New York - City In Motion - Guggenheim Museum

Honoring An Architectural Classic

Frank Lloyd Wright's "temple of the spirit" was built in 1959 and became an instant classic of inspired contemporary architecture. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is one of the most elegant and recognizable buildings in all of New York City.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - New York - City In Motion

Tourists and photographers flock to the Guggenheim. It's stunning in every season. Photograph it once, and you'll want to come back and capture it at some new angle or at a different time of day.

This photo of the Guggenheim is my favorite so far. It's the very first photo that I took for the City In Motion collection, and I think that it was a pretty good start!



Camera:    Nikon D800E
Lens:        Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright 2014 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

Stairway Atop The City Walls, Dubrovnik

The most impressive walled city that I've seen in my travels is Dubrovnik on the southern coast of Croatia.

Stairwell Atop The City Walls, Dubrovnik

I captured this shot as the morning sun cast a shadow bisecting the stairway.


Camera:  Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens:      Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright 2014 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

The Other Side of the Island

The Charm of New York's Neighborhoods

Skyscrapers. High-rise apartment buildings. Landmarks, lights, and sights - New York has it all. Tourists flock to Times Square and Rockefeller Center, stroll along Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, and aim their cameras at the Chrysler Building and the World Trade Center. The grandeur can be intoxicating. The experience, unforgettable.

New Yorkers and frequent visitors enjoy the famous sights just as much as the tourists do. But there's a more intimate side of the city - neighborhoods that retain the charm and character of decades past. 

I love to photograph New York. A big part of that adventure is discovering the city's hidden secrets, lesser known places that still catch the eye and captivate the imagination.

City In Motion - Classic New York Architecture

The photo above shows a style of architecture that I have come to appreciate while meandering through the busy streets of Manhattan. These four or five-story building typically feature shops on the street level, apartments above, and intricate iron fire escapes.

The façades can be quite colorful. I love how direct sunlight - which hits this row of buildings for at most only a few minutes per day - brings out the colors, textures, and details.

My first attempt at this shot didn't work out well. I realized afterward that I had forgotten to put a memory card into the camera. The images vanished as soon as I turned the camera off.

I returned a week later, wedged my tripod between a couple of parked cars (one of which was waiting to pull out!), focused, finalized my exposure settings carefully, and clicked six or seven shots as cars passed by in various patterns. I like this one the best because of the even distribution of the passing cars across the frame.

Unfortunately, these lovely buildings are disappearing. Each year, many of them are torn down to make way for large and more modern structures. I look forward to photographing more neighborhoods like this one - before they all disappear.


Camera: Nikon D800E
Lens:     PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright 2013 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

Red Cube And White Tile

The Search for Fresh Perspectives

Red Cube, a familiar New York landmark, was created by sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1968. Its location just one block from the World Trade Center complex draws a lot of tourist traffic.

Is it possible to capture a unique view of an object that is photographed hundreds, perhaps thousands of times every day? Creativity is a vast universe. Why not give it a try?

After snapping some rather mundane shots of Red Cube, I decided to look for a more interesting perspective. Young men were skate boarding in the area, and I took a few shots with them in the frame, but nothing special materialized. Daylight was beginning to fade, and I hadn't captured a single decent photo.

Red Cube White Tile - New York

I noticed that one of the plaza tiles was lighter than the rest. Perhaps the original tile had to be replaced by a newer, less weathered slab. When I walked over to the white tile, I noticed that the line adjacent to it (to its right in the photo above) led directly toward the center of the cube.

When I noticed this geometric relationship between the tile and the cube, my creative mind launched into a virtual orgasm. I couldn't wait to take the shot.

A wide-angle lens would make all of the lines in the plaza to converge toward the sculpture, effectively linking cube and tile. I mounted a special tilt-shift lens that would prevent the distortion of vertical lines and keep both the tile and the cube in sharp focus. (This feature isn't available on most lenses).

I leveled the camera on the tripod, focused and metered carefully, spent a few minutes fending off a polite but unhelpful security guard, and captured the shot seen above.

Red Cube and White Tile is one of my favorite images of Lower Manhattan. It took a bit of time to get all of the pieces lined up and in focus, but the final image turned out even better than I had anticipated. The lone white tile and the convergence of lines toward the center add an interesting dimension to an oft photographed object. 


As with all of the photos on this blog, you can view larger, more detailed versions on my website. Please click the link below. You'll find this image in the 28 Days Sharper Portfolio 


Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Lens: Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II (tilt and fall movements applied)

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright 2013 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

Line, Shape, and Color

Fundamental Elements in Photographic Composition

The photograph of the red fire escape is one of my favorites. I visited the site several times over the course of a year before hitting up the right light and composition.

I love fire escapes. They're like functioning urban metal sculptures.

I'm always looking for fire escapes with unique shapes and colors or where light hits them at an interesting angle. I was fascinated by the vivid colors of blue and red on this building, and the way that they shapes and angles worked together.

Red Fire Escape - New York City

I experimented with a number of compositions but decided to isolate a small section with a telephoto lens.

The angle of the stairs and shadows contrast with the rectangular windows. The white trim adds an eye catching highlight. The dangling wires contribute mystery and chaos. One might expect to see sparks flying at night.

Basic shapes attract the eye. They are familiar and easy to perceive. A clean layout appeals to our sense of order and a desire for harmony and balance.

Color and contrast add interest and vibrance to shapes and fundamental forms. Simplicity enhances clarity.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens: Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright 2013 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

Geometric Skyscrapers

Art And Abstraction In Architecture

Perspective. 

How many different ways are there to look at a structure? 

Where can we stand in search of a fresh view of a well-known structure?

How will light interact with architecture, and how does that change with season and time of day?

How can lenses and two-dimensional perspective enhance and stylize the appearance of large, three-dimensional objects?

I visualized photographing this landmark New York skyscraper from its base, but the composition didn't work until I included the building across the street.

The symmetrical convergence of vertical lines draws attention toward the center of the frame. The reflections hint of a delicate interaction between giants.

Geometric Skyscrapers - New York City

To capture this image, I aimed my tripod-mounted camera straight up. I had to compose and focus from below.  Onlookers watched as I crouched and twisted into a series of uncomfortable positions.

Alignment was critical. Horizontal lines had to remain parallel to the edges of the frame, or the buildings would have skewed to one side.  I wanted the convergence to balance well between the building in front (bottom) and behind (top). 

Luckily, it all worked out in the end. The shapes and patterns blend together nicely, the quality of light reveals sharp detail, and the reflections add a special highlight to the composition.


Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Lens: Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II (no movements applied)

Wishing you great light and meaningful moments!

Copyright © 2013 Daniel R. South

www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved