Torchbearers, University of Texas – Austin, Texas

I’m not usually a big fan of art museums. I often like the buildings themselves—the architecture—but not the artwork with the structures. The artwork seems static and disconnected in a museum gallery. However, when creative works are released in the wild, they take on a dimension that is missing in a museum. That’s also true of statues. I have two examples on display across the walkway from each other from the University of Texas campus.

The Torchbearers is located in front of the undergraduate library and nicely centered on the structure. I took extra effort to frame it in the center with symmetric architecture as a backdrop. Like a great piece of furniture in a room, this statue adds another dimension to the outdoor space.

Close by, across a walkway leading out to the western edge of campus, is this statue of Cesar Chavez. It’s a powerful work that anchors a space in front of a classic building in the older part of campus.

These photos aren’t earth-shattering but nicely document worthwhile observations. Just by chance, I also framed them using classic focal lengths. The first picture is at a 35mm equivalent, while the second is at a 50mm. Of course, having a zoom lens with a 24-75mm equivalent made it easy to pick my composition. It’s interesting that I naturally settled on these well-used perspectives.

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