A Softer Geometry

I think I'm beginning to begin to get a feel for photography.

It is easy to take lovey pictures of gardens; nature in essence is our pattern book. But man-made structures are, relatively speaking, impoverished. The Central Library, where I've worked for almost 30 years, is a grand, large-scale, neglected public building that can easily look cold and impersonal.

Which is not my experience of the library at all. My library does not feel like the above picture, even though it is an effective, realistic photo. So how can I depict my library, a lived unity of objective and subjective?

Unusual angles help, but it's the light that holds the key. At the library there are often different types of light illuminating a single space: natural, florescent, incandescent and reflected.

While we may not consciously see the different tones within the lighting of a room, my guess is our bodies do. These invisible colors have an effect. So by being able to bring forward that inner perception, the hard geometric angles are softened  And since the different lights' washes of color are not arbitrary; the photo they create remains realistic.

 

Now that's my library. 

The secret  is not to overdo it; it may be a blessing that I'm a techno-klutz. There are a lot of photos out there that I would like if they were just a little less processed. They have crossed the line out of realism.

But here, years worth of dust bunnies certainly keep it real!