Photos of Monument to Paul Walden
About Monument to Paul Walden
Monument to Paul Walden (Piemineklis Paulam Valdenam) is a unique sculpture sitting in the plaza outside the Faculty of Biology. The sculpture centers around a polished steel "mirror" surrounded by cluster of steel balls and rods built to form a molecule. The same structure mirrored left and right to demonstrate the Walden Inversion that he discovered. It's a small piece, but the shapes give you plenty to work with. Getting in close with a wide lens lets the spheres bulge toward the camera, or you can shoot the two molecule sides from a distance to line them up as a matched pair and highlight the Walden Inversion. The steel picks up whatever is around it, so the green of the park and the red brick of the faculty building both end up in the surface. That reflectivity is both fun to experiment and can be frustrating too. Direct sun throws hard hot spots on the polished faces and blows the highlights, while an overcast sky turns the whole wall into an even silver masking the details. The monument sits in the canal park across from the Old Town, just a few minutes on foot from the Freedom Monument. Combine it with the Ostwald monument on the same boulevard by the same sculptor and you have a matched pair. (Riga, Latvia)
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