Waymarking Photos

It's always a disappointment to me when I have to photograph something for a waymark on a gray day (which happens quite often here in Washington State.) The difference between a sculpture set against gray, versus one set against a brilliant blue sky is amazing - it brings out an energy in the object being photographed, and the colors just pop!

Yesterday I spent the day in Seattle visiting the new wing of the Seattle Art Museum and taking a friend to see the Olympic Sculpture Park for the first time. Last time I was at the park it was pretty gray but this day was a day for taking photos. I took pictures of EVERYTHING! The colored glass "shadows" on a gravel path, a vandalized pane of glass in the "Seattle Cloud Cover" piece, every possible shot of the Calder sculpture with the Puget Sound in the background... When I started taking pictures of the gravel path my friend wandered off to make sure people didn't realize she was with me. ;) The shots turned out great though and now I need to get around to adding them to the galleries of all the different sculptures that I have waymarked in the park.

Oh - little photography tip for those taking photos of landscapes. Divide the image you see in your lense into 3 rows both horizontally and vertically. Never have the horizon line, or main horizontal line of the shot running straight through the middle of the picture. Either have it at the imaginary line at the top or bottom third of your shot. Also, if there is a subject that is part of the landscape shot - say a lighthouse on a bluff near the coastline - don't center the subject! Frame it so the subject is on the left or right "1/3" line that you've drawn vertically through your shot. Seems picky, but it will make a world of difference in your landscapes. So often I see waymarking pics come through that would be magazine quality shots if only they had been framed using the "rule of thirds".

The above photo is of the piece "Seattle Cloud Cover" that runs the length of the pedestrian bridge in the park. The light was being cast in all of these wonderful colorful shadows and I must have taken about 30 or more photos of the gravel alone. This shot shows the end of the piece and the shadows that it casts. I liked the perspective of the shot.