Phant's photos of the Alberta Legislative Building

[Phantasee]

Much nicer than those other Legislative Buildings recently posted

I didn't take pictures of the front from very close, on account of all the kids getting their high school grad photos taken on the steps (very popular spot for both grad and wedding photos), but I got this one from a distance:



The bridges in the foreground cross over one of the water features, and that spray is the next one over. There's a reflecting pool beyond that. All three are full of kids in the summer, it's a nice place to bring the kids when the outdoor pools around the city are overcrowded.

The view from just past security:



The steps up to the assembly:



There's a red carpet that goes up the steps when they are in session, but nothing was going on that day. The Premier was in Asia, IIRC.



Yeah, those are palm trees up there. This is the view straight up, right above the fountain.

Another view of the grounds:

[Artemas]

We have a fine looking legislature. What are those trees in the last pic? Crab-apples or something?

[Phantasee]

Those are cherry blossoms, I think.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Those are cherry blossoms, I think.

Nicely composed photos and a good subject, too. May I ask what was your equipment?

[Phantasee]

iPhone 3GS. I did do a bit of straightening and cropping, you can see the originals on the Flickr page (which can be reached by clicking the pictures). The last one is cropped a bit and that's it. The interior shots took some more work (exposure and straightening, mostly).

[Simplicius]

Since I was asked - I think that the photos have basic but competent composition. This is especially the case with the interior shots, where you recognized the building's symmetry and shot accordingly. Since the photos are meant to be a general view of the interior rather than a showcase of architectural detail or an abstraction, trying to get fancy would only have interfered with the photos.

The same is the case for the outdoor views. The one with the blossoms, for instance - all the main features in the shot create horizontal lines, with nothing interrupting that pattern. It's not a terribly exciting composition, but it's a consistent one. There are a couple of things you might want to try/could have tried to see how they look. One is cropping down a bit, maybe to the height of the trees in the background and the right edge of the rightmost building. The part of the photo outside those lines is isolated from the horizontals but doesn't really have a structure of its own, while the bright space of the sky pulls my eye away from more interesting things - I didn't even notice the reflection of the blossoms until I did the crop frame thing with my fingers. The other thing you could have tried in a few extra shots was to explore what kind of a path 'into' the image you could have drawn with those stepping stones on the left, and whether you thought that added something overall.

The one of the legislative building is also quite horizontal, though it's a pity about that light post stealing attention from the contrasting vertical of the dome itself. You can see how the scene is symmetrical and the trees draw leading lines toward the building, which you (wisely) didn't ignore or try to fight. One thing that I feel is a missed opportunity is the projecting bit of terrace in the bottom left. Its centerline and acute left angle point out the side of the photo. I think if you had stood just enough to the left so the projecting bit pointed more out the bottom - maybe placing it on a vertical third or thereabouts - it would serve as a sort of step into the scene and better reinforce the lines of the trees. That's another thing that one or two extra shots would have let you try out.

Again, simple, but definitely composed. Not willy-nilly stuff by any means.

[Phantasee]

Thanks, Simp!

I see what you mean about cutting out the extraneous bits of the blossoms photo. I was concerned I was going to be too aggressive with the cropping and held off. I thought that maybe the tree on the right would give the scene some balance, but I see that it would have been better as a focus on the colour instead.

I didn't give the stepping stones much thought, since I didn't want to get my feet wet. I'll definitely have to be more aggressive about that next time.

My ideal location for shooting the exterior of the building would have been from the second bridge you see in the picture, but there was a bunch of girls posing in front of the fountain and I didn't want to intrude.

I'll definitely be taking a lot more shots in the future. There's no need to be miserly with digital, after all.

[Simplicius]

I thought about that tree - it does kind of bookend the horizontal lines. Try it both ways; there's no reason not to.

About the stones - I wasn't suggesting you go for a wade or anything like that! I thought with a vantage point somewhat further to the left, it might be possible to get an arrangement vaguely like this:



where the stepping stones and trash bin bridge the horizontal lines, but also bridge the viewer and the trees. If it worked, I think it would be like having a mountain range on the horizon and a road or a river starting at the bottom of the frame and receding toward them - the viewer gets a better sense of where he (isn't really) standing, and can look along the visual path into the shot (because of the vanishing point perspective) instead of just at it.

[Phantasee]

This idea of a visual path is kind of new and exciting to me.

I think I'm going to go and try the shot again tomorrow. It'll be warmer and I won't sweat the water so much, and I have to go down to the Leg anyway.