As a wae lad, I was fascinated by comparative branding and marketing, and that’s how I got to thinking about the differences and similarities between Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company in greater Vancouver and the American Bon Marché in Bellingham and Seattle. But I don’t ever recall a tradition of lighting a star for October/Canadian Thanksgiving.
In downtown Seattle, a grand building opened in 1929 for the locally-owned Bon Marché department store, operating for over 7 decades until “The Bon” became Macy’s in 2005. A holiday star designed by Bob James in 1957 would become a fixture for the city and her residents. In September 2019, Macy’s declared the downtown Seattle location would be closing at the end of February 2020. At the time, the announcement included no plans for lighting the holiday star.
However, the star looks to be coming back for one more (final?) illumination, as a local lighting company agreed to refurbish and reassemble the star in time for the 2019 Thanksgiving season. Festivities occur Friday November 29, beginning with the annual Thanksgiving parade followed by the star’s lighting and fireworks.
The “universal” idea of living in a house or apartment with the furnishings we all take for granted from bathroom to bedroom and kitchen to living room is a relatively young idea by historical standards. It’s easy to imagine a time where only the rich upper-class could afford and were allowed to have and live in heated furnished residences, and the poor lower-class lived in unheated homes under damp dirty squalid conditions. Past designs with its heavy stone, porcelain, and ornate decorative components gave way to steel, glass, lightness of space, to favouring function over form. Simpler designs were meant to provide universal access: to the home, and to the essentials which furnished the home.
When I lived in Germany, I remembered the ads for Radeberger Pilsner, and I wondered about some of the venues shown. I realized the buildings were in the famous city of Dresden on the Elbe river in southeast Germany, and the city of Radeberg was only 15 kilometres from Dresden. Images of the Dresden’s landmarks have been an important part of Radeberger brewery’s advertising campaign to show the beer’s exceptional quality and to associate that very same quality by (physical) proximity with the symbolism of Dresden’s historic landmarks.
Dresdner Wahrzeichen (Dresden Landmark)
As one of the city’s most well-known landmarks, the Semperoper (Semper Opera House) appears in countless images representing Dresden. The Semperoper is the showpiece structure at Theaterplatz (Theater Square) looking over the river Elbe in the city’s Altstadt (Old Town). The first version of the building opened in 1841 with the design provided by Gottfried Semper. After destruction by fire in 1869, the second version of the building, also to Semper’s design, was completed in 1878. Only the Semperoper’s outer facade remained in 1945 during the final stages of the Second World War. Built once again to Semper’s original designs, the third and present version of the Semperoper opened to great acclaim on 13 February 1985. The interiors were reconstructed according to original plans and designs, whereas stage machinery and technical and engineering requirements are all updated to the best standards in audio quality.
With the leading title “Sächsische Staatstheater-Staatsoper und Staatsschauspiel Dresden”, the opera house is home to the Saxon State Opera, the Saxon State Theatre, the Semperoper Ballet, and one of the world’s oldest orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, founded by Prince Elector Moritz von Sachsen in 1548.
The Semper Oper is a natural part of any walking tour of Dresden, as Theaterplatz is minutes from the Zwinger, Residenzschloss, and the Frauenkirche. I’m awed by the night tour, a chance to see up close the building’s Baroque style exterior and the classic ornate interior. Everybody speaks in calm hushed voices, the unspoken agreement to be mindful and respectful of this venue. Despite the presence of other people in other tour groups, it feels like I have the Opera House to myself at 11pm.
Classic shot of the front by day
Classic shot of the front at night; also featured on the “night watch”
Ceiling mural
Some columns real marble (cool to touch); some faux-marble plaster (warm to touch). Full replacements were too expensive for the GDR/DDR at the time
S. Kurpiers, one of the stage managers and our guide for the evening
Main stage & orchestra, from central box section in the 1st balcony (Loge, 1. Rang). Clock at top-centre reads “XI 5”, or 1105pm
“Box” seats normally reserved for representatives and guests of the German federal state of Saxony
Separate guided tour to our left; there are 4 balconies
Another tour to the right
Looking up; lip of the 2nd balcony appears at top
Massive central chandelier light-fixture overhead; clock reads “XI 20” (1120pm)
Thanks to Semperoper for opening their facility to the public at night, and thanks to S. Kurpiers who kindly guided our tour of the venue. Thanks also to Germany Tourism, Saxony Tourism, and Dresden Tourism for their support and hospitality. I made all of the photos above on 22 April 2015 with the Canon EOS6D. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-7sx.
The following is an advertisement for Radeberger brewery from 2014. The advert for their Pilsener ends with an image of Dresden’s Semper Oper at night and the slogan “schon immer besonders” (always special).
Opened on 20 October 1973, the Sydney Opera House celebrates its 41st anniversary in 2014. First-time visitors to Sydney almost always seek out the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge nearby. When I’m in Sydney, I always go back to Sydney Harbour to remind myself the Opera House is “still there.” No, it’s not rational; yes, it’s entirely emotional.
For more about the Opera House project, please check out this post about the construction of this UNESCO World Heritage site, and how a “Sphere of Fruit” has all to do with the famous sail-like roof.
With the shadow of the Harbour Bridge against the Opera House, I made the photo on 12 May 2013 with the Canon EOS450D (XSi) camera and the EF 50/1.4 prime-lens with the following settings: 1/800s, f/8, ISO200, 50mm (80mm) focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-57c.
Above/featured: South view from Sydney Harbour towards the CBD – 12 Apr 2013 (450D).
Standing prominently above Sydney’s Bennelong Point, the white shelled structure serves as an icon for city and country.
The Sydney Opera House is made up of three groups of interlocking “vaulted shells” housing two primary concert auditorium spaces. The shell-like structures sit upon a large platform, encompassed on the outside by stepped terraces as staging or assembly areas for visitors.
On 20 October 1973, Queen Elizabeth II formally opened The Opera House. Forty years on, the building is an icon for both Sydney and Australia. The building endures as a “landmark” and “ambassador” for both city and country. Immediately telling are the roof’s white shells, looking like wind-blown sails at a distance in the harbour.
I wrote previously about “flipping” or resetting the image-number counter on my camera for the 7th time as I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
I was wrong and I’d been too hasty when I began writing. I’d read the image numbers incorrectly, and I’d overlooked the image numbers (67000!).
But it wasn’t long until zeroes were back on the camera display and the actual 70000th exposure was made on the Canon 450D/XSi.
For a few evenings after opening night, I’d visited and photographed various displays at the VIVID Sydney festival of lights around Sydney Cove, Walsh Bay, and Darling Harbour. Midweek is a good time with fewer people around for plenty of space at the best spots to photograph the sights. I chose a Wednesday evening to focus on the Opera House. The photos below form a part of the sequence called “PLAY” by the Spinifex Group who have additional projections at the festival.
March 19 marks the anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the key landmarks in Sydney, Australia.
Known informally as “The Coathanger”, the steel through-type arch bridge opened on 19 March 1932, joining the harbour’s northern “Kiarabilli” (Milsons Point) with southern “Tarra” (Dawes Point) to vehicular traffic for the first time. The project took eight years to complete the 1.2-kilometre span over the Parramatta River as its waters empty into Sydney Harbour.
It’s easy to forget Sydney is a city of bridges, as Elizabeth Farrelly wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on 3 January 2013:
Sydney: five bells, one harbour, seven bridges. A bridge is the ultimate romantic symbol, crystallising in steel and concrete the yearning to connect disparate worlds – and Sydney, city of baroque waterways, is as fully (if not as glamorously) bridged as London, Stockholm or Prague.
It’s big, it’s functional, even as some call it “old and ugly.” Today, the bridge provides an important link between the city’s northern suburbs and the Central Business District.
The smooth shiny metallic curves of the Harbour Bridge and the sail-like spherical-shells on the roof of the nearby Opera House form a visually powerful combination which has not only helped to define Sydney but Australia as well on the world stage.
I cannot disentangle memories of Sydney or Australia without thinking about The Bridge. I know when I finally see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, I know I’ve arrived and I’m back in Sydney.
Sunrise from Mrs. Macquarie’s Point
Under the central arch
Northbound, through the south pylons
“THIS … is Sydney!”
Down to the right, up to the left
Swarming ships on a summer Saturday, at Circular Quay
Parramatta River, towards Birchgrove
Parramatta River, near Cockatoo Island
Moonset in front and sunrise behind, from Dover Heights
Morning light on the City skyline, from Dover Heights
Full moon over Harbour Bridge, VIVID Sydney 2013, from Blues Point Reserve
I made all of the photos above between 2007 and 2013. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land called Australia, and the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as traditional custodians of the place called Sydney. References to Aboriginal placenames: ANU, Australian Museum, Creative Spirits, and Pocket Oz. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-38e.
Fotoeins Fotografie 