First of all, GO DUCKS! 2015 Rose Bowl Champion, the Oregon pride.Every once in a while, I peeked at the football games playing on our TV and got to know a few Oregon Ducks rivals. Stanford was one of them if I am not mistaken. I ever lived in Palo Alto where Stanford University is for a few years but I have never visited the campus till now.
Avenue of the Palms came into sight when our car first drove in. The entry is almost identical to that of my university in Taiwan. However, when my discoveries started to unfold, I began to feel like a country-folk going into town.
After blogging for two years, I am growing my desire to go out and explore more. Oregon is absolutely beautiful, but there is a whole wild world out there. Just a couple hundred miles across the border, there are places I have never been, and how I want to put my footprints on many of them. Visiting a university campus has not been on my list, but while I was in town and for the sake of photography, why not? I am sure glad that I did.
The University of Oregon has been established for 155 years and the atmosphere is more than what I used to, quintessential and scholastic. I smell chalks and books. My university has just celebrated her 86 years anniversary. Other than the Avenue of the Palms, almost all the buildings are aged while Stanford with 129 years of history, but the architecture is updated and the entire campus looks NEW.
Either they are built new or under maintenance with extreme efforts. I think this is what money and wealth can do. It does not appear to be an educational institution. It is more like an open museum with sophisticated architecture and manicured landscape. I breathed in cozy sunshine and fresh grass.
Wherever my eyes land, there are stoneworks, columns, and pillars, and yet they are not what I saw in Italy or Spain where buildings are fully weathered with history and stand on cobblestones. Here ‘new’ classic style of buildings with fine details are stationed on the cement ground surrounded by a manmade landscape. It is a very organized and structured environment. The atmosphere is orderly, modern, posh, and silicon-valley savvy.
These are absolutely beautiful and lively, state of art. Copper sculptures, not resins 🙂 To me, a true heart is crucial, true material? I don’t care as long as it serves the purpose of being a nice piece of art, but I know it is imperative for those who appraise art by the name and the value attributed. The name does guarantee the quality, in most cases.
Without a head, the body still gestures strength and athletic merits. I just like to see the patterns after patterns regardless of how I went around the buildings. This is when I don’t complain about the harsh light…
It was a total invasion by the bright lights in the vicinity, but check out this long corridor. A few splashes of brightness have come down and are gradually minimized in the end which opened another chapter of the architectural phenomenon. This is when I was happy to have my wide angel with me. While Patterns exist, Lines took over control.
The walking path has created lines among the patches of green grass. I bet the aerial view of the campus is just gorgeous not to mention the rows of beautiful arches and columns and the intricate painting and etchings on the walls. I wish I can be young again and have the luxury to be a student here. It is a great photography spot that I am certain I will be back to!
I cleaned up the lens flare and tested a sepia version. This look is more like the college campus that I have in mind.
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