Staring at the Ceiling
This was taken in the Pinakothek, an art museum in Munich, Germany. It is a wonderful place filled with brilliant paintings and sculptures. Yet, every time I visit, I find myself examining the building itself more than the artwork around me. There is something about the convergence of lines and shapes throughout the various halls & rooms that I find more gratifying than what is hanging on its walls.
Its atrium is one of my favorite areas. As you look upward, a multi-paneled glass ceiling exposes light upon the surrounding circles & shapes. This particular day was very cloudy, which allowed me to expose for all light in the scene. In the absence of direct sunlight and harsh shadows, the symmetry can be enjoyed without distraction.
The most challenging part of the capture was getting low enough to capture the entire scene. Even with a wide-angle lens, I had to get the camera to floor-level to get all of the details I wanted. My solution here was to lay on my back & press the camera to my face...then try to produce a symmetrical composition. So there I was, staring at the ceiling with full concentration and focus, while I suspect the other people in the atrium were looking at me and wondering what the heck I was doing.
