Statue of Liberty
I recentlywent to the Statue of Liberty while in New York. While it was a cold and blusteryday with dark skies overhead it is always a compelling place to visit knowingthat millions of people had their first glimpse of Lady Liberty as they came tothis nation. I did not know what kind of shots I would get on a day like thisbut found closeups of the statue more compelling than further ones. While I didnot have a lens longer than 105mm it was long enough to get in close enough.Had I carried my 28-300mm with me I would have been able to get even closer forinteresting detail shots. Next time I won’t worry about the weight.
To me LadyLiberty stands for our nation, or at least for what I believe our nation is.One of welcoming all, caring about all, working with other nations to fix problemsfrom climate change to nations with health, food, and education issues. We area nation for good. Or at least we used to be. Currently some folks want to goback to an isolationist idea, turning our backs on the world. Maybe that is whyI like the image from the back of Lady Liberty so much – it represents where Ithink some people in this country think we need to be. I disagree wholeheartedly.In many ways it is a sad image. From the front it sends the idea we stillaccept what the Statue of Liberty stands for – Liberty for All.
As for the images,much like Ansel Adams taught photographers, see your image before you click theshutter, know the exposure and what filters you need to get the tones you wantin a black & white image. In my case I knew I would darken the sky andlighten Lady Liberty to bring out the contrast I imagined on such a gray day.It is easier with today’s digital imaging to know before hand what you want itto look like and then make it happen in the digital darkroom. Although maybe notas fun as watching a print come to life in the developer.
And the bigplus is shooting in digital you get both a color and B&W version of the image!Sometimes it is very hard to decide which you like better! You go with a perceivedidea and come back with some unexpected images you may like better.
Enjoy,
Richard
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