The Artful Engineer

Being a sucker for windows wherever I go, Rome was definitely getting a post on the subject. Windows, of course, are found in walls, and the walls in Rome are just oozing with character. And occasionally with other things, like the dark streaks above.

Vines climbing up walls are not particularly common in the middle of Rome, but this was a nice example that results in an attractive combination of colors:

Warmer earth tones—oranges, yellows, beiges, and browns—are the most common building colors in central Rome, but there are some exceptions like the lavender building here. My suspicion is that it was originally colored more similarly to the building on the left. If true, perhaps in a few decades when the lavender paint is peeling away (as all paint in Rome seems to eventually do) it will be a very interesting building indeed.

Visually, I really like the bright blue’s contrast with the mustard yellow wall, below. Intellectually, I am puzzled by the fact that the right hand shutter looks so much newer than the other, but is the one missing a bunch of slats. Why?

This next image may be dominated by strong converging lines and repeated patterns, but I spend most of my time trying to figure out what’s inside that window. This would probably make a very nice black and white picture, too.

My natural tendency is to try to avoid having windows straddling the edges of the frame, but since both sides of the image are in shadow, the central window remains the focus without much distraction:

Similarly, I usually prefer to not have partial windows that are open to the top of the frame like in this next image. The window ledge has so much contrast in this case, however, that the viewer’s gaze stays in the frame. The strip along the bottom edge provides a nice foundation to anchor the image, and there are a few nice details like the small padlock and the dark area in the lower right. If that dark patch wasn’t there, I definitely would have centered the window in the frame. As it is, the image feels nicely balanced with the window a little left of center. The padlock, although not centered in the window, ends up well-centered in the frame, too.

I hope that you enjoyed these. I tend to like straight-on images of windows, so I end up with a lot of them. It might also be the case that I find it more difficult to compose images of windows that are not straight on—at least ones that I like. In this post, I tried to include a variety of perspectives. Tell me what you think about them.

If you haven’t gotten your fill of windows, I have a nice one lined up for next week as part of a different theme.

Thanks for visiting!