Sun Spots
What had been forecast as a beautiful fall day (and it was on the drive down in the dark at 5am) turned into a fog shrouded morning when I made the image below. We had just enough sun peek through at sunrise to get this and a small patch of blue before things closed up. So it is with weather and photographing outside, but my tale here is not about unexpected weather so much as other truly unexpected events and experiencing the world through sight.
 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.
Harvest Pavillion
Harvest Pavilion: In a field again for David Thompson
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 |
Civil War Memorial
As alluded to in an earlier post (Images Made: Woolsey), my images of Yale’s Civil War Memorial are out (YAM article). I want to take a quick moment to share two images that were not published.
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 |
Images Made: Woolsey
Images Made #1: Woolsey
I think the blog here is aptly named, though hopefully no non-meat eaters have been driven away. In the spirit of how things are made I’ve largely posted either behind the scenes views of some projects or called out other projects to showcase what I do. I’ve added a Projects page that largely takes care of the latter visually for larger projects, but I will still post mentions here too. With this post I want to start a series that shows more of how specific images are made. This is a simple one, but I think important in showing how an otherwise simple image is MADE, not captured. This is a distinction in understanding images – the images I make.
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 |
More to say and Images Below, Read more…
Cushing Center
Photographed the nicely designed exhibition and collection space at the Cushing Center, designed by Turner Brooks Architect.
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
School at Dusk: 3 sides
Run run run. Getting three sides of a building at dusk is a little risky, but we pulled it off.
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
Gilead Room
A very rainy day, but it was dry inside a huge ex-Bayer building on Yale’s West Campus. This is the conservation and pre-assembly of the Gilead Room from the Young’s family house, from Gilead, Connecticut. Photographed this for a future published story on the West Campus complex. I’ll hopefully have more on that later this spring/summer.
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
Yale: Kroon Hall 2
Yale Alumni Magazine (Sept/Oct 2009) has story on Yale Forestry’s Kroon Hall. 5 images accompany the article. I photographed this back in the spring, but was bumped from the summer issue for space. Posted is a webgallery of all 19 Kroon Hall images made for the Yale Alumni magazine. http://www.arch-clig.com/projects/kroonhall/
Screen Grab of Kroon Hall webgallery
Yale: Kroon Hall 1
I had the pleasure of photographing at Yale’s new Kroon Hall last week. Photographed inside and out. Here are a couple site views. I’ll post some finished views in a day or two and I’m sure they will appear in the portfolio area here as well. Thanks to Dominic of the facilities staff (a green building takes more effort to keep lights on at night!) and David DeFusco for letting in one more photographer!
 Kroon Hall : front, daytime |
 Kroon Hall : side, daytime |
Chris