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Home > TME Community > Share Your Work > People, Portraiture, Lifestyles, and Events > Little Gracie
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Little Gracie
Started April 9, 2012 @ 8:54am by Wes
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Wes
Posts: 8,976 |
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| Little Gracie | April 9, 2012 @ 8:54am | 
History:
Little Gracie Watson: A stone memorial marker, located at the gravesite of the child known as Little Gracie Watson, offers a brief description of her short life, the circumstances of her death and information about the creation of this beautiful memorial sculpture as follows:
Little Gracie Watson was born in 1883, the only child of her parents. Her father was manager of the Pulaski House, one of Savannah's leading hotels, where the beautiful and charming little girl was a favorite with the guests. Two days before Easter, in April 1889, Gracie died of pneumonia at the age of six. In 1890, when the rising sculptor, John Walz, moved to Savannah, he carved from a photograph this life-sized, delicately detailed marble statue, which for almost a century has captured the interest of all passersby.
Because the sculpture has attracted the attention of so many visitors to Bonaventure Cemetery, an iron fence encloses the gravesite for safekeeping. (See another photo on Page 1.)
Location: The Gracie Watson Burial Site is located at Lot 99 in Section E, off of Mullryne Way.
Sculptor John Walz (1844-1922): Savannah sculptor, John Walz, created many other beautiful funerary monuments found in Bonaventure Cemetery, many of which are located along the Cemetery Street, Walz Way, named in his honor. He also created stone architectural sculptures and relief ornaments for many of Savannah's public buildings. Sadly, he is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery in a grave without a headstone.
Wes |
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Flo
Posts: 17,472 |
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| April 9, 2012 @ 6:19pm | Wes, a beautiful B&W conversion. I remember trying to get a decent image of Little Gracie, but was frustrated by the fence. But I do understand the necessity for the fence.
It's so sad when a child dies before her parents. That's not the proper order of the Universe, in my world view.
Flo - PPY
"May we live in peace without weeping. May our joy outline the lives we touch without ceasing. And may our love fill the world, angel wings beating." aziza
http://photos.tonebytone.com |
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GregFied
Posts: 793 |
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| April 22, 2012 @ 12:01pm | Wes, I too, had the pleasure of visiting Bonaventure back in March this year, and was captivated by little Gracie and her story.
I took almost 2 dozen photos of her from different angles, none of which came close to what I see here. Very well captured!
I think that trying to incorporate the beautiful azaleas that were in full bloom in March may have actually detracted from the Gracie photos I took.
I will share one eventually--- one which I consider a failure, although I liked the concept.
Again, beautifully composed and converted image! She is detailed beauty pulled out of the un-sharp background in not only an enticing way, but in a way that also completely focuses our attention on her. Bravo!
Edited for spelling
PPY-definitely!
"The very best you can hope for is ... I get over my need to be completely objective and instead take the time to create a photograph that makes you see, and feel, the scene the way I saw it." -David duChemin
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Last Edit: April 22, 2012 @ 12:02pm by GregFied | |
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GregFied
Posts: 793 |
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| April 22, 2012 @ 12:23pm | Here, I share what I tried to do.
I consider this a failure, because I did not use the proper settings to achieve full sharpness throughout, and the foreground hand is out of focus. (I was also too close to it, I would imagine, )
Not trying to hijack your thread, just offering a comparison in that I would loved to have seen her the way you did!
PPY-definitely!
"The very best you can hope for is ... I get over my need to be completely objective and instead take the time to create a photograph that makes you see, and feel, the scene the way I saw it." -David duChemin
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Flo
Posts: 17,472 |
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| April 22, 2012 @ 12:57pm | Greg, I see what you had hoped to do. But I think there was just too much distance between the hand of the angel and Little Gracie to pull it off in just one image.
Perhaps one of the hand in sharp focus, then without moving the camera, another with the little girl in focus and then composite them in PS.
We all live and learn by our mistakes, and I thank you for sharing this one. But then, perhaps it isn't a mistake at all. I kind of like it and am sure that if I were to see it on a wall every day, I'd grow fond of it.
Flo - PPY
"May we live in peace without weeping. May our joy outline the lives we touch without ceasing. And may our love fill the world, angel wings beating." aziza
http://photos.tonebytone.com |
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GregFied
Posts: 793 |
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| April 22, 2012 @ 1:17pm | Thanks, Flo! One of the things I was focusing on during this great trip with my father was achieving the proper settings for sharpness throughout the image in one shot. Having that mindset on this day perhaps put a limit on myself (especially for this image, where I had to be very close to the hand to frame Gracie in it the way I wanted).
And I agree; In hindsight, setting up a tripod for this shot and compositing the images may indeed have been the best way to achieve what I was after.
Stealing wisdom from my father... photography includes progression... practice makes progress. Ultimately, the failures add to the progress in that we learn from them and correct them.
PPY-definitely!
"The very best you can hope for is ... I get over my need to be completely objective and instead take the time to create a photograph that makes you see, and feel, the scene the way I saw it." -David duChemin
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assignment
Community Assignment #53
Picture Window
Due Date: September 16, 2011 |
Have you heard about the Backyard Shots Photography Guide "Street Portraiture with CraigTanner"?
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