Monday, January 23, 2012

An Old Gothic Library

From the blog at http://thompsonphotographymi.blogspot.com Photos are Creative Commons - Non Commercial
University of Michigan Law Library
Blogging is a lot of fun, but sometimes it is a huge challenge going out and getting worthy content to present to your readers/viewers.  Last night was no exception....as I pulled in to the parking structure in Downtown Ann Arbor, I knew the weather would be cold and windy.  A thick fog covered the area, rendering some of the buildings I had photographed just a few weeks earlier with complete clarity, unrecognizable through the thick haze.

From the sky, a thin cool mist was falling, which would soon turn into a light rain, before the air turned even colder, freezing the mist to the ground as thin, invisible sheets of ice. 


I was ready for the cold, but the mist quickly went from a slight annoyance, to a pretty big issue.  Shooting after dark, I had to rely on external lighting to illuminate my subjects.  As most will remember from Elementary School, when light hits droplets of water, it creates all sorts of lighting effects, colors and flare.  If that's what you're looking for, it's a pretty cool thing.....if it's not what you want at all, it's a real hinderance!

Water on the lens was also a huge issue, so I had to keep a dry lens cloth on hand, to wipe down the lens, and the rest of the camera in between shots.  Again, this is where I was so glad that I was working with quality gear, I couldn't imagine shooting my old Rebel in these conditions for long!

I started out at Liberty and Thompson, and slowly worked my way through Campus to the other side of town, carefully picking my spots in the rain.  After a quick stop off at Starbucks to warm up for a bit, I went to my first location, set up, and waited for the rain to subside before working my way back across town, shooting all along the way.

Sometimes the journey can be difficult, but the destination far makes up for it!  I shot this photo of the UofM Law Library between a brief intermission in the rain.  Finished in the English Gothic style, the Library, along with the entire Law Quad that adjoins it makes you feel that you are standing in the middle of Hogwarts.  Almost makes it worth the price of tuition......almost :)

-MT


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