Photogs find strong creative vibe

By James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Brian Azcuenaga

Civic Center Blues series

Reporter James Meadow and photographer Darin McGregor spend days and nights at Civic Center to document life at the park in the heart of Denver. Read more stories, view slide shows, and comment on the series.

On the road to Mandalay, they find texture, organics, sheen and geometry. They find immovable objects nearly a century old and hurtling teenage bodies. They find nature's beauty and mankind's edge. They find themselves at "the crossroads of everything in Denver."

At least Nick Anderson does. And he isn't alone.

Instead, he is with 24 other photography students from the Art Institute of Colorado who have descended upon The Park at dusk - when the light is more nourishing - to capture scenes and moments. They come, a clique of clickers, led by professor Kara Lee, an amiable sort who can't imagine a better urban spot for students to hone their eye.

"This place has a profusion of colors with the flowers," she says, going on to extol "the diagonals in the clouds," the "sheen on the bronzes vs. the marble and concrete," and the bevy of "textures" and "organics."

And, as if that isn't enough, there is the phalanx of buildings that form the skyline on one side, and the looming architecture of the library and the art museum on the other. With a sweep of her hand, Lee traces a "360-degree angle" that takes this in, as well as the "geometry" of The Park, the "spheres, semicircles, rhomboids and rectangles."

Anderson, 21, agrees. "There's this juxtaposition of nature and the urban architecture. Plus, all the people. For me, photography is a way of storytelling, and there are so many stories here with all the people you see."

"Definitely, there's never a dull moment here," says Brian Azcuenaga, 22. "Just walking around, I get a creative vibe. This place is so full of everything."

Like those skateboarders, for instance. The ones clacking near the Greek Amphitheater, defying both The Park's ban on skateboarding and the laws of gravity, launching themselves off a 10-stair drop with a bravado and reckless grace that always seems to end with a concrete crash. At least it does for Sunshine - aka Jake Radloff, 15 - who just can't quite nail his landing.

But Trevor Garrison, 15, can. And when the dude does "ollie the ten-stair," it's hard to know who's more excited - him or the tyro photogs who have been chronicling the boarders with their lenses. "That's what's great about this park," says Leigha Verdina, 21, a shooter with red hair and blue eye shadow. "There's always something to shoot."

For Shane Hogan, 33, one of the best things about The Park is "it can be so peaceful and soothing."

Of course, as soon as he says this, lawn sprinklers erupt, shooting parabolas of water into the air around the flower beds, detonating angry curses and a hurried exit by a couple sitting in the line of fire. Even as they escape the unexpected shower, the couple is still hissing - although not quite as contentedly as Mandalay.

The 18-year-old ball python is slithering under the watchful eye of Jermaine Brown and the insistent shuttering of half-dozen photog wannabes, who are thrilled by this up-close vantage of a snake in the grass. Brown, on his way to an outdoor concert, has stopped in The Park to give Mandalay a chance to uncoil and stretch her 3 feet of muscle.

Man and reptile are patiently accommodating, but after 20 minutes, both are sated with the amateur paparazzi. Brown plops Mandalay into his backpack and pedals away on his bicycle, leaving the students to make do with geometry, sheen and color.

Soon, they can't. The sky that was once glowing cumulus heaven is now flat charcoal. Sunshine & Co. have gone and so has any aura from the bronze, any color from the grass.

The students move past the flowers, past the statues, past the men in wheelchairs, who smoke cigarettes and talk loud. They move toward their classroom, four blocks away, to review their work, to read any stories they have written with their cameras.

They move out quickly, as quickly as The Park's shadows move in. Shadows that, just as they do every night, arrive with whispered stories and textures all their own.

meadowj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2606

• August 11, 2008

  5:29 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  BlueSled writes:

  What the bleep?!?!?! When is this stupid series going to freakin' end for God sakes? Please...PLEASE...RMN....END THIS!!!!

• August 11, 2008

  9:43 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  LingLingfor_prez writes:

  This thing is still running?

• August 11, 2008

  9:51 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Trish writes:

  You know what, BlueSled? (And all others who keep whining...) If you don't like it, don't read it. Problem solved! Every once in a while it's nice to be able to read something that doesn't involve violence or prostitution or tragedy!

• August 11, 2008

  11:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  LingLingfor_prez writes:

  Like the DNC?

• August 11, 2008

  6:53 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Vector049 writes:

  Old and stale. Get over it RMN.

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