With apologies to Escher

This is part of a carefully-crafted plan to give the entirely false impression that I take photos with a common theme and style.

My large format friends (all two of them) tell me that I should straighten out those columns with a tilted baseboard (or Photoshop). I rather like the way that the clockwise loop of the closest archway opposes the anti-clockwise movement of the people, and that's lost if you correct the perspective. What do the gurus of PP think?

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), July 17, 2000

Answers

Converging lines are a natural part of perspective. You are right too: in this case, straightening the columns would destroy the movement in this picture. What's unique here is that, because you are way above the subjects, the lines converge downward. That makes it even more interesting.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), July 17, 2000.

This immediately reminded me of the recent movie, "Elizabeth" which included several scenes that started from as high a viewpoint as this. I think it was to emphasize "church" and "state" before people and the Queen, but I've mostly forgotten what the director said on this point during the "director's comments track" of the DVD (which, incidently, is an awesome function of DVDs and this was a wonderful movie/history lesson to utilize the function). I really like the details of the archways, particularly the shadows on the distant one. I don't think you should attempt to straighten anything out with photoshop or a shift lens, as then it wouldn't look as natural, and it would at least slightly defeat the purose of having obtained a highish viewpoint in the first place. Just curious, though, how are you getting "clockwise" from the nearest archway? I understand your comment, but don't understand where you're getting the motion there.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), July 17, 2000.

Well, I think that this is excellent, particularly with the nod to Escher. You've captured the people at just the right moment. I would not alter the perspective, as the way it is presented at the moment serves the theme well. I do think that the exposure could be improved to give more detail in the surrounding columns, and it might work better in black and white, and if the camera was on a tripod. You should do a follow up, say on the myth of Sisyphus. May I ask where this was taken - it reminds me of Ely, but I haven't been there for several years now. Regards

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), July 17, 2000.

Thanks for the votes of confidence. I too like the image in B+W, but another of my current mini-obsessions is to try and capture form and shape without throwing away colour. This slide is pushing beyond the limits of my scanner's puny dynamic range. The original doesn't wash out the sunlit column base, and the figures are better-seperated from the stonework. The aisle and far wall have quite a bit more detail which makes the vivid green patch less distracting.

The framing of the multiple columns was what originally caught my attention here, and the unposed people were a bonus that made the shot. When I look at the image my eye is quickly pulled to the bottom of the frame by the fact that there are people there. It then follows the shadowed area slanting up and left, on up the dark column to the apex of the arch and then descends the column on the right as far as the splashes of colour where it meets the woman in front going the other way.

I love cathedrals because they are a wonderful mix of form and function. You can read their structure like a book, peeling back layers of history which mix local, national and international influences. Ely is one of my favourites because it was always poor and the layering is really obvious (the twenty-second echo in the lady chapel is fun too :-). Modern equivalents I've visited like the chapel at Princeton or the new Cathedral in Madrid seem very wierd in their uniformity.

This is Winchester, which was rich and powerful from Anglo Saxon times onwards and is much less tatty than Ely, having always had the cash for renovations. The viewpoint is from the first-floor museum in the south transept. If you go there in search of photos, I highly recommend a walk through the College and down the water meadows to the almshouse at St.Cross - both institutions show their age in more a visual way than the cathedral.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), July 18, 2000.

mobile

I don't really like the color in this image. It says nothing to me except clutter. I would have shot it in B&W and tried to get a little more detail(Z2.5-3)in the left hand side of the image which on my very calibrated monitor is quite blank. There may be some detail but I can't see it. I like the people down there. Kind of voyerish. And I like the lines and converging perspective. But the color, to me, is a nuisance. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), July 18, 2000.

Large format guys just love to play with swings and tilts, so, be patient. Love the photo.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), July 19, 2000.

Color is clutter?

First of all, this picture is close to being monochromatic. Second, it seems to me that the actual color that is there adds a great deal of depth and interest that would be missing in a b/w or toned version.

And that brings up an idea for a new thread...

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), July 20, 2000.

I agree: it is better in colour. But compare for yourself:

What do you all think?

-- Allan Engelhardt (allane@cybaea.com), July 20, 2000.

Ultimately it's a taste thing. I like B+W images of cathedral architecture, but this is a people forum and I liked this shot because it was about the interaction between the people and the architecture.

On the slide there is detail to be had in the left hand column, and it would be possible to do a long-tonal range B+W version of this. I've played with the idea on the computer but find the architecture keeps taking over and the image becomes more conventional. Those splashes of colour at the base of the right hand column and the first two people's green jerseys help pull the eye downwards and stop it getting lost in a forest of columns. The inverse depth cueing (lighter with distance) seems more confusing in B+W too.

It's certainly possible to go back. The cathedral has been there for over 900 years (akthough the fluted columns are mere striplings of 630 or so). Finding the right light at the right time of year might be hard, but the biggest problem is that Winchester has a grasping dean and chapter who are downright unfriendly to large format photographers and their tripods. Maybe a HOBO and Delta 3200 would do the trick.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), July 21, 2000.