Life-Size Portrait of Jimmy Carter (1924-2024) by Robert Templeton, 1980, oil on canvas, seven feet, nine inches high by four feet, nine inches wide, dressed in black bunting, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC – Photo by David Enzel (January 5, 2024)
Jimmy Carter was President when I began my Federal career in 1979, marking the start of a journey through decades of public service. I retired during the Biden Administration, reflecting on the many changes and milestones I witnessed in our nation’s history.
President Carter was not only a capable leader but also a person of exceptional character. His humility, compassion, and unwavering commitment to humanitarian causes embody a kind of leadership that earns enduring respect and admiration.
As I reflect on his extraordinary life and legacy, I am both comforted and inspired by President Carter’s steadfast dedication to justice, peace, and the betterment of humanity. His example serves as a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when integrity and empathy guide our actions, leaving a profound and lasting impact on those fortunate enough to have witnessed his contributions to the nation and the world.
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on a 2.27 acre campus. The Neon Museum has an outdoor exhibition space known as the Neon Boneyard. Boneyard is traditionally the name for an area where items no longer in use are stored.
Efforts to establish a neon sign museum date to the late 1980s, but stalled due to a lack of resources. On September 18, 1996, the Las Vegas City Council voted to fund such a project, to be known as the Neon Museum. The organization started out by re-installing old signage in downtown Las Vegas, to attract more visitors to the area.
Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) had manufactured many neon signs in the city, and the company had a storage site for old signs which would eventually become part of the Neon Museum collection. In 2000, as YESCO prepared to close its storage lot, the city provided the museum with land to start its own. Tours of the new site, known as the Neon Boneyard, began in 2001, by appointment only.
The lobby of the former La Concha Motel, located on the Las Vegas Strip, was donated to the museum and moved there in 2006, eventually becoming its visitor center. Construction to convert the lobby began in May 2011, and the museum officially opened to the general public on October 27, 2012, eliminating the appointment system.
Each of the more than 250 signs in the Neon Museum’s collection offers a unique story about the personalities who created it, what inspired it, where and when it was made, and the role it played in Las Vegas’ distinctive history.
Neon Museum – David Enzel, 2024
The Museum has announced plans for relocation and expansion in downtown Las Vegas’ Art District. The plan is to nearly triple the size of its current location. Currently, only 35 percent of the museum’s collection is visible to the public.
The Neon Museum is located at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. N, Las Vegas NV, 89101. You can buy tickets here.
Alta is located at 70 degrees north, far above the Arctic Circle. Alta is considered the northernmost city in the world with a population surpassing 10,000. The 9.81-square-kilometre (2,420-acre) town has a population (2023) of 15,931. At this latitude, nature is in total control.
Alta is a good place to see the Northern Lights due the region’s relatively stable climate and minimal light pollution, particularly when heading out of town into the surrounding wilderness. The Aurora has been known to be seen here for up to 200 nights a year.
Alta is a center of transportation in Finnmark county. The town has port facilities along Altafjorden, just alongside Alta Airport in Elvebakken. The airport has direct flights to Oslo and certain other big cities in Norway like Tromsø. The European route E6 highway also runs through the town and the European route E45 has its northern terminus in the town. The main industries present in Alta include a concrete product factory; several wood mills and sawmills; and dairy, horticulture trade, and maritime services.
“Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment,” is an important presentation of 130 works including a rare reunion of many of the paintings first featured in that now-legendary Société Anonyme exhibition 150 years ago, which is recognized as the event that gave birth to French Impressionism. On April 15, 1874, the first impressionist exhibition opened in Paris. Hungry for independence, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne decided to free themselves from the rules by holding their own exhibition, outside official channels: impressionism was born.
You can see paintings by Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro and meet their lesser-known contemporaries. See the art norms they were rebelling against and learn what political and social shifts sparked their new approach to art.
The show is on view until January 19, 2025 at the National Gallery of Art. This exhibition is not ticketed. You may need to join a line on busier days. Weekends tend to be most crowded.
Blenheim Palace is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. Originally called Blenheim Castle, it has been known as Blenheim Palace since the 19th century. It was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is among England’s largest houses. The palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965).
Blenheim Palace was designed by John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). The English nation presented the site to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops (the Battle of Blenheim), a victory which decided the future of the Empire and, in doing so, made him a figure of international importance.
Blenheim Palace sits within a large walled landscape park, the structure by Vanbrugh overlaid by the designs of Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716-1783), an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English landscape garden style.The Park is considered “a naturalistic Versailles”.
The original landscape set out by Vanbrugh, who regulated the course of the River Glyme, was later modified by Lancelot “Capability” Brown who created two lakes, seen as one of the greatest examples of naturalistic landscape design.
Following the palace’s completion, it became the home of the Churchill (later Spencer-Churchill) family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have changed the interiors, park and gardens. At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough’s marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.
Blenheim Palace sits on an estate that covers about 2,000 acres (approximately 810 hectares) and has 187 rooms. When I visited earlier this year I could not help but think of Blenheim as a “mini-Versailles”. In contrast, the Palace of Versailles has 2,300 rooms and is located on a 2,000-acre estate, about the same size as Blenheim. Versailles is older. Construction started in 1661, compared with the early 18th century for Blenheim.
Comparisons aside, a visit to Blenheim is a great way to spend a day.
My new Canon R5 Mark II arrived on August 20, 2024. I have been a happy user of the original Canon R5. I wanted to share my initial impressions.
The body feels very similar to the original R5, which I think is good.
The on/off switch is now on the right instead of the left. On the left, there is now a toggle to switch from stills to video. I am not used to this yet and I keep switching to video when I want to turn the body on or off. I am sure I will get used to this.
The viewfinder on the Mark II is much bigger. I love this. The new viewfinder is also clear and sharp to my eye. I thought the original viewfinder was nice. The new viewfinder feels like a welcome luxury.
The camera is very fast. I set up the camera to rely solely on the electronic shutter. From what I have read there is almost no rolling shutter. I’m not sure that I need to use the mechanical shutter.
The autofocus finds the eyes of people really fast even if the eye is far away and therefore small. It’s a big step up.
The R5 Mark II can be set play a realistic shutter sound when it’s using electronic shutter. I find this useful; the sound can be pretty low.
When you enable pre-continuous shooting, the camera starts recording images when you half-press the shutter button, but it keeps the images in its buffer and doesn’t record them to your memory card until you fully press the shutter button. This allows you to take up 15 shots (in RAW) before pressing the shutter button, which improves the chances of capturing the right moment. A symbol in the viewfinder tells you when this is on and counts down the shots.
However, if you enable pre-continuous shooting, Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is grayed out and there is no explanation of why it’s grayed out in the menu or the camera manual. This was frustrating. When a function is grayed out, I think there ought to be an explanation of why it’s grayed out. Canon is usually pretty good about providing such explanations and I hope this will be addressed in a firmware update. I use AEB in difficult lighting situations. I need to find a quick way to turn pre-continuous shooting on and off so I can use AEB when I need it.
I have yet to test high ISO performance but found this post by Canon Ambassador Helen Bartlett helpful.
I made the portraits in this post using the Canon R5 Mark II at a StreetMeetDC event.
Henry Clay Folger (1857-1930) and his wife, Emily Jordan Folger (1858-1936), established the Folger Shakespeare Library as a gift to the American people, after decades of assembling the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials. It opened in 1932, two years after the death of Henry Folger. The Folger’s collection features the 82 First Folios of Shakespeare, the 1623 publication that is one of the most sought-after and important books in the history of publishing.
Henry Folger was a first cousin six times removed of Benjamin Franklin and a nephew of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folger Coffee.
After opening, the Folger steadily expanded its holdings to become a world-class research center on the early modern period, while remaining the premier center for Shakespeare studies and resources outside of England. The Folger has the world’s largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period (1500–1750) in Britain and Europe.
The Folger’s public outreach programs, beginning in the library’s early decades with exhibitions, lectures, and publications, have also grown over time.
Emily Folger wrote of Henry Folger’s belief that Shakespeare “is one of our best sources, one of the wells from which we Americans draw our national thought, our faith and our hope.” This belief in the deep connection between Shakespeare and America is the reason the Folger Shakespeare Library is located in the nation’s capital.
The Folgers worked closely with the French-born architect Paul Philippe Cret (1876-1945) to create a marble building which reads like a book, and whose placement testified to the hope that Washington, DC, would become the nation’s civic and cultural capital.
The Folger collection began in 1889 with Henry Folger’s first purchase of a rare book, a copy of the 1685 Fourth Folio of Shakespeare’s plays. By the time the collection was transported to the new library, it amounted to 200,000 items.
In 1938, the library acquired the collection of the late Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, comprising more than 8,000 rare books printed in England between 1475 and 1640. Together with later acquisitions, the Harmsworth purchase expanded the Folger’s focus beyond Shakespeare studies to include virtually all aspects of the early modern period in Europe.
From 1948 to 1968, Folger Director Louis B. Wright added substantial materials from the Renaissance in Europe, acquiring 22,000 continental books and 19,000 more English books.
The Folger continues to make new acquisitions of rare material.
In 1930, the library was placed in trust of Amherst College, Henry Folger’s alma mater. The library building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The beautiful Reading Room officially opened in January 1933 and today contains reference works for easy accessibility to readers. Henry Folger wanted the Library’s reading room to feel at once like a private home and the Great Hall of an English college. It features stained-glass windows and a large stone fireplace which has never been used. The large stained-glass window overlooking what is now the Gail Kern Paster Reading Room was designed and created by Nicola D’Ascenzo (1871-1954), an Italian-born American stained glass designer, painter and instructor. The Reading Room also features 16th- and 17th-century French and Flemish tapestries, carved oak paneling and a high trussed roof.
On a hall screen at the east end hang portraits of the Folgers in their academic robes, painted by the British artist Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1962). Above the Salisbury portraits is a bust of Shakespeare based on his memorial in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. The ashes of both Folgers are immured behind a memorial plaque.
At the west end of the Reading Room is one of the Folger’s treasures, a large stained-glass window depicting the Seven Ages of Man from Jaques’s speech in As You Like It. Although the window is exposed to exterior sunlight, it is in an interior space and is not visible from outside the building.
The intimate Elizabethan Theatre is the setting for Folger Theatre productions. With its three-tiered wooden balconies, carved oak columns, and half-timbered facade, the Theatre evokes the courtyard of an English Renaissance inn. The theater seats around 260. It has no pit. The first theatrical performance in the Elizabethan Theatre was a 1949 production of Julius Caesar.
A major four-year expansion and renovation led by Kieran Timberlake was completed in 2024.
The Folger Shakespeare Library (201 E. Capitol St. SE) is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours to 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Free timed entry passes are recommended.
This construction project at the Lincoln Memorial will create 15,000 square feet of exhibit space that tells a more complete story of the Lincoln Memorial and provides a look at the structure’s foundations in a cavernous area known as the undercroft. New museum exhibits and multimedia presentations will highlight the construction history of the memorial and discuss how the Lincoln Memorial has become the nation’s foremost backdrop for civil rights demonstrations. The project also includes new restrooms, a larger bookstore, and replacement of the existing elevator as well as the addition of a second elevator.
The undercroft of the Lincoln Memorial is a tall grid of concrete columns surrounded by large expanses of open space. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls will provide a view of the undercroft, and an immersive theater presentation will project images of historic events onto the foundations. Visitors will also learn about the significance of the site as an international icon dedicated to the achievements of Abraham Lincoln and individuals such as Marian Anderson (1897-1993) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), who have shaped the history of the memorial.
The project will cost $69 million ($26 million from the National Park Service and $43 million in private donations to the National Park Foundation). It is scheduled for completion in July, 2026.
The Lincoln Memorial, including the the 120-ton statue of Abraham Lincoln shown above, remains open during the project. The basement area exhibits, restrooms and elevator will close during construction, however temporary restrooms, bookstore and a handicapped accessible lift will be available for the duration of the work.
And here’s a glimpse from The Washington Post of how the undercroft will be transformed. It looks great.
Solothurn (pop. 16,777) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains.
Cathedral of St. Ursus. Solothurn, Switzerland
The town is the only municipality of the district of the same name.
The town got its name from Salodurum, a Roman-era settlement. From 1530 to 1792 it was the seat of the French ambassador to Switzerland. The pedestrian-only old town was built between 1530 and 1792 and shows an impressive array of Baroque architecture, combining Italian Grandezza, French style, and Swiss ideas. The town has eighteen structures listed as heritage sites.
The official language of Solothurn is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
Solothurn is said to be the most beautiful baroque city in Switzerland. The imposing buildings were constructed in various epochs: ranging from the first half of the 12th century, when the clock tower was built, to 1773, when St. Ursus Cathedral was constructed in baroque and neo-classical style.
Cathedral of St. Ursus. Solothurn, Switzerland
St. Ursus Cathedral is Solothurn’s main attraction. It is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in Solothurn.
St. Ursus Cathedral is considered the most significant Swiss building from the early neoclassical period, and was constructed using light-colored Solothurn marble. The cathedral is also full of Solothurn’s magic number 11: three sets of 11 imposing steps lead up to the cathedral; inside, the cathedral has 11 altars; and the tower is 66 m tall (6 x 11) and has 11 bells.
The historic heart of Solothurn, Switzerland, with it cobblestone square framed by centuries-old buildings under a brilliant autumn sky.
The third complete reconstruction of the cathedral took place from 1762 to 1773 according to a design by Gaetano Matteo Pisoni from Ascona – lasting exactly 11 years. Pisoni’s nephew, Paolo Antonio Pisoni, managed the later years of the construction. Eleven bells from the Kaiser foundry in Solothurn (1764–1768) hang behind large acoustic openings. The high altar by Carlo Luca Pozzi echoes the form of a sarcophagus. The cathedral treasure is stored on the ground floor of the tower.
Under brooding skies in Switzerland, a lone cyclist rides past the stately facades of a quiet town square.
