Ode to Julius Shulman

I'll recommend Toby Weiss' excellent blog, B.E.L.T. (that's short for "built environment in layman's terms"), any day of the week. Not only does Toby take great photos, but I absolutely love her writing. And her blog is more rigorous, in terms of its reporting, than many so-called professional publications. In any case, that screed aside, I wanted to point people to her excellent memorial to iconographic architectural photographer Julius Shulman, who died July 15 at the age of 98. There may be some of you out there who are famliar with Shulman's work because you saw St. Louis native Eric Bricker's brilliant doc, Visual Accoustics, at the St. Louis Fim Festival last November (Toby mentions the film's imminent DVD release in her post, and links to this fab dwell interview with Bricker as well). Though Shulman was a Los Angeles guy, his work is an excellent way for St. Louisans to better understand some of the truly astonishing Midcentury Modernist buildings that stand in our midst, especially in newer suburbs like Town & Country, Ladue and Clayton. Those who are curious about St. Louis' Modernist architectural legacy are advised to spend some hours parsing Toby's blog; even if you prefer more ancient architectural styles, you won't be sorry. --Stefene Russell