a landmark because it is the college mascot

The Purgstall nature path // taken on a nature path on the main street in Purgstall, Austria

In the little Austria villa of Purgstall, there is a shaded path that leads down a trail along the river. This wall looked so old and appeard to have so much character that I had to photograph it

taken during my first trip to New Orleans