Thursday, April 29, 2010

Week 17 - The Brothers Mayo

The spring blooms on the Mayo Clinic campus have been at or near peak for a couple of weeks. Until you see it for yourself, it's hard to describe.

This past week, my wife told me I need to go downtown and photograph the beautiful flowers in front of the Gonda building. The sun was shining bright, the flowers were in full bloom, it was a sight to see. Thankfully, it was windy too. I tried shooting the flowers but the kept moving. Statues. Statues don't move in the wind.

This first picture is my submission for the 52 week challenge. The two gentlemen you see are the brothers William and Charles Mayo, M.D. They are the founders of the Mayo Clinic.Two very inspiring men.

My first runner up was this shot. I just loved the reflections in the windows above them. The deep blue of the sky. It would be nice though if I could get this shot without someone driving through.


This is just a closer shot. In terms of composition, this is one of my least favorites.


I was enjoying the challenge of getting the background. This was the angle I was trying before the top one. I just wasn't able to get the words placed just right without including way too much road.


The Mayo Clinic was created in cooperation between the Sisters of St. Francis and the Mayo brothers. This statue is in the park with the brothers Mayo. I had fun composing this one although several of the people I asked to help me narrow down the shots thought that the sister looked like was posing in an unpleasant manner. Actually, this was probably close to my second favorite shot. The interplay of the lines was really fun.


Lastly, some flowers. They were the reason I was in this park. My biggest problem with shooting them was it was just to dang windy. Every time I was close to composing my shot, the wind would blow something unexpected into the view. My buddy Mark thought this should be the one. To me, the pink flower was just too distracting.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my other photos from this years 52 week challenge at my Flickr site!

4 comments:

Astin said...

Well the Sister's pose only looks offensive at first glance. Then you realize it's not only the wrong hand, but that her palm is facing upwards.

Obviously, she's trying to cup something...

Memphis MOJO said...

I like the first runner-up, although they're all terrific, of course.

Mrs4444 said...

Funny--I didn't notice the pink flower until you mentioned it. I agree, now. haha My favorite is the last of the brothers. How great is it that they are remembered in such a special way.

OhCaptain said...

Mrs4444 - the whole place is a tribute to them, it's also there legacy. The seed money for the foundation was half the brother's salary for most of their lives. They took half of their income from the early days of the clinic and had it invested. When they retired, that money was the basis of the Mayo Foundation. Pretty cool.