The George Peabody Library (of the Peabody Institute, which includes one of the nation's foremost music conservatories, and which is part of Johns Hopkins University) is widely regarded as one the most beautiful libraries in the United States.

I'd long wanted to photograph the place, and managed to get over there yesterday afternoon and spent some time taking pictures.

One the minus side, access to the stacks is restricted, so I couldn't get the vantage point I'd been hoping for. (I could almost certainly have gone up the "Staff Only" stairs, and photographed away, without anyone noticing for some minutes. But I decided I'd act responsibly and obey the rules. I'm sorry if that costs me photographic street cred with some people.)

On the plus side, while I'd previously been told that tripods were forbidden, when I asked the librarian upon my arrival, he told me that a tripod would be okay. Moral of this story? Always seek out that second opinion. Other moral of this story? Always keep a tripod in your car, just in case. (I always have my old Bogen 3001, in the trunk.)

And a tripod was definitely handy. Not just because it permitted more careful composition than would've been possible handheld, but because I was looking at shutter speeds of around 1 second @ f/8 @ ISO 100. And my K10D's in-body image stabilization is good, but 1 second is still an unacceptably long time for handheld exposures.

Yeah, I could've bumped the ISO up to 800, and opened the lens (the 18-55mm kit lens) up to f/3.5, but that still would've had me shooting at around 1/30 sec., and I'd rather shoot at ISO 100 than at ISO 800, at f/8 than at f/3.5 (in this instance), and on a tripod at 1 second rather than handheld at 1/30 second.

The lighting was also very tricky. There were some areas well illuminated primarily by sunlight, and other areas relatively poorly illuminated and relying on incandescent bulbs. Big range of brightnesses there, even on a cloudy/rainy day like yesterday. And, of course, the temperature of sunlight is very different from the color temperature of the bulbs, so balancing those two took a little doing, too.

I'm going to work on the picture more in Photoshop, but isn't that always the case?

This picture is a pano, consisting of 8 individual images (taken in vertical orientation, and at 18mm) stitched together. Had to go the pano route, as 18mm wasn't anywhere near wide enough to get the image I had in mind. The picture loses a lot being resized and saved as a compressed jpg, but there's no way I'm going to post a 200MB 8000x4000 tif file, you know?

Anyway, the library is really gorgeous; this picture doesn't begin to do it justice. If you have any interest in architecture at all, and you happen to find yourself in Baltimore, it's definitely worth a visit. (If you're not much interested in architecture, but you like taking pictures, Peabody is right in Mt. Vernon, which is an extremely "photo rich" environment. So run in and take a look as long as you're there.)



--
Michael

[12345Michael54321]

Next time someone complains about the quality of the 18-55mm, this shot will be used as an example of the excellent stuff the lens can do with practice.

I'm not one of those people who insist that a $100 lens is just as good as a $1200 lens. Usually, it's not. But I do know that even a $100 lens - used appropriately, and within fairly broad limits - can yield stunning results.

I also know that image quality is determined by a whole chain of factors. And a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. 98% of the time, that weak link is not the hardware being used, it's the photographer.

Hardware matters. Hardware sometimes matters a whole lot. But it seldom matters anywhere near as much as the photographer's skill.

Furthermore, in my opinion, most photographers would see more improvement in their work if they took a few hundred dollars and spent it on membership in a nearby art museum, some photography books (showing actual pictures by accomplished photographers, not just "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Awesome RAW Conversion Software"), and a class or two at the local community college, than they would if they instead spent the money on upgrading one of their camera bodies or lenses.

But buying stuff is easier than learning stuff.
--
Michael

[12345Michael54321]

This Baltimorean salutes you! :D

Thanks, dadipentak. Here a few others from Baltimore, from a self-assigned project on Baltimore's street murals, that I've been working on for the past several months. (And after thousands of photos, of maybe 140 murals, it's finally approaching completion. Maybe to appear in a book, eventually. But probably just on a website.) All taken with the humble 18-55mm kit lens.

The first one is a 2002 mural, by Ernest Shaw, Jr. It's one of several murals Mr. Shaw has created under the auspices of the Baltimore Mural Program. While I usually prefer not to include people in my photographs of murals, I make occasional exceptions, as in this case.



The Baltimore Farmers' Market is held every Sunday morning, May - December, beneath the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83), down around Holiday and Gay Streets. While this location does offer shelter from the rain, it's not the most scenic of settings. Starting in 2004, a program was begun of painting murals on the many supporting pylons there. Various artists have participated, and some of the resulting art is extremely powerful. If you want to see the pylons (which are almost impossible to depict well in photographs, due in part to the great size of the space, and the terrible lighting conditions), I would urge you to visit when the Market is NOT in operation. The crowds on Sunday morning make it essentially impossible to appreciate the artworks.

Many homeless men will be found there, as well. (Hey, it's Baltimore. But really, it could just as easily be one of many other large American cities.) So if you're going in hopes of photographing some of the pylons, and you don't want some homeless guy in the picture (which, I admit, might be a valid photographic statement, but it wasn't one I cared to make), careful planning, timing, choice of vantage point, and awareness of your surroundings is a must. (And due to the poor lighting, a tripod is a necessity, too.)



"Reflections," is a 2005 mural by Pontella Mason (who has created many splendid murals in Baltimore). The middle panel in the top row dipicts an African woman, with the W.E.B. DuBois quote, "The spell of Africa is upon me..." The bottom row features three West African symbols and their meanings. From left to right, they are Akoben ("Readiness and Volunteerism; A Call to Action"), Fi-Hankra ("Solidarity Brotherhood Security"), and Bi-Nka-Bi ("Justice Unity Peace Harmony").



--
Michael

[JMR]

Glanced by your heading many times before looking. Guess I should not prejudge. What a wonderful photo and building. I guess you must have taken it when noone was in attendance. I would never nitpick the few light areas in mixed lighting or unusual conditions. Beautiful work with an interesting description.

JMR

I commend you on your work. Good luck with completing your project. I look forward to seeing some more.

[cupic]

I love the images captured


cheers

[gawan]

Magnificent shot(s) to say the least! That library space is so beautiful!

[AndrewG NY]

Super pano. Reminds me of the Cleveland Arcade.