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Disney Concert Hall by Eric Alba
I haven't lived in Los Angeles for many years. But it seems like the city
never changes. That is, until two distinct buildings were added to the
landscape. "The Getty" museum on the west side and the Walt Disney
Concert Hall in downtown.
I found myself in Los Angeles for work and had a Sunday free, so my
friend and I decided to go to the Hall to take pictures.
Every picture I've seen of the Hall prior to my visit were these wide
shots showing it's size and scale. Against the usual beautiful
cloudless skies of Los Angeles, it seemed rather "flat".
We arrive and when I looked at the Hall from across the street it looked like
every photo I've seen so far: shiny and flat. The sun was still too
high so we decide to get a bite and come back in the afternoon.
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Sunday afternoon, there are now shadows and contrast, which I like. I
walked around and I started to appreciate the curves and texture of the building. I
felt like I was walking on a spaceship or inside a robot of some kind.
I started to imagine the structure as organic, like a metal beast that
landed on this planet and lay dormant.
With my photography, I start with composition. I think it's important
to the emotional tone of the shot. I decided to compose these shots
without the city around it. I wanted to isolate the scale so you
couldn't tell how big or small something was. I also shot angles I
hadn't seen before in other photos. Sometimes I would lay on the
ground forcing the perspective a bit. I took advantage of the shadows,
playing on all the surfaces to make it feel more dense, like a skyline.
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When I got home and looked at the photos, I wasn't impressed. They
still pretty much looked like other photos I had seen. I started
playing with contrast and the shadows looked cool but something was
bugging me and I realized it was the blue sky. It was simply too
"happy", I was thinking, here's this incredible metal structure
ripping thru the skies and it looked too clean. And one of my favorite
movies is Metropolis by Fritz Lang, I'm amazed by the imagery and the
visual effects achieved at the time it was created.
I decided to see what the photos would look like with a sepia tone. It
looked too saturated but looked better. I de-saturated them to where I
prefered. The sharpness of the photos were making the photos look too
journalistic. I softened up the architecture and the overall frame a
bit. I also did some dodging and burning for shadows and highlights.
The vignette was from the wide angle adapter on my Nikon Coolpix 4500
(which is the same camera used for these photos) I liked the effect and
kept it in.
I'm flattered by all the attention this series of photos has gotten.
By far, I print these the most for people.
I don't normally post-process my photos to this extent. I am a
snapshot photographer. I would like to do more photography like this
but right now I'm learning to shoot more people/portraiture. Buildings
are easy, people are tough.
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