Monumental Retaining Wall

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A somewhat non-typical view of the Gateway Arch. Kinda fun. All in all.

– all in all it was…

– just a brick in the wall…

– all in all it was…

– all just bricks in the wall…

– Another Brick in the Wall – Pink Floyd

About this image: digital photograph, lightly modified

71 thoughts on “Monumental Retaining Wall”

  1. It is very interesting actually! It’s a cool viewpoint. Also, that wall is surprisingly tall when you are up close to it. And when you realize that the Mississippi River has pretty much gone all the way up that wall it’s even more impressive, (it peaked at 49.58 feet deep in the 1993 flood)!

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    • Pretty difficult to imagine, isn’t it? Pretty much that whole place we were walking around being completely underwater?! CrAzInEsS! Might be an interesting time to visit ‘the boat’!
      🙂

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      • That’s a really cool shot, Sig! I’ve drove through Missouri when I was a kids about…well, a very long long time ago. 🙂 and thought is was amazing when I saw it. And now, Annebelle has offered us a little tidbit about that wall too…very interesting piece of knowledge.
        The image is great…I love the angle of the shot!
        Have a great day…both of you! Hugs xx

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        • Thank you so much, Deb!
          The arch is one of those things that seem so much more impressive when you are right there (I guess it’s probably that way with most monuments, though). Anyway… I think it’s the scale of the thing… and the way the colors it reflects change as you move around it. You can certainly get an idea what that’s like from a photograph, but some things just don’t seem to translate that way.
          🙂

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    • I’m sorry, Ms. B… I should have included more background information about this.That large metal arch you see is a monument located in St. Louis (called the gateway arch – a part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial – a monument to the U.S. expansion to the west). It’s 630 feet tall and made from stainless steel).
      🙂

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    • I wasn’t intending to take any arch photos at the time, but when I saw it from this viewpoint it seemed too fun an opportunity to pass up! Thank you so very much! I sincerely appreciate both your visit and your kind comment as well!
      🙂

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    • Thank you very much, Ms. F!
      I messed with the color balance quite a bit, because I was intending (and did) to make an alternate version in a grungy instant film border… but in the end I liked this cleaner image, too (and it seemed like I had been posting quite a few of those ‘instant’ processed images lately, so I thought I should change things up a bit).
      🙂

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    • Thanks so much, Ms. C! To tell you the truth it was completely unplanned… I had headed down there to take a look at something else, and then I when I turned back around I saw… the above.
      🙂

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    • Thank you so much, sir!
      I agree! Before I moved to St. Louis I did not know very much about the city, but even when I was little I knew of / about the Gateway Arch!
      🙂

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  12. I’m embarrassed, I thought it was part of a McDonald’s too at first glance! I love the angle of the shot, it looks like the arch is just looming right behind that wall. Nice one!

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    • Thanks so much, Mr. H!
      I really hadn’t gone down there with the intention of shooting back up towards the arch, but it seemed like a fairly unique vantage point, so I couldn’t resist.
      🙂

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    • Thank you so much, Dishy!
      That’s really what I liked about this… the fact you usually don’t see the Arch from this angle… with that ginormous mass of concrete in front of it…
      🙂

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  17. I thought for a minute you were building a new McDonald’s, with only half the fat and calories, depicted by half a golden arch. Annabelle offered interesting information about the wall.

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    • Aw, thanks, Ms. K!
      There were a few extra items strewn about in here (pretty contemporary road signs, etc.) so I took them out because I wanted to make this as much about the shapes / forms as possible.
      🙂

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  24. Love this. That wall is so cool to start. Adding the view of the Arch is awesome.

    Annabelle is right about flooding of the MS. It does not happen that often any more, with the entire levee system. It has flooded in my neck of the woods a few times in the last couple decades. Though, for us major flood stage is 40′. We flooded in ’83, too. Almost as bad in all of the early 90s.

    Scary to think of the opposite. Lowest recorded is under 2.5 feet deep.
    Red.

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    • I liked the wall quite a bit too, red. I’ve always had a thing for huge masses of concrete… drainage ditches and the like. I’ve got a few other projects on my list involving similar elements… I just hope I can get around to it all at some point!

      Good to know it’s not fairly common anymore (never a good thing)! I’m not originally from MO so I don’t really have that first hand knowledge of how things have changed… happy to hear that they have, though – for the better!

      MAN! 2.5 feet?! That’s RIDICULOUS! The TINY Forest River that flows by my parents house was / is usually quite a bit deeper than that… absolutely blows my mind to think about that comparison…
      🙂

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      • I cannot even imagine it being low enough to walk across. The lowest recorded in BR is 2.3 feet. Crazy. The floods now are not so constant, but when they come they are not anything to sneeze at. In 2010, we opened the Morganza spillway for the first time since 1974. Many people were certain the locks would not open after all that time.

        Since it had been so long since a flood of that magnitude, many people had built homes in the spillway (playing the odds a flood would not come again in their lifetimes). All of the homes were washed away. It is not that the river gets so high, but it is a constant depth that lasts for weeks at a time. Crest can go on for three or four days. That is where the fertile soil comes from, though. We always think it is a fair trade.

        Floods are an amazing phenomenon. I am always intrigued by the power of water. (No telling I am an Aquarian, eh?)
        Red.

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  26. I like this one SIG and that wall gives me an impression
    of Steve McQueen riding that bike… I bet he would have
    loved skirting that wall, well maybe? 🙂 lol

    A brilliant piece of artistic creativity as usual SIG and thank
    you for calling by and taking a glimpse of my Fraz offerings 🙂

    Androgoth

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    • Thanks so much, A.G.!
      I can definitely see that! That wall almost does give the impression of something you would be racing through / in / by, doesn’t it?!
      Of course! I always look forward to the opportunity to check-out your artwork, Andro! It’s a real ‘blast’!
      🙂

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      • You are too kind but I thank you
        for taking the time to view my slant
        on art, actually you should take a
        little trip into my extra page called
        ‘Don’t Look Ethel’ where some of
        my more risque offerings are to be
        found, but don’t worry they are only
        added as a chuckle 🙂 lol

        Androgoth

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        • Not at all, Andro!
          Hahaha… I think you are right… somehow I must have missed that page (I love the title – I’m pretty sure I would have remembered having seen it if I’d have visited).
          Well, as you know A.G. I’m always in need of a chuckle!
          🙂

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          • Yes I always enjoy a giggle myself SIG
            I hope that your Friday is fun packed and
            that your weekend is even better 🙂

            Androgoth

    • Thanks, Nigel!
      There is definitely more cool stuff in the area… hopefully (at some point) I’ll be posting a few more that will give you an idea of what that space is like.
      🙂

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  30. Have McDonalds sued for partial breach of copyright… or have they been sued by St. Louis for the same? 😉 An interesting view Bob and an exercise in simplicity of form 🙂 Who needs that second arch anyway??? 😉

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    • Hahaha… a very good question, Martin! One thing I can confirm is that the remaining arch tastes nothing like a No. 1. You can imagine my surprise (and maybe that of the folks who work at / visit this site) at that, of course. 😉

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