School Entrance

Just after this image was made I started to descend the hill, and because the fog was so thick, you could look directly at the sun. At that moment there were some power lines crossing in front of the sun and what I first thought were two birds sitting. The “birds” however were moving along with the sun and not staying on the power lines. When the sun is so low you can actually see the sun (of course more accurately the earth) move rather quickly.

The nut I am I turned to my client and said, “Do you see those two black spots on the sun?”. The reply was, “no”. And shaking my head I say, “Well I swear I can see two spots on the sun”. Or that was approximately the dialogue. Not two days later I stumbled across this National Geographic article about massive sun spots on the sun, large enough to see with the naked eye.

Sometimes you’ve got to trust what you see!    -it is after all our greatest way to perceive our universe.

In the field (another view from a field) and light where there was not any.

Sometimes the vision for the ideal view of a project is just not the current reality. This Garden Pavilion serves as the entryway and main gate for the Common Ground High School teaching vegetable garden. We photographed the finished structure in the fall as seemed appropriate for fruitful gardens. But the school had opted to hold off on electrifying the building (while still planning surrounding services).

While I’d say today’s trend, and definitely among my clients, is to photograph projects under natural light conditions, as well as use the designed light environment instead of sticking in a big photographer’s nose. In this case David had designed lighting that he envisioned illuminating the translucent roof, a great way to create atmosphere for evening outdoor events the school might hold. So in addition to making day images we had the task of illuminating the roof from within to create a glowing roof at dusk a reality. The logistics turned out to be easier than if the building had been more enclosed. We used a series of wide open faces light down the rafters on each roof side and a couple smaller spots on the floor interior. And of course the generators to power everything while we waited for dusk to descend.

Generators

Interior Lighting

Interior Lighting

Scouting View

And the finished image. With a second preset camera in the garden we were also able to make a matching broadside image from within the garden.
Thankfully in the fall, in a field, at dusk we weren’t eaten alive waiting for the right moment!

Harvest Pavilion at Dusk

I couldn’t help but make the first here after I saw it (made it on the way out, after covering the bases). I knew it wouldn’t make it with space constraints. The reason being that without the help of a heavy caption one understandably would assume the left wall of names is also from the Civil War (which it is not, World War II, I think). Anyway, point is outside of editorial clarity or expediency I like the architecturally formal strength here. In this I think I have a sense of space and a visually longer lasting image – the building lines are there to follow, loop back on, and interlock.

Civil War Memorial

The second image as well was not published, as this whole wall was. I want to share this here because it is a good editorial image for me as it feels different than many I have made. It is closer of course, perhaps, but (and maybe it is just the subject matter) it feels more intense.

Civil War Memorial

I see myself as an image maker and this is important in that I don’t see images “taken” or “captured”, instead MADE. Sometimes this is less artistically subjective in the photography of art (aka museum photography) where the making might be more about technical making (assembly) or in this case a more subjective, but not excessively produced image that uses a little foresight and an ounce of assembly.

This exterior image of Woolsey Hall in New Haven, CT was made to accompany interior images I made of the Civil War Memorial that lists both fallen Union and Confederate soldiers of Yale (look for an upcoming mention on those).

Woolsey Hall: Final Image

Scouting Images
First, if there is time I want a scouting image. Camera phones are awesome for this and I’ve used a pano app to approximate the wider view I’ll make later.

Scouting Phone Pano

 
Base Plate
Next is actual photography. In this case all images are made from the same view (what I most often do) as samples out of time or varied by some other parameter like exposure (a parameter could be depth of focus to give you another idea). The first image is my base plate, a clean scene with an accurate overall exposure.

Image Base Plate

 
Selective Elements
1. People
This Woolsey Hall image is effectively an “editorial” image where the goal is to make a natural looking view of the building (not a more stylized or lush “beautiful building” image). While I want all of the building facade, I also want some context to place the building. Unfortunately the available context is essentially the intersection in front. That is not so much a problem as this building is an intersection of sorts itself, as a gateway to Yale’s campus. So that leads me to filling the contextual intersection space with traffic, and not car traffic, so I want pedestrian traffic. The majority of additional plates are then sampling out a good crop of human traffic.

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11-026_006-people	11-026_008-people	11-026_010-people

2. Tree Branch
The branch hanging down as seen in the base plate is providing an affect I want, keeping the view contained lower in the image than floating up to the dome. It looks too heavy though and projects too far down into the frame. I want it more at the edge. Here are the plates that get the leaf parts I want (I’m just on a 4 step ladder pushing up the same branch seen in the base plate). A bonus has been that I like the wispy clouds that have appeared and given me something other than a blank blue sky.

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Finishing an Image
All the above images are laid together. The finished image of the building is made up of all these additional elements on top of the base plate. Of course I could have closed the intersection, hired models, and had assistants hold the branches – and maybe had it all in one exposure. That is a valid approach and vary well could have produced an identical image. On the other hand the cost to create the image would be much, much more. As well there is something I think composed, not contrived about the image. Here again is the Final image.

Woolsey Hall: Final Image

I photographed this back in the fall with the help of Turner Brooks and his associate Aaron, but publication was delayed an issue. There has been several previous articles on this collection and the preparation of the exhibit, but I was invited to make finished images of the space.

A feature is running along with an article in the Yale Alumni Magazine. As well Architectural Lighting magazine picked up the story for their museum lighting issue.

You can see the full set of images I made as a featured project: Cushing Center.

Project: Cushing Center

Cg

A blue sky day is what most clients wish for to showcase their buildings during the day, but often this type of beautiful day makes for a short dusk period, especially heading into the fall.

When I photographed the Bloomfield High School, renovated by Tai Soo Kim Partners we had just such a day. The blue sky, while dramatic can create a couple trade offs. My client hoped for all dusk images, but we had 3 sides to capture in one evening.

The three images below were made sequentially from left to right starting just as the sun dipped. With nothing in the sky there is less light bounced and hence a shorter after glow period. As well the lingering blue sky can continue to reflect in large expanses of glass as seen in the last image. By the time we had run around to the library, which was in a courtyard on the north side, this reflection had finally subsided enough to easily see in, but consequently the ambient light was dimming in relation to the interior. I think we pulled out three good images (actually there was a fourth too), with the south LED sign entrance and then library glass wall as the most winning. The three images in a row make an obvious show of how quickly disappearing and short the optimal window of time is for making dusk images. In this case we got through and saved the client a return trip.

School at dusk 1 west

School at dusk 2 south

School at dusk 3 north

Cg

The Art Gallery art handlers had just recently put all the main pieces together and removed cardboard that had been protecting the floor boards. You can see all the parts pre-assembly here (scroll down some, not my image so come back). The framed in room will be taken apart after some more conservation and reinstalled at the Yale Art Gallery in a year or two. The open wall sections and ceiling will be plastered in once reinstalled. Cool!

Thanks to Emily, Eric, and Tom for letting me into their secluded workspace.

Chris

Kroon Hall : front, daytime

Kroon Hall : side, daytime

Chris