Seeing 2012 (#42)

For your consideration: luminaries levitating, in their own fashion, in a massive, elegant edifice on State Street in Santa Barbara, CA.

Capturing this stellar perspective involved a (minor) feat of dexterity and contortion from a perch on an adjacent (and equally ornate) staircase. It was a challenge to secure just the correct angle to allow full separation of the globes from both one another as well as the geometry of the encompassing background. The heavily shadowed archways in the center distance provide a sweet additional set of symmetries, echoing the thrust of the chains while also rhyming the triangular facets of the main subjects.

I particularly like this image for the several themes it narrates: an incongruous sense of weightlessness of massive objects, an unusual sense of depth, and a suggestion of rhythmic motion as the eye moves along the dipping, then rising line of lanterns.

Star Chamber (Santa Barbara Courthouse), #6455-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: March 24, 2012; Canon 7D; f/5.6 @ 1/200 sec; -1 EV; ISO 640;
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM @ 166mm

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