DC Art: Little Dancer of Fourteen Years by Degas

French Impressionist Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is known for his paintings of ballet dancers. He also made many sculptures, but only exhibited this one, Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, in his lifetime. It was shown at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1881. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has the original of this sculpture. Degas used yellow wax, hair, ribbon, a linen bodice, satin shoes, a muslin tutu and a wood base to create the sculpture. The photo on the top right is of the original wax sculpture. The other two photos are of a plaster copy, also in the National Gallery. Ballet student Marie van Goethem was the model for the sculpture.

A Trumpeter Swan Grows Up

In the summer of 2008 I photographed a cygnet (baby swan) as it was growing up. Here are some of the photographs I took.

About a week old...

About a month old...

Two-and-a-half months old...

Tegan and Sara at Twist and Shout, Denver

Tegan Quin

Sara Quin

Tegan and Sara played a very cool set at Denver's Twist and Shout record store on Sept. 13, 2010. I managed to take a few photographs while peeking through all the people, record racks, amps and microphone stands. They played later that night with Paramore at Red Rocks. Camera: Nikon D80; Lens: Nikon 85mm f1.4.

Also see: Tegan and Sara in Aspen

Lavec Plastic Camera from Time Magazine circa 1981

In the early 1980s I received a plastic 35mm camera as a promotional gift for subscribing to Time magazine. The camera was made by a company called Lavec in Taiwan. It came with a strap, lens cap and case. Unlike the Holga and Diana cameras, the Lavec doesn't seem to have much of a following. But I enjoyed playing around with it. Here are three pictures I took with the Lavec camera around the time I got it. For the Broadway photograph, I set the camera on the sidewalk and pushed the shutter.


Winter Trees, Ketring Park, Littleton, Colorado


Three Charred Guitars, Orchard Road, Littleton, Colorado


Broadway at Night, Littleton, Colorado

Swan Dance in Australia - Lumix Life

My "Swan Dance" gallery was shown in a photography gallery in Sydney, Australia as part of Panasonic's Lumix Life exhibition. Here are some screen shots from a webcam set up in the gallery, along with the original photos.







You can see art works made from my swan photos at: Swan Art

Twins in Light: Wooden Tops

These wooden tops were made by Alan Gray, a mechanical engineer, who enjoys making toys that balance. The package they came in arrived on a sunny spring day. When I opened the box the sunlight from outside my front door and window made a nice glow on the red tissue paper and the colored top. So I took a picture.

The top maker's website is at: Wood Tops