17-APR-2004
Living Umbrella, Villa Montezuma, San Diego, California, 2004
I use one of San Diego’s most unusual buildings – an eccentric mansion dating back into the 19th Century – as context in this shot featuring a huge old Palm tree. The tree is so large that it seems to envelope the Villa, as if it was protecting it from the rains. It is virtually a living umbrella, and to make that point I use a 24mm wideangle lens, move almost to its base, and shoot straight upwards.
18-APR-2004
Keating Building, Downtown San Diego, California, 2004
My low, close-in vantage point does two things to make this image work more effectively. By walking in and shooting up at the name of the man who built it, I give the structure its identity. My vantage point also allows me capture the glare of the sun in a window, which makes this historic building in San Diego’s old Gaslamp District seem to wink at us.
14-DEC-2003
From the Cloud, Willemstad, Curacao, 2003
This image of a marble angel hovering over a sarcophagus in one of Willemstad’s cemeteries is vantage point driven. An angel presumably comes down from on high, requiring a photographer to get low and shoot up at it. Even more important is the relationship between this angel and the passing cloud. The shape of the cloud suggests a wing, or an arm that is raised in the same manner as the angel’s arm. I took many versions of this shot from this low angle, tilting the camera diagonally to create a corner-to-corner flow and aligning the angel’s arm with the feathery cloud overhead.
21-DEC-2003
Fin Flipper, Manta, Ecuador, 2003
Ecuadorian fishermen were unloading a cargo of freshly caught Tuna on a pier just across from our cruise ship – an ideal opportunity for a photographer to express ideas about how people feel about their jobs. I have been teaching corporate communicators how to do this for the last 35 years, so this task felt like a homecoming of sorts for me. This man was transferring these fish from the frozen lockers on board the fishing boat to a waiting truck. They were still steaming as he flipped them into a big net and sent them on their way to market. Once again, vantage point is the key to a communicative image. I watched the angle of the fisherman’s arm carefully, and it formed a v-shape similar to the tailfins of the fish whenever he would flip one of them. To relate the shape of his arm to the shape of those fins, I had to get down low and shoot up. This vantage point also creates backlighting, making the fins appear to be translucent, and at the same time abstracting the face of the man to place the emphasis purely on his body language. My low camera position also pulls the viewer into the action of the picture. Instead of just passively observing this fellow at work, we all become part of the cargo itself.
06-DEC-2002
White Rhino, Tala Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 2002
The most common vantage point in photography is a straight on shot from the front. It works best when confrontation is the point of the picture, as in this shot of a rhino giving me the once-over. But I am not the only one caught in its stare. You are, as well.
04-AUG-2002
Sunrise at Ittigran Island, Chukota Peninsula, Russia, 2003
These early risers enjoying a sunrise in Russia's Far East are abstracted twice because of my vantage point. I choose to shoot into the sun, which will make anything in front of me become a silhouette. I turn this couple into symbolic travelers, rather than specific individuals. I also shot them from behind, concealing their indentity once again. My rear vantage point puts you into the same situation as these subjects. You can share their experience as they watch the sun comes up on one of the world's most remote islands.
Dance performance, Tymlat Bay, Russia, 2002
I photographed this spirited and colorful dance performance in Tymlat Bay's cultural hall from the perfect vantage point. Others in the audience were shooting for their seats, or found a spot in front of the stage. I elected to sit off to to one side, on the steps to the stage. I placed my camera on the floor of the stage itself -- giving the viewer as low an angle of view as possible. This vantage point allowed me to contrast the flowing motion of the dancers to the intensity of the dance master, who watches every step from the wings with much authority. It also helped me weave together three levels of meaning -- the blurred foot in the foreground conveys energy, the dancers in the middleground establish context, and the intensity of the boss watching in the background is the point of the picture.
17-APR-2003
The Waltz King, Vienna, Austria, 2003
This gilded statue of composer Johann Strauss II draws hundreds of tourists. Most of them simply want to make pictures of their friends and family standing in front of it. My own photographic objective was different -- I wanted to make a point about Strauss and his music. Since the sun was behind the statue, I had to move behind it to stress the glitter of the gold. This rear vantage point also made the statue more symbolic and less descriptive. I moved as close and low as I could, aiming my camera towards the clouds to make the arch over the statue work as a frame within a frame and help thrust Strauss towards the heavens. The spirit of the Waltz King and his music will always float over Vienna. And that's the point I tried to make with this picture.
15-APR-2003
Pilgram's Pulpit, Stephansdom, Vienna, Austria, 2003
Medieval master craftsman Anton Pilgram's intricate Gothic pulpit soars towards the ceiling of the Stephansdom because of where I chose to stand. I did not choose this upward vantage point because it was "different" or "interesting". Rather, I chose it because I wanted to make a picture that best integrated the pulpit with its setting.
14-FEB-2000
Buddhist temple, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2000
My low, upward vantage point allowed me to pull the golden spire, the statue, and the towering umbrella together into a single cohesive unit. Using a digital camera, I was able to instantly view each picture and adjusted my vantage point slightly to eliminate confusing mergers of foreground and background subject matter. It took a number of shots to get just the right spacing between the figure at center and the huge umbrella overhead. Then I noticed rays coming out of the figure's back overlapping the spire at left. I just shifted the camera a bit to the right and made the picture you see here.
15-JUL-2002
Caribou Antlers, Paxon, Alaska, 2002
I used another low angle upward vantage point to make these antlers seem to grasp the clouds floating overhead. I kept changing my position ever so slightly until the antlers and clouds came together in my viewfinder.
28-APR-2003
Gargoyle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003
It may look like an easy picture to make, but it took many tries to position this gargoyle, and the Cathedral's Rose Window behind it, where I wanted them to be. Since these subjects were higher than I was, my low angle, upward vantage point was a given. I was determined to launch the gargoyle into the frame from the lower left hand corner, and make the curve of the Rose Window spin into the frame at the upper right hand corner -- giving this image dual diagonal thrusts which pull the eye through the picture. Many shots and a sore neck later, it all came together.