I know there is some political discord on the topic of Christopher Columbus and his “discovery” of the new world. Indeed, seven states and almost 60 municipalities have changed the focus of the holiday to honor the native people living in the New World when Columbus and his three ships stumbled upon it while looking for a trade route to the orient. I am not going to get into an argument about whether or not the day (October 14 this year) should be renamed Indigenous People’s Day. Though it would appear that I somehow “honor” Columbus because I “gave him a halo.” That was an unintended consequence of putting the sun behind the statue so I could get a better view of the front of the sculpture. That saved me a walk back to the site in the morning when the sun was on the other side of the sky.

The small park is featured in the foreground of the photo of the Scarlett Place Condos in last week’s Cellpic Sunday here. A circular sidewalk ringed with flags of Italy surround the platform upon which the statue is mounted.  A stand of trees and grassy area is located east of the statue along President Street. The ownership of the park is somewhat of a mystery. I expected to see the park listed on the Baltimore City Recreation and Parks website. On their Parks and Trails page they list 18 city parks but Columbus Park is not on the list. It is, however, identified on a PDF map I downloaded from the Baltimore City Recreation & Parks website.

About the photo: As I mentioned in an earlier post, I forgot to bring my Sony camera but I did have my Samsung S6 cellphone handy. I’ve got lots of images of Baltimore for future Cellpic Sundays as the S6 was all I had with me. This image demonstrates the wide latitude of the Samsung camera system. Even challenged by the bright sky behind, the sensor in the camera captured incredible detail in the shadowy side of the sculpture. The image was processed in Adobe Lightroom and Luminar Flex. In most browsers you can select the image to enlarge it for a more detailed viewing.

John Steiner