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The Human Dimension of Colburn School Architecture

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
As you might have noticed I'm photographing an unusual set of buildings right close to The Walt Disney Concert Hall, (WDCH), one of my favorite hangouts. I recently introduced this complex of buildings with a Panoramic view of Colburn School from high up on the WDCH looking towards the Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles Times Building facing and then the Colburn School lies across Grand Avenue, on the opposite corner.

The structures are the buildings of the Colburn School of Music. This is made up of the Colburn Conservatory and the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, (CSPA).

The former is a world class destination for some of the very brightest and most talented young musicians from all over the globe. These have completed high school and perhaps college and now are getting an advanced training to put them in the rare top echelon of world class performers.

The CSPA teaches children from kindergarden through grade school and until students leave for college. It covers all musical performance as well as dance.

I'm photographing the buildings and work spaces. Then the denizens that fill the place!

Here are some preliminary images, stitched from Canon G10 handheld shots.


Pano - IMG_7609Thayer_Quad_hand_G10_OPF.jpg


© Asher Kelman Colburn School - Quadrangle in front Thayer Auditorium, Student Housing Towers, Café to the Right



Pano - IMG_7594 ColburnStairsG10_Hand_Blended_1200_color_corrected900.jpg


© Asher Kelman Colburn School - Stairway to underground Sound-insulated Rehearsal Rooms

Notice that I have only partially corrected the diverse lighting. So attention is given to the rug, but the tungsten is used as part of the picture. I want to keep the daylight on the wall of the staircase, but use the color of the hall lights to give the special air of the underground vault nature of these rooms. I will be adding more pictures as I make progress. I do several sketches before I decide on the final image. So these are early but pretty close to what I want. For the courtyard, the width and height are a challenge. I decided to go for eye level so that we could look at groups of people. However, I'll be making many links from this to other images. That is my rough idea at present.

Feel free to comment! Yes, I know that the ceiling on the right corridor is tordu!

Asher
 
Asher,

These are very nice. I particularlry like the first one.

Just curious...This appears to be a serious piece of work with a lot of time and effort devoted to it. Why are the panos hand held? The stitching errors are completely avoidable.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher,

These are very nice. I particularlry like the first one.

Just curious...This appears to be a serious piece of work with a lot of time and effort devoted to it. Why are the panos hand held? The stitching errors are completely avoidable.

.`.w1`aqzXz¸z typed by my 6 month old grandson, LOL!


Winston,

Thanks for the comments. That finding of errors in the first one attests to your good eye. I found two which I could readily correct if I wish. However, this is just an idea, a preliminary concept. I do sketches first. I must admit that not many of my constant stream of "great" ideas are worthwhile. So how can one maintain fluidity of expression and at the same time to a perfect job! I snap away with my G10, handheld, impulsively, as I get an idea. That lack of formality prevents investing in a superficially wonderful idea that really has no long term traction. So I have less investment and as a consequence no conscience for murdering my darlings in the future. By chance one might be usable. Of course one gets trapped so easlly in doing work that will need to be repeated. However, I believe I must first know my world. Then for the formal work I'll really am committed to what needs to be done rather than could be done.

I may change the angle of observation of the space, following Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525 – September 9, 1569), better known as Peter Brueghel!

Brueghel_6a00d83542d51e69e2010537141765970b-pi.jpg


Peter Brueghel Children Playing under "fair use" doctrine

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator


Hi Asher
what is the angle of view from left to right on this image?

The 2 men (one on left and one on right) seems much bigger/taller than the personnage on the center of
the image… I think that for the real shoot, you'll have to avoid having personnage or accept
to have a smaller angle of view… In that case you could make 3 pano shots and make a tryptic. It would tell/show
the hugeness of the building(s) with much less deformations…​
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Here again, what is the angle of view?
It seem smuch less than the preceeding image… I would ry to shoot it with a wide, such as 17 or 18mm (afai remember, you have a Zeiss 18 ƒ2…)
you would save a lot of time, with a 5DII or 1Ds3 you would have plenty pixels for great enlargement…
You could even shoot (on a tripod!) with 2 different exposures to blend and make an HDR…
 
The two gents at the sides are larger because they are much closer. You can tells this by looking at the pavement pattern (many more squares to the figures in the center.

Also, the pavement pattern says the angle of view is about 180°.

Why does he have to restrict the viewing angle?
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Here again, what is the angle of view?
It seem smuch less than the preceeding image… I would ry to shoot it with a wide, such as 17 or 18mm (afai remember, you have a Zeiss 18 ƒ2…)
you would save a lot of time, with a 5DII or 1Ds3 you would have plenty pixels for great enlargement…
You could even shoot (on a tripod!) with 2 different exposures to blend and make an HDR…
Nicolas,

Thanks for your attention! I cannot use the 18mm with the 5D as it hits the mirror. I don't have a 1Ds instead! I'm getting a new camera. So far I'm thinking of the 5DII and then with a Pano I'll have unlimited pretty nice pixels. This staircase image is rectilinear. The one outside is spherical. There's no other way to capture such a wide lateral angle. I can shoot, BTW, with the 1DII and the 18mm Distagon but then that's merely equivalent to 21.6mm. Still it may be fine!

Aside: I wonder whether if one mixes a 14mm shot with all the 24 mm shots one gets a better stitch? I don't own a 14mm lens but it would seem good to give AutoPano Pro or PTGUI a framework for the stitch.

Asher
 

Sara Frances

New member
Architectural images

Hi Asher, the first image on the plaza is totally engrossing, partly because it has both curvature and rectilinear bits. The mind is bent around the buildings, just as the architects intended the viewer to feel. Wavy and straight at once. Very fine. The interior image has, I think, too many colors of light. Just too diverse. We work here for the Fentress Group (airports, museums and public buildings around the world). I would have changed the viewpoint slightly right to get the banister, and then cut off the hallway with the green fluorescents. Try cropping with your hand, and see if you don't think that the result is stronger with the bold triangles of the steps no longer in dead center. If you absolutely must have the entire composition as is, I'd respectfully suggest semi desaturation of the green light and selective slight warming and darkening of the very white stair well.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Asher, the first image on the plaza is totally engrossing, partly because it has both curvature and rectilinear bits. The mind is bent around the buildings, just as the architects intended the viewer to feel. Wavy and straight at once. Very fine.

Sarah,

You comments are so appreciated; thanks!

The architecture is interesting. Remember this building is set in the opposite corner of Grand Avenue and has to stand in the world of the shadow of the Magnificent Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gehry-clad in steel sailing ships. Then, next door is the fabulous Moca structure. The Quadrangle and the Thayer hall to the right recapitulate all this boldness in a human space. To me that's very impressive. So I want to build a series of gigantic images representing that as if Brueghel was instructing me. Notice, his view is looking down so he is higher up. I settled for eye level but could go lower to make the children more important.

The interior image has, I think, too many colors of light. Just too diverse.

That, Sara, was my biggest challenge. I worked to give each area it's characteristic colored atmosphere but attempted to remove some of the color from the wall and carpet where it was severe. It was a case of trying to celebrate these different light sources rather than obliterate them. I really wanted to have the white wall and the light coming from the windows at ground level, above, white and the strongest as that is a special feature with human emotional value. I was very upset about the colors in the hallways. However, this is just a quick look at interior spaces with my G10. You advice is helpful to me and I hope you will be equally forthcoming as I proceed.

We work here for the Fentress Group (airports, museums and public buildings around the world). I would have changed the viewpoint slightly right to get the banister, and then cut off the hallway with the green fluorescents. Try cropping with your hand, and see if you don't think that the result is stronger with the bold triangles of the steps no longer in dead center.

That's a good idea.

If you absolutely must have the entire composition as is, I'd respectfully suggest semi desaturation of the green light and selective slight warming and darkening of the very white stair well.
You have hit the nail on the head. I already did work on the disparate colors, but not enough, obviously. If I would use such a wide shot, it would be populated and shooting from the right as you suggest. For that, however, I'd light the shot with strobes and overwhelm the ambient light at the lower levels, leaving a trace perhaps for nuance of the downstairs atmosphere. Obviously this is a challenge. Having one temperature of light at night might be an approach but then lighting all that space requires a lot of Elinchrom! Doing it at daytime will be easier. I could replace the hall lights with lower wattage and then rent extra monos to light those spaces correctly.

Of course, one could turn off the lights in the right hand corridor and just light the foreground and the space of the deep left.

Thanks for your knowledgeable feedback. Taking a picture of a stairway may seem simple, but it really can be a challenge to do well.

Asher
 
Hi,

I really like the first picture, as buildings and perspectives effects create a kind of wave from left to right. Human presence seems strange, because bodies are small and have different sizes (but it is due to different distances from the camera). I don't why, but i see a dragon hidden in this graphical construction, with scales.

So, yes, perspective is not pure and there are physical "defaults" (i.e distorsion) in this picture but they give the picture its qualities, as picture is very "surrealist" and i like that. It is not a simple panoramic view, it evokes confused feelings and questions... Comparison with Brugel is pertinent, indeed his primitive perception of perspective was very specific and sense-full.

Second picture is a good graphic exercice, but it's true that light sources are quite identifiable because very different in light temperature. But it could produce a very good printing with some work to get an even more pictural rendering.

Regards,

Cedric.
 

Jim Galli

Member
Asher, I quite like the first one. It would be fun to set up a Kodak Cirkut camera and re-do it to see how if at all the old Kodak would see it differently. The Kodak pulled film past a slit while the camera traveled around a lazy susan affair at the same speed as the film.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher, I quite like the first one. It would be fun to set up a Kodak Cirkut camera and re-do it to see how if at all the old Kodak would see it differently. The Kodak pulled film past a slit while the camera traveled around a lazy susan affair at the same speed as the film.
Jim,

I'm game! What lens would you use for that? What would be the vertical angle it could cover?

Asher
 

Jim Galli

Member
Jim,

I'm game! What lens would you use for that? What would be the vertical angle it could cover?

Asher

10 inch tall film with a 10.5 inch lens. Someone do the math. About 56 degrees? Same as a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera or very close. It has front rise and fall so you can adjust a bit, ie. raise the front to include the top of a building etc.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
10 inch tall film with a 10.5 inch lens. Someone do the math. About 56 degrees? Same as a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera or very close. It has front rise and fall so you can adjust a bit, ie. raise the front to include the top of a building etc.

Hi Jim,

I think one might need to take two shots and then stitch them to be able to get the full height of the towers and all the paving stones. I will check to see what exactly that vertical angle is!

Asher
 
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