Interior of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church - Iconostation

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church’s Iconostasion © 2011 Bo Mackison

These photographs of the interior of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church were taken during the Wright and Like tour, June 2011.

This photo was taken from the back of the church and shows the entire Iconostasion, including the screen which shields the altar from full view. The sanctuary is only open during services when the priest is present.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church - Altar Behind Iconostation

 Altar Behind Iconostasion © 2011 Bo Mackison

Here is another view of the sanctuary behind the iconstasion.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church - Icons, Pulpit, and Lights

Icons, Pulpit, and Lights © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church is very unusual in that it’s interior is circular. Pews from a semicircle around the sanctuary. The pulpit from which the priest speaks is on the left side of the sanctuary.

More interior photos in next post.

There are more photographs of the church, including the full exterior view of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, in earlier posts. I took these photographs in June during the Wright and Like 2011 Tour.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Her first love (to photograph) is macro-botanicals. Her second love is architecture, especially that designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Brass Doors and Stained Glass Entrance to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Brass Doors and Stained Glass Entrance © 2011 Bo Mackison

The entrance way of Annunciation Greek Orthodox has four brass embossed doors surrounded by stained glass windows. The windows depict the story of the Annunciation. If you look carefully, you can see a small red square to the lower left of the doors. This is the famous red tile with the engraved initials of Wright, signifying this is an authentic Wright design.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church

Stained Glass Windows in Arches © 2011 Bo Mackison

On either side of the church are stairways leading to the lower level garden with plantings, flowers and trees. There are also entrances to the lower level of the church, once used for offices and classrooms. The church has built a second building for most of their offices, but the downstairs space continues to be utilized for small group functions.

Curving Lines

Curving Lines © 2011 Bo Mackison

I love the repeated curving lines that Wright uses at the entrance to the church. The dome’s lower concentric circle, the circular arch protecting the entrance doors, the circles of the stairway and the large circle planters all repeat the same geometric pattern.

There are more photographs, including the full exterior view of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, in the previous post.

Photos of the interior begin in the next post.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Her first love (to photograph) is macro-botanicals. Her second love is architecture, especially that designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, a Frank Lloyd Wright Design

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church and Entrance

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last architectural designs, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Designed by Wright in 1959 shortly before his death, the building was completed in 1961. The church is located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee just west of the city, though often the site is incorrectly given as Milwaukee.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church with Rose Garden

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church with Rose Garden © 2011 Bo Mackison

We visited the church in June of this year, during the Wright and Like 2011 Tour, and were able to tour and photograph both the exterior and the interior of the building. All Greek Orthodox churches have domes, and this church is no exception. I think this dome is especially lovely, matched against the bright blue summer sun.

Detail of Dome of Annunciation Church

Detail of Dome of Annunciation Church © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Church is beautifully done, both the exterior and the interior. The dome’s support is very modern in style and part of its weight rests on a concentric concrete form.

In 1958, when the leaders of the church went to Spring Green to discuss the plans of the church with Wright, they were sent away several times without any definitive answers. Finally, in desperation, the men said they had to have information about the church or they would have to consider hiring a different architect. So the story goes, Mr. Wright looked at the assembly of church leaders before him, took his coffee cup and saucer, drank the last of the coffee, and then turned the cup upside down and placed it on the saucer.

“There,” Wright said. “There is your church. Your church will resemble this cup and saucer.”

Evidently, that was enough of a plan for the men from the church, Wright went ahead with the commission, and the next time they met, Wright had plans drawn up that they could examine.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Pink Zinnia

Zinnia

Zinnia © 2011 Bo Mackison

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  ~ Buddha

I have had some wonderful successes photographing the late summer gardens at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Every garden I visited seemed to hold me hostage until I could get a some photographs that made me smile. I sure don’t mind being a hostage in a garden. Imagine having a tiny home surrounded by acres and acres of gardens (and lots of gardeners to help, too!)

I’ve been to Olbrich almost everyday for the last week. First, the hosta and elephant ear plants seemed to mesmerize me, as the early morning sunlight made the leaves almost translucent. I t was as if they were holding the sun. I almost felt like I truly was in a trance.

Three days in a row I shot nothing but these green plants, and they were only about 15 feet from the entrance to the garden complex. I just could not past this entrance area until I had nearly exhausted the plants and flowers (and myself) with all that photographic attention.

But the last two visits, I strolled right past the entrance — I waited to sneak in several more greenery photos as I was leaving — and I got as far as the gardens filled to overflowing with cosmos and zinnias. Since the cosmos are one of my favorites, I spent a fair amount of time lying on the sidewalk next to these beauties, having long conversations about important world events — like the advances autumn is making in its bid to overtake summer!

Finally, when the sun began to rise high enough in the sky to lose that soft lighting, I spent the last half hour with the zinnias. Lucky, I had the diffuser with me, so I could both reduce the shadows, and protect the flowers against the winds that started blowing off the lake.  This pink zinnia had with her head down, and so I happily got a few photographs from a different angle. I love the little pockets of shadings caused by the gentle curling of each petal.

Tomorrow the forecast is for a rainy Friday. Might have to stay home and tackle some house cleaning and computer work. That would be a good thing — plus the gardens would appreciate the rain, too.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is having a most excellent start to the month of September. So many amazing projects are popping up, but no complaints. Creating and making meaning with photography is one of the highlights of her life!

Cool Colors in the Garden

Cool Blues and Greens

Cool Blues and Greens © 2011 Bo Mackison

Every gardener knows that it is the very impermanence of the garden that makes it precious.
The beauty of the garden lies in its constantly changing nature,
in the waves of colors and shapes that constantly pass through it.

~ Philip Martin

I have been to Olbrich Botanical Gardens on four different occasions to photograph these same Elephant Ear Plants. Twice I have photographed the gardens at 8 to 9 a.m. The other two times I visited the gardens later in the morning – about 10 a.m. til almost noon. Each time I have come away with markedly different photographs even though I am 1) using the same camera, lenses, and equipment including a tripod, 2)  shooting mostly in shaded areas or shot using light filtered through the plants — there has been an August bright sun with few clouds each time, and 3) I am shooting the same four or five plants.

Lighting is key in photography, and it is one of the joys and wonders I constantly work with. Light that is perfect one moment, disappears the next. As a photographer, one must seize the moment, there is no going back.

When I downloaded the photos to the computer from my last photoshoot, I was surprised to see such pronounced blue tones in the background plant. And even a few purple hues on a small part of the plant in the left lower area. The light green stem against the other deeper colors added the contrast needed to keep this from being a photograph of a bunch of foliage. And the added features of the patterns of lines and the plants’ textures are hard to beat.

A Zen sort of photograph, I can get lost in all those colors and textures.

Sure am having fun visiting these plants just about every day. Too bad they live on the other side of town!

Visit Through a Photographer’s Eye and see some remarkable photos in the photo of the week collection.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is spending as many mornings as possible in the gardens. Prime garden time in Wisconsin and the gardens are full of treasures.