Artifacts
Everybody loves wandering about in an antique store. In Chicago, we have several, but the most notable one is Architectural Artifacts. The proprietors have gathered works from around the world, filling a beautiful, brightly lit multi-story building with columns, mannequins, tile, sinks, signs, birdcages, maps, iron fence grills, propellers, tools, heads, and virtually every conceivable nicknack. Don't think this stuff is junk. There are thousands of antique tiles from England, each selling for $65. No doubt that the many high-end designers that frequent this establishment like these for kitchen backsplashes in upscale homes. If you want a mannequin from the Forties or Fifties with character, it will set you back $1,200 or so dollars. I know because I was tempted to buy one. This is the less expensive stuff. For $65,000, you can buy four two-story columns from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
I had the opportunity to photograph in the store today for about thee hours today as part of my Thursday workshop. An absolutely fabulous experience.
George
Ronnie
Kissing Valentino
Jehanne la Pucelle
Loose Screw
"You Can't Let Go and You Can't Hold On"
Paris Before Helen's Arrival
My Plastic Fantastic Lover
Fun House
"But For Those Who Love, Time Is"
Socrates' Irrational Numbers
Gent's Toilet.
Yes, Wondrous Things
Photographer's Note. Most of these photographs were shot off a tripod. Even though the space is bright to the eyes, it is dark to the camera. I wanted to shoot at 100 ISO, so a tripod was necessary even with image stabilization in the lens and camera.
A tripod was also necessary because I was shooting with the new Sony a7Riii, which has pixel shift, a feature that uses four photographs to increase image detail. Obviously, the images need to be identical, which means a tripod. Afterwards, I used the Sony software to combine the four files. It was a relatively fast and painless process, but it would be nice if the engine were built into Photoshop rather than separate software.
Although all the objects are nicely displayed with a fair amount of space separating them, from a photographer's standpoint, the backgrounds are extremely cluttered. To combat that and bring some compositional order to the images, I shot wide open. The Leica Noctilux would be perfect at F .95, but you do need a spare $10,995 to acquire that baby. For some of the close up shots, I did stop down to get detail throughout the frame. Finally, the space has large Chicago-style windows, which means the objects and tables close to the windows are beautifully lit.
