Deja Vu

On my second day arriving in Des Moines I was all too eager to walk around and get to know my new surroundings. With my new Canon digital camera (Ooo, actually not all that exciting), I ventured out to what then was "anywhere." Capturing shots of the university grounds and local businesses, the photos were a little dissapointing as there was little known significance or personal attachment to anything. My first shots in Iowa were, and surely looked, like an unorganized conglomoration of random buildings, signs, and monuments.

Though when venturing outside quickly late yesterday evening I felt the refreshing spring breeze and amicable semi-chilly air on my face and knew I had to take a nice long walk. I mean, who wouldn't on a Saturday night? It was one of the first few Saturday evenings I wasn't tangled up in a bar and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet night to myself, so much so I think I might have led a suspicious trail for campus security as the only walking aimlessly on campus at 9:30 in the evening. I know the officer on camera duty was probably like, "what the hell...," particularly when I choose to walk into the unlocked Cartwright Hall and meander at will. Hey, if those law school dummies are going to leave something open, i'm going to go explore.

In walking around campus, camera in tote, I was able to capture some evening shots similar in respect to those I had taken just about about two years earlier. Though security might have questioned my intentions of my random footprints around campus, I captured some pictures that know have a more sentimental meaning. In one my final walks around campus, breathing in the fresh cold air I have learned that shots of personal attachment are not only more meaningful but they have a better quality to them. My best shots are of places and people that I care about. Places that I have been to far more than once.

Here are a few to share from yesterday evening...

Old Main is one of the oldest and architecturally beautiful buildings on campus. Directly across from my apartment, I have walked by this building front/back/sideways hundreds of times always appreciative of it's New England like charm. It reminds me of Thompson Hall at UNH.

Very close to Old Main and directly between Cartwright and the Fine Arts Center, this adapation of a sundial radial is in my opinion the prettiest and eye-catching displays on campus. I'll be honest in saying, I still don't know what the meaning is of the university behind the sundial.

At the end of April Drake holds it's annual and magnificant track and field event, the Drake Relays. This past spring was the 100th annual running - a huge history of competition and record breaking that brings together the campus and community. On the Friday prior to the event student organizations paint an artery walkway in the middle of campus to commemorate the event in their representation of the year's theme.

Every year a student is commissioned to design the student organization logo. An honor given to one of our most talented student employees. After submitting her ideas for potential designs, a committee of students themselves selected Kelly to visually represent the event. Above is her final design as painted on the walkway overlooking the path to university library.