Aqua Tower – Chicago, Illinois

by on Jul.13, 2013, under Architecture

(Nikon D800, 28-300 at 125mm, Exposure 1/500 @ f/10, ISO 200)

Aqua Tower in Chicago, Illinois is a unique structure in many ways. It is the tallest building in the world (as of this writing) which had a woman as the lead architect (Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects). It also has one of the more unique shapes you will find in a building. The outdoor terraces differ in shape from floor to floor, creating an undulating look to the building’s exterior. The undulations create ‘pools’ of glass, which look like water when reflecting the blue sky. The different shapes were chosen based on such criteria as views, solar shading and size of the dwelling. The building currently houses a hotel, the Radisson Blu, on the first 18 floors, then several floors of rental apartments and finally more floors dedicated to condominiums. The building is located in the Lakeshore East area of Chicago, which is a quiet area with it’s own park, but a short walking distance from either the river, Lake Michigan or Millenium Park.

My wife and I recently stayed at the Radisson Blu which gave me a great opportunity to take pictures of this building. Most of the shots that I took focused on some small detail of the building. My goal was to capture the texture and contours, not to necessarily create a realistic image of the entire structure. The picture above shows both some of the contours created by the varying floor shapes along with a ‘pool’ of glass. When I converted the image to black and white, I wanted the focus to be on shapes. The conversion was actually quite simple and done primarily in Adobe Lightroom 5, using mostly the basic processing tools of Highlights, Shadows, Exposure, etc. In the black and white conversion, I increased the sensitivity to blue to make the windows go white.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

For more Aqua Tower images, please visit my Aqua gallery at Fine Art America.

All images available for sale or license. Please visit my Imagekind Galleries, Fine Art America Galleries or contact me for more information.

Copyright ©2013 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

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Rookery Building Lobby – Chicago, Illinois

by on May.20, 2013, under Architecture

(Nikon D800, 28-300mm at 28mm, Exposure 1/125 @ f/5.0, ISO 1000)

This image shows some of the wonderful architectural work done by Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago’s Rookery Building. The building was built by Daniel Burnham and John Root and completed was completed in 1888. At the time it was one of the most expensive and largest commercial buildings in Chicago. The building’s name comes from a nickname given to the area prior to the construction of the building. The area had been home to Chicago’s temporary city hall and a water tank and had been called ‘the rookery’ because of the birds that nested there as well as the probability of being ‘rooked’ by the local politicians.

Frank Lloyd Wright opened his studio in Oak Park in 1898 and rented space in The Rookery Building as his Chicago office. In 1905 he obtained a commission to update the interior design of the light court and lobby areas. In the lobby areas, Wright covered nearly every inch with incised and gilded marble, removing or hiding the original decorative panels and railings. The incising was copied from John Root’s original design work. The staircases were squared-off and simplified, and Wright added geometric urns to the Adams Street entrance. Over time, the lobby area saw modifications and the wonderful translucent glass ceiling was covered with with paint, robbing the interior of light. In 1988, new owner L. Thomas Baldwin III set out to completely restore the building. From what I can tell, they did a wonderful job.

One of the interesting aspects of this building is that the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Society has offices in the building where Wright once worked. If you are in Chicago during the week, the Society gives free tours of The Rookery on a limited basis. More information can be found at the GoWright web site.

Regarding the image itself, I shot it from the edge of one of the lobby staircases, shooting back at these upper stairs. The original image was in color which had the benefit of showing off the gilding, but I was more concerned with emphasizing the patterns. The final image was created from double processing the image. I created both light and dark versions, using the light version for the stairs, and the darker one for the ceiling and underneath the stairs. I also used a bit of dodging underneath the stairs to brighten them up a bit.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

All images available for sale or license. Please visit my Imagekind Galleries, Fine Art America Galleries or contact me for more information.

Copyright ©2013 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

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Alumni Memorial Hall – University of Michigan Museum of Art

by on May.09, 2013, under University of Michigan

(Nikon D800, 16-35mm at 16mm, Exposure 25 seconds at f/13, ISO 250)

It’s been a few weeks since I really did any shooting, the weather here has been obnoxious and I’ve been working on some other projects as well. However, with a bit of good weather, I decided to go out one evening for a short photowalk around the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I rented a tilt/shift lens to play with so one of my goals was to play with that, the other thing I wanted to experiment with was shooting some long exposures. There weren’t a lot of clouds in the sky when I went out, but as the evening came in there were a handful of clouds in the sky. As I was packing up to head home, I decided to take one more long exposure shot. I set my tripod up low and used my 16-35mm to get a wide angle shot of the Alumni Memorial Hall building. The building is currently used as part of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, but when it was originally conceived in the late 1800’s, it was going to be a memorial to University men who had died in the Civil War. The building didn’t start construction until the early 1900’s and by that time the exact role of the building was in a bit of flux. This page from the Bentley Historical Library has more details.

When I got home and looked at the image I wasn’t sure that I liked it. The angle seemed a bit funny and I didn’t think the image had a great look. However, I did like the look of the clouds and the strong vignette that was created by the ND filter. I played with the angle a bit in Lightroom and also tweaked some aspects of the image. I played with the exposure and highlight, especially on the bright spot of the building. I then took the image into Photoshop and Silver Efex Pro 2. After using a fairly simple conversion I used a couple of curves layers to make some final adjustements. I gave the image a square crop and the final image is what you see above.

In looking at the finished image, I like the way the sky came out. The motion in the clouds sort of has the look of an aurora. I also really like the look of the banner in the center. In the color version, this just looks like a normal banner, in the converted image, the background sort of disappears and the lettering appears to be floating in space.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

All images available for sale or license. Please visit my Imagekind Galleries, Fine Art America Galleries or contact me for more information.

Copyright ©2013 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

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Times Square – New York City

by on Feb.21, 2013, under New York

(Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm fisheye, Exposure 0.5 sec @f/8.0, ISO 100)

After posting several black & white images, I thought it was time for something in color. Last year I had the opportunity to visit New York City to hear my son perform at Carnegie Hall with the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Symphony Band. It was a terrific performance and a great trip. Naturally one of the places we visited on the trip was Times Square. While definitely a touristy destination, it is also a terrific place for photography. I was prepared on this trip and managed to bring my tripod with me. I was able to set up and take a long exposure to get some motion in the shot. I used my Sigma 15mm fisheye to capture as much of the environment as possible. Processing was fairly simple but I decided to do something a little different with the border. I used one of the acid burn borders from Perfect Effects to create the edge of the image. I’m happy with the way it came out.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

All images available for sale or license. Please visit my Imagekind Galleries, Fine Art America Galleries or contact me for more information.

Copyright ©2012-2013 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

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Guggenheim Museum – Fisheye

by on Feb.19, 2013, under New York

(Nikon D800, Sigma 15mm fisheye, Exposure 1/500 sec @ f/11, ISO 400)

One of my favorite places to visit and subjects to shoot in New York City is the Guggenheim Museum. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and opened in 1959, it is a unique structure and makes for some interesting photography. This shot was taken across the street using the Sigma 15mm fisheye lens. What I find interesting about shooting with a fisheye in a ‘street’ situation is the way it can incorporate elements that you weren’t expecting. I composed the shot for the museum. I thought the cars moving through the shot added another level of interest. I didn’t expect the cyclist, but I’m glad he popped into the frame as I took the shot.

Processing was fairly simple and was done completely in Lightroom 4. I converted to black and white and used the brush tools to lighten the lines in the crosswalk to help lead your eye toward the museum. I also brightened the cyclist so that he became more of a part of the image.


If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

All images available for sale or license. Please visit my Imagekind Galleries, Fine Art America Galleries or contact me for more information.

Copyright ©2012-2013 James W. Howe – All rights reserved

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