Christmas in Seattle – Part I

What do you do when it’s raining?

One answer is “Get out in it and shoot!” I did that, which the weatherproof combination of Olympus E-M5 and M.Z. 12-50 mm lens makes easy and fun. Another answer is to look for things of interest that I might otherwise overlook, shooting inside – or from inside.

This first post is about a series of shots I took that I think of as formal compositions. Forms, space, color, texture and their juxtapositions are more important to the image than the things photographed are, in themselves. Some subjects are obvious. Others may be a mystery.

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Rain can transform an otherwise ordinary subject.

 

A simple, easily ignored architectural detail provides material, perhaps at different scales.

A graphic design may interact with an unintentional graphic.

Breakfast in a retrofitted building.

In the Age of Brass, a elevator was more than just a box that goes up and down.

Some images are just mysterious as to origins.

Some slightly less so? Maybe you can guess?

Some totally mundane objects interest me when isolated and paid attention to.

Sometimes, we see through.

Sometimes, we see behind us.

I wonder if I would have found what was being said in this hall as interesting to my mind as my eye found it empty.

Some forms are fluid, with complex textures.

Others are formally rigid. Is this door a reflection of place? Function? Intentional rigidity?

What about this one?

Many architects have a great eye for visual presentation of simple form and color.

You may have guessed that I didn’t have special platforms nor used a view camera.  Most of these images have been straightened from the perspective distorted originals. In this case, I removed the ceiling detritus of modern buildings, to retain the pure form of the design.

I don’t imagine that whoever placed the piano here had a visual composition in mind.

Perhaps whoever hung this giant reproduction of  a Lempicka on the outside of the Museum had it made translucent on purpose.

Another architectural design that makes a nice abstract image.

Finally, a clue to one of the less obvious images above.