The Artful Engineer

Last time I visited Westminster Abbey, I exclusively used my 24-120 zoom. This time I decided to go for wider views, and used the 14-24 zoom instead. Because Westminster Abbey is so heavily visited, unless you are standing right in front of something, any wide-angle view is going to have a lot of people in the frame. So the natural solution is to look up. Fortunately, cathedrals reward this perspective.

The image above exploits the sharply converging verticals that come with a wide-angle lens tilted upwards. In this case, I avoided symmetry; in the next, I embraced it:

Perspective-wise, this next image has some similarities to the first image at the top of the post, but this time adds a little foreground around the bottom and left side of the frame. The ornate golden details reinforce the diagonal string of gold features running the length of the ceiling above. There’s a lot going on here, but the result manages to feel both dynamic and balanced.

I was able to get a glimpse of the floor in this next image without any people being in the way. The long row of repeating gold, red, and blue elements converging into the distance gives this composition its structure.

This final composition speaks more to execution than imagination. The very wide lens is able to frame the elaborate ceiling with colorful elements all around. This room (area?) in Westminster Abbey is a spectacular place to photograph: it is packed with colors and patterns and has rewarded me on both visits.

I’m glad I took a wide lens into Westminster Abbey this time around, as it gave some very different perspectives. I’m not sure when my next visit will be, but I might decide to use a long lens to capture details. Then again, a fisheye could be fun…