Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged art, installation, Japan, landmark, metal, monument, sculpture, Shinjuku, Tokyo, tube on April 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Tokyo Metal” : 17th March 2012
This impressively modern installation resides just in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku, although with a whole host of other abstract pieces of art. This is about as far from traditional Japan as you can get, architecturally speaking…
You can see a bigger version of this photo by clicking here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged abstract, architecture, art, building, girder, Japan, monument, skyscraper, statue, Tokyo on April 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Red Girder” : Tokyo, 17th March 2012
It was a cloudy and rainy day when I visited the enclave of Japanese government buildings in Shinjuku, and although I took a lot of wide-angle pictures of the enormous and impressive buildings there, none of them came out too well.
On such occasions it’s often better to zoom in and find some interesting details, which is precisely what I did here. The red girder is part of a large artistic installation in front of the giant skyscrapers which I decided to use to bisect their sunless facade.
The irony is, that I also took some iPhone snaps at the same time, and these wide shots actually came out pretty well. I’ll add one in here, just so you can appreciate the size of the building…
You can see a bigger version of the first photo here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Belem, bridge, ground, Lisbon, monument, perspective, photography, Portugal on February 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Portuguese Perspective” : Lisbon, 7th September 2011
A rather different view of the epic Discoveries Monument in Belem, Lisbon to the one I published before (Picture of the Day #275), but still definitely a non-touristy one.
As I’d walked a certain distance away from it, I thought I should take a picture, but I wanted something different, so I just lay the camera on the ground, lined it up, and took a view shots with certain variables, and this was the best.
The monument looks tiny here, but it’s actually 52m (171ft) tall, and on the right you see the large bridge which spans the river Targus.
But that’s why I like this shot – nothing is as it seems, and our senses are somewhat befuddled by the perspective.
You can see a larger version of this photograph here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged architecture, Belem, discovery, explorers, Lisbon, monochrome, monument, Portugal, statue on February 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Discovering the Discoverers” : Lisbon, Portugal, 7th September 2012
The Belem district of Lisbon has along its beautiful waterfront promenade stretching for several kilometres a host of attractions, among them the imposing Padrão dos Descobrimentos.
This giant stone edifice was built in 1960 and resembles the prow of a sailing ship with statues of those connected to Portugal’s explorations during its imperial and maritime heyday.
Many of these giant figures will be familiar only to the Portuguese, but included are Henry the Navigator, Magellan and Vasco da Gama, known to most people, I think.
This photo doesn’t really show how enormous these statues are: in fact, when I first set my eyes on them I couldn’t help thinking of the Argonaths from the Lord of the Rings films – stately, giant, and ancient, guardians of a long-gone era…
You can see a larger version of this photo by clicking here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged Hiroshima, installation, Japan, modern, monolith, monument, spike, tower on January 21, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“Pointing at the Sky” : Hiroshima, Japan, 8th January 2012
This phallic monolith can be found on a bridge not far from Hiroshima’s main train station. It’s the kind of thing I’ve walked past for years and never really noticed, and then suddenly one day when I was down on the riverbank almost below the bridge I saw it from an unusual vantage point – et voilà!
A larger version of this photo can be seen here.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged arch, architecture, blue, Dijon, France, monument, night on October 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Another thing you can do when nature decides to hide the sun away and blanket everything in thick cloud is to wait until dark.
That’s the great thing about night photography – the weather is largely irrelevant, and even better – things take on a completely different aspect.
The structure pictured above is a kind of scaled-down arc de triomphe that lies a short distance from Dijon’s train station. In daylight it’s rather pathetic, but come dusk and it’s swathed in intense blue light, elevating it to a thing of great beauty.
Take a look at a larger version here, if you’re so inclined.
Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged "10-24mm", "wide angle", ancient, architecture, circle, D7000, dome, image, Italy, monument, Nikon, Pantheon, photo, photography, Rome, rotunda, temple on May 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Pantheon is one of the best preserved ancient Roman structures in the world. From its impressive columned facade in the centre of Rome, one passes inside to gaze up at the two thousand year-old rotunda, the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
I’ve been to the Pantheon twice in the last year, but the second time I came armed with the wonderful Nikon 10-24mm wide-angle lens which is essential for capturing such architectural delights decently.
A larger version of this picture can viewed here at my dedicated website and store, Andy Lightfoot Photography.
