Interior Study. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
The interior of a San Diego, California building.
Photographs like this one are, for me, something like visual “palate cleansers.” It is really only about composition, shapes, densities, lines, and, of course, light. Whether you feel that understanding these things is central to photographs or, alternatively, simply underlies the other things that photographs are about, the fact remains that these basic visual qualities are a big part of what attracts many of us to the medium.
I’m not 100% sure where I made this photograph. I know it was in San Diego, and I’m pretty certain that it was at Balboa Park, and I strongly suspect that it was inside the Museum of Photographic Arts. To me, the photograph is a bit deceptive and is a bit more complex than it might initially appear. I’ll leave it to viewers to explore that notion.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
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Thanks, Gary.
I like your observation about todal range and complexity. I went back and forth on whether to share the original color image, which also has some lovely color subtleties, but in the end I really liked the tonal graduations of the monochromatic version.
You are also right about the rather extreme depth of field in the image, which was a bit of a challenge in this light and (as you noted) shooting handheld.
Dan
It looks like the complexity is the depth of field and tonal range. Pure black in the foreground with the whites in the window area while keeping some detail outside the right hand window. It looks to me like you captured every tonal zone and maintained sharpness. Not knowing if you used a tripod, shooting hand held may have added to the complexity. Well done.