Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Project365: Day 298 - Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor, the creator and host of the popular syndicated radio show "A Prairie Home Companion", spoke at Drake University for the 27th installment of the Bucksbaum Lecture Series.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Project365: Day 297 - Bare

Day 297 - Bare by Tim Bungert
Day 297 - Bare, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

Project365: Day 296 - Katydid

Day 296 - Katydid by Tim Bungert
Day 296 - Katydid, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

I stepped outside to start the grill for dinner and this guy was waiting to greet me on top of the grill.

Project365: Day 295 - World Food Prize

The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates was once the home of the Des Moines Public Library. The renovation of the building and riverfront is nearly complete. As you can see, the beautiful gardens on the west side of the building are now open to the public.

Project365: Day 294 - Flock

Day 294 - Flock by Tim Bungert
Day 294 - Flock, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

An enormous flock of seagulls (no, not the bad 80s band) has decided to congregate on the sandy point of Grey's Lake in Des Moines.

Project365: Day 293 - Need a Jump?

Day 293 - Need a Jump? by Tim Bungert
Day 293 - Need a Jump?, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

Portable emergency power unit. This would have been handy to have with me a few weeks ago when I drained the car battery by having the radio on all day while tailgating at the NDSU vs U of M football game.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Project365: Day 292 - Mies van der Rohe

The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines building (originally Home Federal Savings and Loan) by Mies van der Rohe. This is the second building by Mies in Des Moines. I photographed his other one, Meredith Hall, back on Day 187.

Project365: Day 291 - No Fun Allowed

Day 291 - No Fun Allowed by Tim Bungert
Day 291 - No Fun Allowed, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Project365: Day 282 - Wilting

Day 282 - Wilting by Tim Bungert
Day 282 - Wilting, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

The trees in front our apartment are getting very noticeably lighter on leaves each day, which means winter will be here all too soon.

Project365: Day 281 - John Ruan, Sr.

Day 281 - Dr. Borlaug by Tim Bungert
Day 281 - Dr. Borlaug, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.
Outside the nearly-completed World Food Prize Hall of Laureates stands a statue of one of the award's creators, John Ruan, Sr. The World Food Prize building's grand opening is scheduled for this week.

Project365: Day 280 - Zombies!

Day 280 - Zombies! by Tim Bungert
Day 280 - Zombies!, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

This is one of the fantastic custom murals inside Zombie Burger, an excellent new restaurant in Des Moines. The restaurant's design, decor, and menu are all wonderfully zombie themed, playing off of some of the best (and worst) zombie uprising movies.

And yes, that is indeed a Winchester hanging on the wall as well.

(Go watch Shaun of the Dead if you don't get it.)

Project365: Day 279 - Prairie Tower

Day 279 - Prairie Tower by Tim Bungert
Day 279 - Prairie Tower, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Project365: Day 278 - Light and Shadow

Day 278 - Light and Shadow

Project365: Day 277 - National Taco Day

Day 277 - National Taco Day Brittany and I biked 16 miles round trip to go get tacos made by Tacopocalypse at the Cumming Tap for National Taco Day. So very worth the ride.

Project365: Day 276 - Filtered Light

Day 276 - Filtered Light

Project365: Day 275 - Red Bridge

Day 275 - Red Bridge

This is the pedestrian bridge on the south end of Downtown Des Moines on the Principal River Walk. The trail loops on both river banks back up to the Center Street Bridge, which I photographed a few days earlier.

Project365: Day 273 - Burning Balls of Gas

Day 273 - Burning Balls of Gas

Project365: Day 274 - Guitar

Day 274 - Guitar

Project365: Day 272 - Bert and TC

Day 272 - Bert and TC

Project365: Day 271 - Center Street Bridge

Day 271 - Center Street Bridge

Center Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Iowa State Capitol as seen from the River's Edge Restaurant at Wells Fargo Arena.

Project365: Day 270 - Fall Flowers

Day 270 - Fall Flowers

Project365: Day 269 - Punkins

Day 269 - Punkins

One more sign that summer is indeed ending: the giant pumpkins have appeared in our office in anticipation of our annual carving contest.

Projec365: Day 268 - School Colors

Day 268 - School Colors

Proud to be a Bison Alum!

Project365: Day 267 - TCF (Twin Cities Fargodome)

Day 267 - TCF (Twin Cities Fargodome)

The NDSU Bison drove south to Minneapolis on September 24 to teach the University of Minnesota Goofers how to play football.

Final score: Bison 37, Gophers 24

GO BISON!

Project365: Day 266 - The New Sabin Hall

Day 266 - The New Sabin Hall

The Renovation of Sabin Hall at the University of Northern Iowa is completed. I took this photo while at UNI for the building's re-dedication ceremony.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Project365: Day 265 - First Autumn Colors

First Autumn Colors by Tim Bungert
First Autumn Colors, a photo by Tim Bungert on Flickr.


I swear it was still summertime when I left for Washington DC. I come home and the leaves are already changing?!

Project365: Day 264 - Washington DC - Day 5

Day 5 in DC was my last day there. I had to head back to Des Moines for work, and Brittany was staying one more day to finish out the conference. Because she was working, I had my last day of the trip to myself to explore the city, find some virtual geocaches, and see some things that I had missed the first few days.

Old Post Office

The Old Post Office Pavilion.

Castle Fog

Smithsonian Castle in the morning fog.

The Archives

The National Archives. I was in line right before opening time, which meant there was no waiting to go see our nation's founding documents: the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As with all of the other sensitive preservation exhibits in DC, no photography was allowed in the Archives.

I made my way back to the WWII memorial for some photos and to find a virtual cache nearby.

43rd Bomb Group

After stopping at the WWII Memorial, it was almost time for me to get ready to leave DC so I began to head back to the hotel. On the way, I passed by the South Lawn of the White House for one last photo opportunity in DC.

South Lawn

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Project365: Day 263 - Washington DC - Day 4

The second very excellent tour that we were able to take, courtesy of Senator Charles Grassley's office, was our rainy morning tour of the White House. After stopping by a convenience store to buy a couple of umbrellas (not sure how we forget to pack them), we went to our designated entry point for our tour. Yet again, no cameras were permitted inside the White House premises.

Once cleared through two security checkpoints, our tour entered the White House through the lower level of the East Wing. The hallways and rooms were full of famous paintings, Presidential portraits, and some non-presidential portraits. Many of the presidents were painted posing with some relevant, important object--a copy of the constitution to demonstrate their commitment to upholding the law, a globe to symbolize their international policy strength. The most prominent non-presidential portrait on display is that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She, too, is posing with an object, though not one of any symbolic nature. In her portrait, her hand is resting on a copy of the book she wrote. Hanging in the same hallway as the previous portraits, it reads like a really terrible billboard advertisement. Interesting to note, however, was that her portrait was far more prominently displayed than her husband--the guy who was actually the President.

The most exciting part of the tour for me was that as we exited we passed through the front hall and right out the front door. I was tempted to step out and wave to the throng of tourists gathered a hundred yards away at the fence line as if I were someone they should be excited to see emerge from that doorway...

The Secret Service agent outside the front door let us know that we were permitted to use our cell phone cameras to take a photo now that we were outside the building. We asked one of the other ladies on our tour to snap a photo of us--right outside the door of the White House!

White House Tour

That evening, we returned to the Newseum once again. Though this time it was not to see the exhibits. Brittany's conference had scheduled a reception for all of their members at the Newseum for the evening.

Newseum Reception

One of the other conference attendees from Iowa was kind enough to use my camera and take a photo of Brittany and I on the Newseum's wonderful roof deck.

Capitol View

The view from up there is good during the daytime, but is nothing short of stunning late in the evening with the sun setting.

Newseum Roof Deck

Capitol City Traffic

Project365: Day 262 - Washington DC - Day 3

Brittany's office helped us contact the office of Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, who in turn was wonderfully helpful in arranging for Brittany and I to take two very excellent tours while in DC. The first of these tours was of the United States Capitol Building. Tours of the building are open to the general public, but when you arrange for a tour through your state legislators you get a much more personal (read: not in a group of 25 other tourists) tour led by one of their office interns.

Dome

Capitol Rotunda

Both houses of the legislature were in a lunch recess when we were on our tour, but we were still able to go see the House of Representatives chambers from the viewing gallery. Apparently the Senate gallery is only open to the public when the Senate is actually in session, but the House gallery is almost always open for viewing. Only members of the press are permitted to bring cell phones, cameras, and other media devices into the chambers so, sadly, I was not able to get any photos of the House gallery.

East Capitol Plaza

After our Capitol tour, we wanted to go see the Library of Congress as well. On our way we passed in front of the Supreme Court Building, designed by another of my favorite architects: Mr. Cass Gilbert. If you're a Minnesotan, he designed your State Capitol building as well.

Supreme Court

The Library of Congress Jefferson Building was spectacular. Though, once again, the most impressive spaces (the actual library collection and the exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's personal library collection) do not permit photography. Nevertheless, I was able to make a few photographs of the amazing, ornate detail in the public lobby.

Library of Congress - Jefferson Building 1

Library of Congress - Jefferson Building 2

Continuing with the architectural theme of the day, we spent the afternoon at the National Building Museum. The building was impressive, the museum was not. Many of the exhibit spaces were "in transition" for new displays, so there was not a lot to see there. Except for this enormously awesome atrium.

National Building Museum

After the Building Museum, we went back to the hotel and rested for a few hours before heading to dinner and our evening plans: the Monuments at night.

The strongest memories I have of visiting DC almost a decade ago were of visiting the monuments and memorials at the west end of the National Mall at night. Now seeing them again as an adult, I realized why those memories stayed with me. This time, however, I had a camera.

Flowers for the Fallen

Vietnam War Memorial

Framed

Washington Monument, from the Lincoln Memorial

Emancipator

Lincoln Memorial

FDR Memorial

FDR Waterfall

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Jefferson Reflected

Jefferson Monument

And for those of you, like Brittany, who think I don't take enough photos of people, here is a photo of Brittany and I on the steps of the Jefferson Monument at the end of our night tour.

On Jefferson's Steps