This week's challenge is angles. "Angles : 90° 180° -- Show us an interesting photograph with an angle."
I had a clear idea of what I wanted to shoot this week, The Seattle Central Library. It was designed by Rem Koolhaas and is full of very cool windows and angles.
Photo by DVD R W. See, lots of cool angles. How could this go wrong?
My plan was pretty straightforward. The weather report said that it was supposed to be sunny later in the week so I would take a little longer lunch on Friday and zip down to the library and take about a half an hour and take several pictures. I do have a confession to make though. Despite the fact that I am a proud native of Seattle, I have never actually been in the library. This would be a great time to correct that.
Before I got to Friday, and my photo shoot at the library, I had a meeting with a potential client on Thursday. The meeting was located at the north end of the waterfront of downtown Seattle. I took my camera along because one never knows if there would be something good to shoot. After the meeting I walked around for a bit. I took some terrible and boring pictures of the Alaskan Way Viaduct that I will not be sharing. A few blocks away though I saw what is now known as the 4th and Blanchard Building. It wasn't known as that when it was built in 1979. It was known as "The Darth Vader Building." I was, and am, a HUGE fan of all things Star Wars related. So much so that my parents took me to see The Empire Strikes Back at the very tender age of 4. (As a side note, now that I am the father of a 3 year old what were my parents thinking!?!?!? Empire is a scary movie! Darth Vader is one bad dude and to top it off everything goes wrong for the good guys in that movie, it doesn't end on a good note. How was I not emotionally scared for life after seeing that movie at such a young age?)
Photo by Joe Mabel. Look at that thing! The design still holds up 35 years later.
So I started walking the few blocks towards the building and started taking pictures.
It's amazing what you can get in just a few minutes. On my way back to the car I was able to capture a few other nice surprises.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Those are some nice pictures. I even really like the one with the trees in it but where are the library pictures you led with? Fear not, they are next.
As planned I hopped in my car and zipped downtown and grabbed the first parking spot I could across the street from the library. I just started walking around the library and took shots as I went focusing on the unique angles and details of the building.
I then went inside. I worked my way all the way up to the top and then worked my way down taking photos as I went.
Both shoots were a lot of fun. As was the case with my previous challenges I wish I had been able to take more time. I only had about 20-30 minutes both times this week before I had to get back to work and regular life. Going forward I will need to figure out how to schedule more time to be able to focus on what kind of image I'm trying to make. I have a feeling though that this is the case with all photographers, not just ones who are trying to cram in a project during their lunch hour.
So, which photo did I choose to submit this week? My wife's favorite, of course.
Next week's challenge is water. "Water : Fluid, Frozen, Splashing or Soaked?" I have a few ideas already. I can take some long exposure photos of the streams and waterfalls at Kubota Gardens or maybe head down to the shore at Lake Washington, I do live like 3 blocks away.
Stay tuned readers for more adventures.