A Stroll Through the Park
The largest urban park in St. Louis is Forest Park. It is where the World’s Fair was held in 1904, and where the city’s art museum, zoo, municipal opera, and history museum all live, among other things. In terms of scale, it is a bit more than 50% larger than NYC’s Central Park, and a bit less than 75% smaller than LA’s Griffith Park.
So, since my job is in the park, I decided to go for a stroll Wednesday after work, take some pictures and share them with you. Here goes:
All Nikon D300, with either the Tokina AT-x 80-200mm f/2.8 (Manual Focus) or the Tokina AT-x 11-16mm f/2.8 DX.
I don’t know what’s up with all of my bird shots recently…
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June 12, 2009 at 1:28 pm
wow. these are great. when i lived in SL (for 2 years, 1997-98) i spent alot of time in this park, riding my bike around the bike/rollerblade path. i forget how many miles that is. Forest park is one of the best things about St. Louis. by the way you forgot to mention the really top class science center! O_o
nice photo’s here, interesting p’s.o.v. i particularly like the floating bottle-a reminder of the inconsiderate nature of the human pig.
ps if you want some interesting people shots–go down to the entrance of the zoo in July/August. across the road from there is a picnic ground where large, and i mean HUGE, extended families go to picnic, cook out, play their boom-boxes really loud, and generally have a good old time. it’s quite a spectacle!
June 13, 2009 at 1:20 am
Thanks, Markie. You are right, Forest Park is really great; I read a stat that it is the fifth most visited urban park in the country! Pretty crazy considering St. Louis’ size. And yes, the Science Center is fantastic, but I wasn’t sure if purists would hound me for it being “technically” across the street from the park. Although, I remember the days when the science center was housed in what is now the Planetarium, which is in the park, as well.
As for the shot suggestion, you are totally right! That is just down the hill from the art museum (where I work) and it fills up just as you say.
Thanks again!
June 13, 2009 at 2:49 pm
i guess they moved the science center then, because as i remember it the bike path passed right by it’s front doors, or very close to them. there was an overpass over the highway to another part of the center, and that was the planetarium at the time. i’ll have to look it up now i’m curious! cheers, mark
June 13, 2009 at 2:55 pm
oh boy, i’m 100% flipped around there! you’re right altogether, of course. the science center never changed–but my memory sure did! all coming back now though-the planetarium is where i’d enter from the bike path and i’d have to walk through what was then a mock-up of a coal mine to get to the main building. through the “structures” exhibit, etc and then to the banks of computers. whatever. lovely park. have you managed to catch any shots of the crane in the pond yet? there was always one there hanging out in the same bit of pond whenever i’d ride by. very pretty spot.
June 13, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Ha ha, yeah it’s been ages since I’ve been through the Science Center, but I do remember the mock-up coal mine, and I used to love using the lasers on the overpass to check the speed of cars passing below. Funny that you mention the crane; I have been working on catching a shot of him. Everything so far was just a bit out of focus. I almost had him the other night when I took these though. I crept through a bunch of tall grass along one of the lagoons, ate a bunch of gnats, and right before I could snap the shot, a paddleboat came around the bend with people loudly singing “99 Bottles of Beer” (I don’t know either), and the bird took off. Sigh. If I ever do get a good shot, I will definitely post it here for you.