Historic Utah County Courthouse

The Historic Utah County Courthouse in Provo is a fantastic old building that serves many purposes from office space to wedding receptions. I captured this image of the entry and plaque before shooting a wedding reception last month. The plaque reads:

The Provo City and County Building, now called the Historic Utah County Courthouse, was built between 1920-26. Joseph Nelson, the architect, traveled with a committee to the West Coast to gather ideas from other administration buildings, prepared sketches, and submitted a plan that was accepted by the committee in 1919. Rudine and Chytraus were the contractors for this two-and-one-half story Neoclassical building. Built of oolitic limestone from Sanpete County, the lower portions of the building is faced with granite from Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The sculpture grouping within the pediment was designed by Joseph Nelson and executed by sculptor Joseph Conradi. The figure of justice stands in the center with female figures on each side representing Utah County of Provo City. Horticulture, dairying, mining, livestock, and farming on the left, and music, sculpture, industry, letters, and painting on the right, are the various arts and industries symbolized in this grouping.

The interior is also elaborately ornamented. The central two-story foyer incorporates a painted arched ceiling and a stained glass skylight. The stairs at the rear of the central pavilion curve upward to the mezzanine. Two long narrow atria with coffered ceilings are accented with stained glass panels below skylights. The floors throughout are of Alaskan marble.

I have it on good authority that those Alaskan marble stairs can wreak havoc when a Canon 430EX strobe tumbles down them. Ouch!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/6 second, f/8, ISO 400

Details, Details, Details

One thing that can separate a good photo from a great one is the details. This is an area that I have worked on improving yet still find that I have "Doh!" moments from time to time. Today's image of a formal dining room is one such example.

When arranging the lighting for this wonderful room, I completely missed that the window blind on the left is positioned differently than the other two. It is not too noticeable on the window, but the difference in reflection on the hardwood floor kills the shot. If I were to shoot this room again, I would adjust all three blinds so they give the same amount of reflection on the floor. In fact I would probably shoot it twice, once with bright reflections (like the right two windows) and once with dull reflections (like the left window).

One easy tip for catching details when photographing is to make a quick pass around the composition with your eyes prior to shooting. I like to think of the scene like a clock dial and quickly scan the shot beginning at 12:00 and moving clockwise around the frame. When photographing people, a quick scan around the outline of their body (especially the head) will alert you to any details that need correcting.

How about you? What do you do in your photography to catch the little details?

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

Peaks and Valleys

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/100 second, f/8, ISO 125

Capitol at Sunset

Utah's capitol building lit with the golden hue of sunset.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - .4 second, f/22, ISO 100

Lighting a Historic Room - Part II

Today's image is another room from the SugarHouse mansion that I recently photographed. The purpose of the shoot was to assist an organization in documenting the historic building.

My goal in lighting this room was to show outside detail in the windows while evenly lighting the interior. To accomplish this I placed a Canon 430EX speedlite behind the floral arrangement aimed toward the back wall. The speedlite was diffused with a Lightsphere and set to 1/2 power. I then used two monolights diffused with white umbrellas in the corners to the left and right of the camera.

While the lighting setup was fairly simple on this shot, the tricky part was eliminating reflections in the three windows. Since the windows are each at different angles, the placement of the lights left little room for error. Nearly every reflection was avoided, save for a slight one on the right window.

Another challenge with this room was the bookcases above the windows. I wanted to provide enough light to show depth in the openings but still leaving them somewhat dark. The placement of the monolights in the corners achieved this. I had to raise the lights a bit higher than I initially wanted (creating more noticeable shadows), but the trade off was worth it.

Of all the rooms I shot that day, this one was my favorite. I love the curved wall and the custom woodwork.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/15 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

Lighting a Historic Room

I was asked recently to assist in documenting a historic home in Sugar House, Utah through photography. The large home is over 120 years old and was originally built by a gold miner from Park City. Even though the home is currently used as an office, the decor is very reminiscent of an early 20th century home.

When capturing the interior, my goal was to light the rooms in a way to show the detail and accentuate the features without making it appear that strobes were used. With my friend Harley's assistance, we used multiple lights to create the look.

This formal sitting room was lit with four lights. We placed a radio triggered strobe in the lamp on the right to make it appear like the lamp was lighting the room. There is a second radio triggered strobe in the back-left corner. To light the foreground we placed two lights with umbrella diffusers in the near corners.

I am fairly pleased with the result. There are a couple of shadows I would have liked to remove, but overall the lighting is fairly even and natural looking.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/15 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

LIttle Pink Houses

Oh, but ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, we're somethin' to see, baby
Ain't that America, the home of the free
Little pink houses for you and me

. . . John Mellencamp, 1983 . . .

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/100 second, f/10, ISO 100

Cathedral

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 20 seconds, f/20, ISO 100

Old Country Mill

Old Country Mill, taken at This Is The Place Heritage Park on a rainy Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/125 second, f/5.6, ISO 50

Capital Building

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1/125 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

Old House on a Hill

A quaint little fixer-upper. Great view. Just needs a little TNT TLC.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L IS lens - 1.3 seconds, f/11, ISO 50

Salt Palace

The Salt Palace. Taken in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/6.3, ISO 50

Reflective Sunset

While photographing in downtown Salt Lake City last week with a couple of friends (Harley & Diane), we came across this very unique lighting. Here is Harley's description of the reflection that made this shot special:

"This building was entirely in the shade of another building. All the light is a reflection off a glass building behind and to the right (of the camera). The sun is setting behind and to the left."

Capturing the light as we saw it with our eyes was very difficult. The reflection appeared to be almost fluid-like on the side of the building pictured here. It was a pretty cool scene.

The Other Barn

Alongside the road into Park City (Utah) is the oft photographed McPolin Barn. This wonderful old structure sits quietly just begging to be captured by passing photographers. I rarely make a trip into Park City that I don't feel obliged to stop and attempt to better my previous images of the building.

I found myself in Park City yesterday (during a snowstorm) and opted to take yet another capture of the barn. This time though, I stopped a bit down the road and photographed a neighboring barn as well. Sure, this barn doesn't have the history and fame as the McPolin Barn, but it made for a peaceful winter capture of Americana.

Temple Square at Night

Regardless of your religious views, there is no denying that the Mormon Pioneers are an integral part of Salt Lake City history. At the center of that history is Temple Square. During the Christmas season the downtown area is decorated with lights and the locals flock there to see the displays. As a photographer, the temple is an intriguing subject. Since the building is photographed so much, it is difficult to capture a shot that feels unique. I sought to make that shot last night.

To make this capture, I extended my tripod to its full 7' length and perched it precariously on a short 2' wall. Placing the camera at this height was required in order to get the full reflection of the building in the pool. Since I was unable to look through the camera's viewfinder (I'm not 9 feet tall), I had to line the shot up with a bit of guess work. After having the camera lined up, it was just a matter of reaching up to set off the shutter and waiting to catch the camera in case it fell during the 10 second exposure. I am quite pleased with the resulting image.

Merry Christmas!

Rural Decay

Rural Decay, originally uploaded by LeggNet.

Just another old building waiting for demolition.

Utah Olympic Oval

Olympic Oval, originally uploaded by LeggNet.

The Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.

This building was the site of the speedskating events in the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is now used as a recreational facility for such things as indoor soccer, hockey, public skating and, of course, speedskating. The unique architectural features of the structure make it a prime subject for nighttime photography.