Andy says architectural photography is boring...

wxwax

... and much of the time, I agree with him. I mean, it's a building, for crying out loud. No soul, no life, it's totally inanimate.

So why do I find myself wanting to photograph buildings? It's not like I'm a student of architecture, not even a buff. But something about certain structures strikes me, and I cave in.

Only to find out that Andy's right. I bring the shots home, and they're boring. Sometimes pretty, but rarely interesting.

Does that stop me? Hell no.

There's this tower called Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta. Not exactly a memorable name, I had to look it up. But it's a cool looking building. Turns out it's also Altanta's tallest, like five miles high or something.

Last fall, while walking to Georgia Tech football games from our parking lot, I noticed that a road on campus kind of framed the building. I filed it away as a potential shot when the light was right. In this case, sunset.

Today I decided to make my first attempt at getting the shot. I wasn't sure when the golden light would be, and what the shadows on the road would be like. So I hung around for close to an hour. And the darned road filled up with traffic. Some kind of show on campus, street parking filled up, everybody was in my way.

Don't they know I'm shooting a building!!??

So anyway, I had to stop shooting before the true gold light fell. Turns out that here, today, it was at 8pm. I stopped at around 7:45pm or so (no, I haven't set my camera's clock, so there.)

I had the 24-105. If I go back, I'm going to bring the 200, the 300 and the 1.4 extender. And a tripod.

So anyway, with a heavy dose of curves and cropping, here's my first version of Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta.

urbanaries

hey, didn't I see that picture in a movie?

seriously, the light is awesome, and the image is beautiful. not sure if it passes Nikolai's "20x30" test unless you're an atlanta native.

what genre does Andy generally find unboring?

David_S85

What does Andy know . You waited the time out, and look at the result! This is a very cool shot, and that sweet light sure helps bring out the character in the subject. Nice job, Sid.

wxwax

urbanaries wrote:

hey, didn't I see that picture in a movie?

seriously, the light is awesome, and the image is beautiful. not sure if it passes Nikolai's "20x30" test unless you're an atlanta native.

what genre does Andy generally find unboring?

I'm ignoring that thread. :bluduh

I missed that. What's Nik's 20x30 test?

Andy likes people and landscapes. He used to like red meat dripping with blood and animal fat, but now he prefers broccoli with a hint of sesame seed oil.

wxwax

David_S85 wrote:

What does Andy know . You waited the time out, and look at the result! This is a very cool shot, and that sweet light sure helps bring out the character in the subject. Nice job, Sid.

Thanks, David, I may yet go back with different glass and less traffic, see if I can improve on it.

urbanaries

wxwax wrote:

He used to like red meat dripping with blood and animal fat, but now he prefers broccoli with a hint of sesame seed oil.

I pretended for a few days this week out of curiosity. My toddler's baby sitter is still furious with me over the diapers full of edamame. Oops. Maybe next year.

wxwax

urbanaries wrote:

I pretended for a few days this week out of curiosity. My toddler's baby sitter is still furious with me over the diapers full of edamame. Oops. Maybe next year.

Nikolai

Sid,
It's a nice shot.
I agree, cars are spoiling the picture, but in this case maybe a simple crop would do. Just cut it above of the street lights - you'd have a tree on the left and the trees below - very clean "angle frame".

Nikolai

wxwax wrote:

I missed that. What's Nik's 20x30 test?

Lynne's referring to my "borken record" type remark I tend to use when people are asking if/which of their LPS entries are good/better.
I keep suggesting to think if one would like to order a 20"x30" print of the shot in question.
If the answer is "yes" - we're talking about a definite contender.
If not - well, what do I know

wxwax

ChrisJ

I like the original with the building in some context (ie. the first one). Maybe a touch too much negative space on the left side. I wish there were some poofy clouds, but that's just luck. Definitely worthy of a re-shoot with fewer/no cars.

Almost makes Atlanta look appealing!

wxwax

ChrisJ wrote:

I like the original with the building in some context (ie. the first one). Maybe a touch too much negative space on the left side. I wish there were some poofy clouds, but that's just luck. Definitely worthy of a re-shoot with fewer/no cars.

Almost makes Atlanta look appealing!

That's quite a trick.

I screwed up, I brought the 200 today, and it was way too much lens. I shoulda brought the 70-200. As a result, I couldn't get the compression shot I wanted of the road and the building.

Ah well, live and learn.

ivar

Hey Sid,

I usually am not a big fan of 'architectural' type shots, but I keep looking at that shot (the original). It really stands out to me for some reason. I'm not sure yet what exactly it is. When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

The other one you posted (just part of the building) doesn't do anything for me, sorry.

wxwax

ivar wrote:

Hey Sid,

I usually am not a big fan of 'architectural' type shots, but I keep looking at that shot (the original). It really stands out to me for some reason. I'm not sure yet what exactly it is. When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

The other one you posted (just part of the building) doesn't do anything for me, sorry.

Thanks, and yeah the second one was just something grabbed, after I realized I brought a too-long lens for the reshoot today.

Nikolai

wxwax wrote:

That's quite a trick.

I screwed up, I brought the 200 today, and it was way too much lens. I shoulda brought the 70-200. As a result, I couldn't get the compression shot I wanted of the road and the building.

Ah well, live and learn.

You have a decent tripod IIRC, you could've easily done a V-pano. CS3 is great stitching those... I do it all the time lately if I find myself not wide enough.
Just FWIW

Richard

wxwax wrote:

Thanks, and yeah the second one was just something grabbed, after I realized I brought a too-long lens for the reshoot today.

If you have something even longer, the open iron work at the top of the building might be cool by itself, especially if you can get some interesting sky as well. Just a thought.

Cheers,

StevenV

For me, the reason it works is because of the contrast in textures - the natural trees vs heavy-metal-and-glass of the BoA building.