Dome Photography

May 19, 2004 8:54 AM

Domes and CupolasFrom the New Yorker: "David Stephenson's photographs gaze directly up at the interiors of domes, flattening them and - through long exposure times - revealing details and colors that can't be discerned in normal viewing. The results are bright, kaleidoscopic patterns made up of the Moorish arabesques of the Alhambra, the iconic decorations of a former imperial chapel near Moscow, and the cool, almost Mediterranean blues of a Hungarian synagogue." Stephenson's work is currently on exhibition in New York. Other pages of his work can be found here and here.
posted by livii (5 comments total)

This is cool. I'm not a good photographer, but my first instinct in almost any old, ornate, public building is to take a picture of the ceiling. I have many photos that are not as beautiful as these, but of a similar subject matter.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:38 AM on May 19, 2004

Good stuff! Thanks!
posted by .kobayashi. at 9:48 AM on May 19, 2004

Stunning.

And vertigo-inducing.
posted by silusGROK at 9:51 AM on May 19, 2004

Beautiful stuff, thanks! And some of them bring back memories, such as the Pantheon. These are *perfectly* framed, too; must have taken a lot of work.
posted by carter at 10:21 AM on May 19, 2004

here's a timely article about raising the 500,000 lb. dome at the new bloomies in san francsico.
posted by dolface at 11:09 AM on May 19, 2004