23-NOV-2011
Inscription, Miletus, Turkey, 2011
There are hundreds of broken columns among the ruins of Miletus, but this was the only one that was inscribed with a message. Although I can’t read the words, I know that someone once expressed an idea upon its stone face. The inscription reminds us that actual people lived here more than two thousand years ago. Miletus dates back to Minoan times, and later flourished under the Greeks, Persians, and Romans. Alexander the Great once walked its streets. By tilting my camera, I made the column run diagonally through the frame, adding energy to the scene. I converted the image to black and white to also make it seem timeless.
22-NOV-2011
Village street, Lindos, Rhodes, Greece, 2011
Lindos is a small town of whitewashed buildings and narrow twisting streets on the Greek island of Rhodes. The historic Acropolis of Lindos, which features Greek and Roman ruins and a medieval castle, towers above it. Since I was unable to make the long and steep climb to the Acropolis, I stayed below and roamed the streets of the village instead. I found late afternoon light illuminating the textured walls running along narrow, cobblestone streets, and looked for a spot to use one of those walls diagonally within my frame. I found such a wall, and then waited for a passing person to make the scene come to life. As this man trudged past, I used his long shadow to echo the diagonal flow of both the wall and the street.
20-NOV-2011
Mosaic, Pafos, Cyprus, 2011
Pafos is known for the remarkably well-preserved floors of its Roman villas, which were unearthed after 16 centuries under ground. This one, from the House of Theseus, was partially hidden by the powerful diagonal shadow cast by a viewing platform. It seems to be peering at us from out of the past, seeming both vulnerable and tentative. The detail is amazing – every tile adds meaning to the whole.
17-NOV-2011
Among the ruins, Caesarea, Israel, 2011
Herod the Great built Caesarea between 25 and 13 BC. Today it lies in ruins, half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Once the largest city in Judea, its first house of worship was a Roman temple. A Christian church was built upon its ruins on the sixth century. That church, too, eventually crumbled. A white cat now climbs among its ruins, no doubt a descendant of the cats that have inhabited Caesarea since its inception. I found the cat tentatively peering over a fallen slab. I layered the image with a diagonal fallen palm branch, echoing the diagonal curve of the inquisitive cats posture. The curious cat may be seeking a meal, but I’d like to think it is also exploring a bit of its own history.
15-NOV-2011
Under the Red Sea, off Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 2011
Sharm el-Sheikh, a tourist mecca at the tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, has become a favorite spot for scuba divers and snorkelers from around the world. It is on the Red Sea, which offers stunning underwater scenery, warm, clear water, and many fish. I am not an underwater photographer, but I was able to express some of the beauty under the Red Sea by shooting through the window of a submersible tourist boat. During a half hour of shooting, I made least 400 images, and this one was my favorite, largely due to the diagonal flow of both coral and fish. I could not control my vantage point, or the behavior of the fish. I could only hope that my moving camera position, the position of passing schools of fish, and the placement of the coral landscape, might eventually form a coherent moment in time within my frame. Everything came together for me in this image – the diagonal flow of bubbles from our boat in the upper left hand corner is echoed by both the diagonal procession of variously sized fish and the diagonal thrust of green and black coral that rises from below within a frame of deep blue water. Together, they coalesce to express the beauty of the Red Sea itself.
22-NOV-2011
Stalker, Lindos, Rhodes, Greece, 2011
The feral cats on this Greek island will usually follow people in the hopes of a handout. Knowing this, I waited for a group of tourists to walk through my frame, hoping that one of the many cats in the vicinity would follow along. This black cat obliged. I moved in with a 24mm wideangle lens to stress the cat, including the thrusting curb beside it. The curb, the cat, and the shadows of the tourists leaving the frame create four diagonals that pull the eye through the picture.
27-JUL-2011
Ted Shawn Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts, 2011
The paired roofs of this 620-seat theatre, built in 1942 as the first in North America constructed specifically for dance, form matching diagonals. The weather vane above them features the silhouette of a dancer, which in itself is a study in diagonal thrusts. The clouds above echo the flow of both the roof and the weather vane. I exposed for the bright areas, allowing the theatre itself to become a backlighted abstraction.
14-APR-2011
Roosevelt Dam, Roosevelt, Arizona, 2011
This dam, dedicated 100 years ago by former president Theodore Roosevelt, has created one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. It is responsible for much of Arizona’s water. I photograph it here from behind, so as to take advantage of a diagonal contrail in the sky. The contrail leads the eye from the burst of sun flare that I include at the top edge of the frame, down to the point where the dam meets the mountains on either side. The white flare and the white contrail echo the white highlights that glisten on Roosevelt Lake in the foreground. The contrail also fills what would otherwise be dead space in the cloudless sky overhead.
01-JAN-2011
Colors, St. Barts, French West Indies, 2011
I was working on the wonderful colors on this building when I noticed the repeated diagonal shadows playing upon them. I walked backwards, expanding my vertical wideangle frame, to embrace the diagonal parking space line on the street, as well as to stress the diagonal slant of the hilly sidewalk. The building becomes a study of colorful geometry at work.
13-MAY-2010
Contrails and wind sculpture, Downtown Civic Space Park, Phoenix, Arizona, 2010
Whenever I photograph this controversial netted sculpture by Janet Echelman, I find it strikingly different. The sun brilliantly colored the piece, intended to symbolize the winds of Arizona’s distinctive monsoon, when I photographed it last year. (See
http://www.pbase.com/image/111968245 ) When I visited again this year, while shooting with a tutorial student, the sun was behind a cloud, and the nets of the sculpture showed no color. Instead, I was able to gain expression from a powerful diagonal created by jet contrails in the sky behind the sculpture. These contrails dissolve in the winds of the air stream, while the sculpture itself is based on the swirling thrust of Arizona’s desert winds.
18-MAR-2010
Snack Time, The Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, Arizona, 2010
When I am photographing animals in zoos, I try to do more than just describe their appearance. I try to tell a story, and relate that story to the context of their captivity if I can. I saw this elephant enjoying the peanuts being tossed at it by zoo visitors from the top of a wall encircling her enclosure. I also noticed that there was also a thin stake in the wall next to the elephant’s head, and that stake was casting a powerful diagonal shadow on the wall, passing right through the animal’s trunk, which was constantly in motion. I shot this image just as the curling trunk pulls back to snare a flying peanut, rhythmically echoing the diagonal shadow of the stake and the diagonal slope of its forehead and open mouth. The mid day sun reflects off the wall, softly illuminating the shadowed folds of skin, and contrasting its textured color to the textured color of the wall. I cropped the image into a square format, which intensifies the diagonal flow, as well as linking the glowing curving end of a fallen tree trunk to the front leg of the elephant. My eye keeps going back to thrusting diagonal of the stake’s shadow, as well as the diagonal slope of the trunk and thrust of the open mouth. The elephant may be a captive, confined to this spare pen, yet it seems to be enjoying the pleasure of the moment.
21-NOV-2009
Cactus, The Westward Ho, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
I made this image because of the two diagonals – the slanted roof of the Westward Ho, built in 1929 as a luxury hotel, and now converted to low income senior housing, appears as a dim reflection in the window behind the cactus. Another diagonal appears as a shadow on the wall just below the cactus. The pair of diagonals echo nature’s design etched into the central cactus – the plant is ribbed with twisted diagonal furrows.
22-OCT-2009
The sweeper, Cismigiu Garden, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
The rhythmic pattern of diagonal shafts of morning light, filtering through an avenue of 19th century trees, incongruously creates a cathedral-like setting for a sweeper at work. The branches of the trees diagonally arch over the scene, allowing the sunlight to stream between them. Even the sweepers arms, broom, and feet, as well as a green message board, are oriented as diagonals. I spent more than 15 minutes and several hundred frames here – waiting for someone to come along and match the natural diagonals. Patience, as is often the case, produced a solution.
28-SEP-2009
Mountain road, Jasper National Park, Canada, 2009
A road slices diagonally through masses of diagonal rock carved by retreating glaciers millions of years ago. The pavement turns to dirt at the spot where the dust sweeps diagonally up the slope of the mountain. The image gains even more force as a tour bus strikes that spot – it is much smaller than the massive mountain around it, creating a striking scale incongruity.
01-JUN-2009
Spirit, Lady Bird Lake, Austin, Texas, 2009
A graffiti artist has decorated one of the diagonal arches that support a bridge over Lady Bird Lake that joins the Columbia River as it runs through the center of Austin. I photographed the color artwork from a boat as it passed below the bridge. Using a long 400mm telephoto lens, I juxtapose two of the bridge’s supporting arches, building my image around their diagonal planes, which are created by my angle of view and tight framing. That frame uses the diagonal thrusts to embrace what appears to be a goddess, enhancing the power of its presence in the process.
22-MAR-2009
Alignment, New York City, New York, 2009
I made this image from the roof garden at the top of a New York City apartment building. My high vantage point allows me to create a diagonal composition, aligning the row of cars with a single file of pedestrians and a building belonging to Baruch College. The image is all about order, in a turbulent city often known for its disorder. The diagonal flow intensifies that sense of order, and guides the eye through the image.
Early morning, Phoenix Mountains Preserve, Phoenix, Arizona, 2009
I made this image from my back yard, which adjoins the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Using a 28mm wideangle lens, I stretch a diagonal slash of clouds through a dark blue sky over the silhouettes of the highest mountains in the Valley of the Sun. Using spot metering mode, I exposed on the brightest spot in the image – the sun -- which darkens the rest of the image and brings up the texture and detail within the diagonal slash. The Yucca plants at far left cover the burned out area of the cloud just over the sun -- offering an exploding array of leaves symbolizing a sunburst. The long diagonal binds the image together and creates a sense of tranquility.
25-DEC-2008
Clouds and crest, Phoenix Mountains Preserve, Phoenix, Arizona, 2008
An edge of late evening backlight defines the abstracted diagonal crest of a mountain ridge just behind my home. The setting sun adds a pinkish glow to the fragmented rain clouds hanging over an otherwise monochromatic scene. The image is anchored by the diagonal silhouette of the mountain, which features a curving bump that is echoed in kind by the rhythmic curves of light and cloud just above it. Ultimately, this image tells the story of how two natural forms – land and cloud – relate to each other in size, space, shape, and color. The diagonal thrust of land here adds energy to the clouds that drift above it.
10-OCT-2008
Coyote, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2008
I first saw this coyote trotting quickly across a parking area. We tracked it in our van until it climbed off the asphalt and briefly stood in profile against the shadowy pines before vanishing. I was able to get off one shot and only one shot, which included the entire animal. Later, I cropped the coyote’s figure from the base of neck to stress its diagonal flow. In doing so, the alert ears extend the diagonal thrust upwards, while the coyotes muzzle provides a downward diagonal. By positioning the base of the neck in the lower left hand corner, I allow the dark green textured pines to fill more than half the frame. The coyote seems to be sniffing that space, warily alert, and ready to vanish from our sight forever.
17-SEP-2008
Wizard Falls Hatchery, Camp Sherman, Oregon, 2008
Built in 1947, this hatchery produces thousands of trout and salmon each year. Here, fresh water is poured into one of the twenty raceways at the hatchery. I tilted my frame to produce four strong diagonals that pull the image together and project great energy. The pipe, along with its powerful water flow, are the most important diagonals here, while the v-shaped diagonal edges of the raceway at the bottom of the frame add supporting context. The bulk of the image is made up of tiny bubbles that underscore the purpose of the fresh water, needed to provide healthy environment for the young fish.
23-DEC-2007
Echoes of the past, Cham ruins, My Son, Vietnam, 2007
Between the 4th and 13th centuries, the Cham people built a religious center in the mountains of Vietnam’s central highlands, about 25 miles southwest of Hoi An. There were 70 temples here until the US Air Force bombed them during the Vietnam War. There are only 20 left, and most are slowly being restored. Visitors can enter some of the ruined halls to view sculpture and artifacts saved from the bomb-ravaged shrines. The walls of the halls are often streaked with light pouring in from windows set into roofs that have been added to protect the sculpture from the elements. I entered this hall as a double diagonal slash illuminated the texture of the ancient mossy brickwork. These diagonals not only energize what would otherwise be a static image – they also make us want to reach out and almost touch the past.
03-JAN-2008
Caged pigs at market, Vinh Long, Vietnam, 2008
There is a double diagonal effect to this image – the backs of these pigs each forms an individual diagonal, and the resulting row of pigs itself flows in a single diagonal line from upper left to lower right. It was important to break this diagonal flow with just one visible head. The pigs were eating at this moment and I waited for one to stop and raise its head for just an instant. That pig is still part of the diagonal orientation, but at the same time, it also becomes distinct from it – a point of emphasis.
18-DEC-2007
Guard, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
The final resting place of Ho Chi Minh, the primary leader and force behind Vietnam's emergence as an independent nation, is an important pilgrimage site for many Vietnamese, especially from the north. His embalmed body has been on display since 1975. We were not allowed inside – we were told that the body of Ho Chi Minh was “visiting” Moscow for “rehabilitation.” But I can still tell a story through the men who guard the tomb, whether Ho Chi Minh is there or not. I moved my camera position so that this guard stands squarely in front of a tree. Its limbs are reaching diagonally towards the upper left hand corner of the image. Meanwhile, he thrusts his right leg forward creating a counter diagonal that runs from right to left. His body also leans slightly along the same diagonal line. This image features a compositional pattern created by the diagonal flow of that tree, the implied diagonal posture of the guard, and the repeating horizontal lines of the sculpted tree at right and the hedge that carries the eye across the entire image. It is all about order, rigidity, and duty.
24-DEC-2007
High school students, Hoi An, Vietnam, 2007
High School girls in Vietnam wear distinctive uniforms. In Hoi An, they are dressed all in white. This group was on the way home as the sun set on Christmas Eve. I shifted my camera to stress the diagonal thrust of golden slash of light running from the upper left back of the image and exiting at lower right front. By taking this vantage point, I stress their journey, which began in the back and flows towards us, leading us to the bottom front right hand corner, where it ends. I leave plenty of shadowy space in the lower right foreground to symbolize that part of the journey that is still to come. This image offers a diagonal implying image depth, rather than breadth.
06-JAN-2008
Wood carrier, Long Xuyen, Vietnam, 2008
Daily life in this Mekong Delta city can be physically punishing for some of its workers. This young woman carries huge bundles of wood on her back from boat to shore, hour after hour and day after day. I never saw her flinch. I framed this image around counter diagonals – the wood on her shoulder flows from the upper right hand corner down into her arms, while the piles of wood already on the dock reach diagonally from the lower right corner, pointing towards her stoic face. Meanwhile, the railing of the dock slashes diagonally across the middle of the image, separating the wood on her back from the wood on the ground. The narrow frame of my vertically composed wideangle image compresses these diagonals, implying the tremendous pressure of the weight she carries on her shoulders.
19-DEC-2007
Shopkeeper, Old Quarter, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
The narrow streets of Hanoi's historic Old Quarter are crowded with shops. This woman is anxiously waiting for a customer. Every building in the old quarter carries the stenciled phone numbers of contractors who have made repairs on them. I noticed how the diagonal position of her forearms echoed the diagonal thrusts of those stenciled numbers, and thus pulled the image together through rhythmic repetition. This image becomes whole, instead of divided into two separate sections. The two diagonals created by the stenciled numbers also act as an arrow pointing to the anxious look on the woman’s face – the ultimate point expressed by this image.
06-JAN-2008
Flower arranger, Long Xuyen, Vietnam, 2008
I thought it was incongruous to find a strong man, sans shirt, arranging a delicate display of flowers in the Long Xuyen market. But the more I watched him, the more at home he seemed among the blossoms. The diagonals in this image are implied, rather than stressed. They are formed by his shadowed right arm extending into the flowers and by the rope he pulls back with his left hand. These repeating diagonals pull the eye into the flowers, relating the man to his task with a gentle subtlety that expresses his approach to his work.
06-JAN-2008
Childhood passage, Long Xuyen, Vietnam, 2008
I always look for the light first, and then the subject. In this case, it was the diagonal slash of late afternoon light falling on the side of a boat moored on the Mekong River in the Mekong Delta town of Long Xuyen. That diagonal pulled my eye to the scene, just as I knew it would pull my viewers into and through my image. It was only after I made the image and magnified on it on my LCD screen that I saw the tiny hand on the wooden slat and the two children looking back at me from inside the boat. I instantly lowered the camera to shoot again. The lovely light remained, but the children had already left the windows. This image reminds us of how childhood sometimes feels – locked away inside while looking out at an incomprehensible world. Not only are the windows barred with wooden planks – the diagonal bar of light acts as both another barrier as well as a symbol of the outside world that awaits them.
07-JAN-2008
Organizing with color, Chau Doc, Vietnam, 2008
I not only consciously look for light. I also look for color. The bright green clothing of the woman initially drew me to the scene – an outdoor kitchen on the streets of the Mekong Delta border town of Chau Doc. She stood between two green pails and window shutters painted in the same color as her clothing. She was reaching for a green dish with her right hand at the moment. I took a vantage point that made all of these green subjects – pails, clothing, dish, and shutters – align diagonally. The green color ties what would have been a very cluttered image into a coherent whole. Amazingly, all of these green subjects are the identical shade of green, which makes this image even more incongruously expressive. Her daughter, who was wearing a bright red shirt, was only a few feet away. Fortunately, I was able to frame the shot without her in it – she would have destroyed the diagonal and the point of the picture along with it.