Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Photo of the Week: Mies Calder Sears

Mies Calder Sears

The Flamingo by Alexander Calder, in Federal Plaza, Chicago.  The Sears Tower is framed at the bottom and Mies van der Rohe's Kluczynski Federal Building is to the left.

I'm normally not a very efficient photographer.  I like to linger around my subjects, ponder them.  I'm rarely satisfied.  I'll take a dozen photos of a building or a scene, only to come home and realize that the first one was the best.  Or that they're all terrible.

This particular photo was an exception.  This was a blazing example of photographic efficiency.  I probably spent no more than a minute in Federal Plaza on this day.  I walked up to the Flamingo, knelt on one knee, pointed the camera skyward and fired off two or three photos.  After a quick check of the LCD screen, I was off to meet a friend at my next destination.  Of course, it helped that I had a good idea what I wanted to do here-- that is, to frame the Sears Tower under the Flamingo, and take advantage of the light coming from the west.  It also helped that I've photographed this subject before.  Still, I liked the efficiency.  It felt good for once.

Nikon D90 with 16-85mm lens (19mm for this shot), 1/400sec at f8 and ISO200.

2 comments:

JUSTIN said...

Really cool shot!

Andy Marfia said...

Glad you like it. Thanks, Justin!