Pluck and Lights: 250 cakes of St. Louis 2

No. 11 -- Location, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; Artist, Lynsi Sciaroni

I had an interesting day. I spent a good portion of it cycling around North St. Louis and feeling embarrassed that I was uncomfortable doing so. It is not the safest part of town but I loathe the idea of restricting myself from it because it has a lot to offer. In this set the only photo I would consider North St. Louis is the Grand Avenue Water Tower in No. 15, the rest will be posted later. For that photo I chose a bit of an odd composition for cake photography because I thought the context was more interesting. I just liked the idea of the huge column-shaped water tower dwarfing the barely-visible cake. If you look closely at that picture you'll notice that water tower is in the middle of a roundabout with the cake very exposed to traffic. I wonder how long that cake has before it is hit by a car?

I do find it inspiring, though, that during my cake hunting I have already met several people doing the same thing as me — exploring the city for the purpose of photographing cakes. This is really cool because the cake display, which I voiced reservations about initially, is extremely interactive and is getting people out and about with their families. Kids apparently love it. Because of this I have seen a lot of people complain about the indoor location of No. 11. People want to see the cakes from all angles— preferably on a weekend during non-business hours. For my photo, I think the blinds made for a unique composition. It did, however, require a lot of work in Photoshop to achieve that look.

Fortunately, of the 30 or 40 cakes I have visited so far only one appears to be hidden from public view. That cake is at Sumner High School and I think they keep it hidden behind the front entrance. I'll check back after the school year is out to see if they relocate it then.

These, of course, are a continuation of a series began last week: