10 minutes
November 25, 2017
I rarely shoot just architecture anymore. Somewhere along my photographic journey I was pulled towards images narrating a human experience to art or architecture or the surrounding environment. Architecture began serving a compositional role that is one component of the human experience as opposed to being the experience in it of itself. I’m still drawn to stark lines, textures and contrasts, but those elements feel incomplete to me without a subject experiencing them first hand–to give them scale and grounding in the real world. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate people who create architectural images, it just means I seek a different balance in my own work. Usually.
A few Saturday’s back, Ester and a few of her friends marched in the AIDS walk Downtown. I was proud of her and of her friends. I don’t want to sounds like the out-of-touch father but I didn’t realize that Ester was felt so strongly about showing her support for social issues like AIDS. I was touched. Surprised by touched.
While we were waiting for her to meet us up at the car, I realized we were parked half a block from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The second I realized it, I immediately started feeling fidgety. My camera bag was in the back and I reckoned I could get in at least 10 minutes before Ester showed-up so I jumped-out, grabbed my Mamiya and asked AM if she wouldn’t mind picking me in front of the Disney Concert Hall as soon as Ester finally showed.
I crossed the street, walked half a block down to the back entrance and took the steps two at a time. When I arrived at the garden there were images everywhere and in my haste to bail I hadn’t thought to take another roll with me–just the camera. I started with a couple images of silhouetted trees and I got lucky. There was a guy walking around back there shooting himself and I managed to catch him in one of my frames. The other pictures were made purely as a testament and celebration of Gehry’s intimate understanding of light and form. He was a genius and every time I have the pleasure to experience his work I feel humbled.
Just as I shot out the last frame on the roll, AM called. She and the kids had already looped around the block twice and hadn’t seen me. I ran down the front steps, out into the street in front of the Concert Hall and jumped in the passenger seat feeling totally overwhelmed by 10 minutes spent basking in the intense glow of what could only be defined as greatness.
Shot on my Mamiya 6MF at 50mm on Kodak Tri-X 400 film, pushed to 800 at the Icon.