Photography of the Woodward Tribute
Architectural photography is often described as photography of the built environment. Signage certainly fits into this category. Calori & Vanden-Eynden, one of the worlds leading firms in the field of signage design, asked me to photograph their newly installed Woodward Tribute in the fall of 2008.
The 30 foot tall solar powered glass tower is internally illuminated by LEDs. The controls and storage battery are housed in the concrete base. While CV&E needed both daylight and night photographs, we knew that the hero shots would be the twilight photos.
The concrete base of the Tribute is not lit at night, so to prevent the base from going too dark I used a wireless trigger to release the shutter and fired flash units by hand during the long (up to 1 minute) exposures.
The plan is to install 26 tributes, each one mile apart, along the length of Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit to Pontiac. The economic train wreck of 2009/2010 has slowed things down but a second Tribute is being installed at the north end of Woodward Avenue in Pontiac.
Categories: Architectural photography, Twilight photography
Tags: night photography twilight photography Woodward Tribute
I have to compliment you on your ability to work so well with light (as with the Mercedes dealership) as well as the folks who developed the signs in that they are absolutely beautiful. As several of my friends are professional photographers, I know that the lighting of a subject to be photographed is crucial and that the techniques involved require significant knowledge, creativity, and imagination. Again, “hats off” to both you and designers of the signs. Both “groups” have more than excelled at their art! Thanks!
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awesome! just pure awesome!
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