Heart of Lincoln Land

That’s not quite as many as I would like – only 12 of 88 pictures are taken so far – but I’ve been continuing to work as hard as I can on the project anyway. I’ve been having some trouble with the weather (last week) and some things related to my T-shirts that I have to deal with (this week). Still though, I’m making progress, and I’ve got 8 new pictures. Among them:

* Lincoln Statue in the Southeast Corner of Union Square Park: I took this one on a cloudy day last week to make it look like a storm was coming, since the statue is supposed to represent Lincoln just before he left Springfield to assume the Presidency in Washington. The train station adds to the effect (even though the station he left from was, of course, at 10th and Monroe and Union Station didn’t exist yet). I had a lot of trouble getting the light level right on this one.

* City Hall: Taken in the evening. It was kind of cloudy the day I took it, so I had my camera adjusted for the cloudiness. At the last minute, right when I was down to one picture left on my memory card, the sun came through the clouds and illuminated the building. I quickly took the last picture and it turned out beautiful.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum: I decided I didn’t want to get any of the light poles in the picture, so I took it close up. Of course, you can’t get the whole building that way, but you can create neat effects. I took the picture so that it resembles the logo for the museum. I like the way the sun is shining on it, too.

* South Side of the Square: I love taking a picture of this at sunset. The sun illuminates all of the historic buildings on the south side of the square, causing them to “glow” and creating a very colorful picture.

* Horace Mann Building: Shot from 9th and Jefferson. I like to get a bit of the skyline in back of this one. I also took it in the evening, so that you can see the lights on in the building. I’ve always thought that this building is a good example of modern steel-and-glass architecture.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library: Like the shot of the Museum, I took this one close up, focusing down the 6th Street side of the building. In past years I’ve taken this picture in the daytime, but this year I arrived at the building in the twilight as the sun was setting, and decided to see if I could take a decent picture. I was able to pull it off and capture some neat lighting effects created by the lights in the sidewalk that run along the edge of the building.

* City Hall Fountain West: At night this fountain (at the corner of 7th and Monroe) lights up in gorgeous red and blue colors. I took it at night to capture this effect.

* St. Nicholas Hotel: This building at 4th and Jefferson has a lot of history. Lincoln sat for sculptor Thomas D. Jones on the 4th floor of this building in 1861, just before he went to Washington. Douglas also frequented this hotel. Today it is an apartment building that houses the Caitie Girl’s restaurant on the first floor. (It’s a neat place if you haven’t been there.) I captured the hotel in the evening (including the annex to the south on 4th street) as people were walking into the building.

Pictures from the last week:

Lincoln Statue in the Southeast Corner of Union Square Park	City Hall
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum	South Side of the Square
Horace Mann Building	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
City Hall Fountain West (at 7th and Monroe)	St. Nicholas Hotel

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