Ode to Black | Black Hope III – Animus Black
Ode to Black | Black Hope III – This is the second image of this building. You can find here the first one, Mystical. This image is a long exposure image and one of the best examples of what I call “making the world look perfect”.
To better understand what I mean by that you should see the RAW version of this image, which is the “reality” and then see the processed one, which is “my reality”.
I will make a demonstration of how I worked on this image at the Athens Workshop next month, so whoever will be there will perfectly understand what I mean by making the world look perfect, which is practically the philosophy behind my way or interpreting the world in my images. In short, and speaking about buildings, every building is conceived to look in a certain way by the architect.
Many times, from the initial idea to its realization there is a long way that changes the first image of the architectural object, the “ideal” one. Then, once built and left exposed to fight the elements: rain, or sun, or wind, or simply the years that go by, the building changes again, sometimes not for the best. In the old historical buildings, this aging has a certain charm and shows history, telling their story and I love that, but for the modern buildings, the aesthetic is different.
What I try to do when photographing modern architecture is to search and show the best moment in time that the building has lived and this means trying to improve in any way its present aspect. I’ve been asked many times what I do to make my buildings look “perfect”. I will try to explain this at the workshop and this image was the best possible example, since it was shot up-close and from an angle that showed all the signs of time. Which, I can tell you, were quite evident.
TECHNICAL DATA
Camera settings:
285.0 sec. @ f/11, Tamron 16-270mm f/3.5-6.3 AF VC PZD @ 18mm, ISO 100.
Processing:
LR4, PS CS5, NIK Silver Efex Pro 2, Topaz B&W Effects (Topaz Labs B&W Effects 2 Full Review) +Topaz DeNoise + Topaz Detail
Update 2013
Adding a few pieces of info to this post, since in the meanwhile (this post was written last year), this image has become part of a series that won Bronze and Honorable Mention in two categories (Advertising & Fine Art) at PX3 2013 – Prix de la Photographie de Paris and the series has evolved into a very personal study that uses buildings as subjects to express my personal experiences and reactions to the world I come in contact with. More about this in the last post I did about this series: Ode to Black | Black Hope V – Persona Black
See the entire final series here: Ode to Black | Black Hope
FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES
FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY, LONG EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY
You can find more resources about fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architecture photography in my extensive collection of photography tutorials. To receive my future tutorials directly via email you can subscribe to my website.
Learn more about how to create fine art photography, from vision to processing and the final image in my video course From Vision to Final Image – Mastering Black and White Photography Processing, in my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography – Creating (en)Visionography, in my book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, or by attending one of my workshops.
To study with Julia Anna Gospodarou personally, find out about our
WORKSHOPS & MENTORING
Please consider making a donation
We believe in knowledge, we believe in education and the freedom of spirit that creates great art. We believe in art and in artists.
If you enjoy our content, please consider making a small donation, to help us continue sharing free content and offer knowledge and inspiration.
For more than a decade we have been sharing free content on fine art photography, black and white photography, architecture photography, long exposure photography, as well as our original concepts of “(en)Visionography” and “Photography Drawing”. You can find on our website many free extensive tutorials on all these subjects.
Thousands of photographers started their journey in fine art photography here and found inspiration and practical resources that empowered them. Many have won awards for their work and are making a career in photography based on knowledge acquired from our books, courses, and workshops.
This makes us extremely proud of our work.
To empower even more photographers to reach their dreams, we want to keep this resource free forever so every new or advanced photographer can have access to knowledge and inspiration.
To help us in our efforts to provide knowledge and inspiration for everyone, please consider becoming a patron of this website with your donations.
You will be part of this generous effort and you can be proud of being a supporter of art and artists, like the famous Maecenas of the past. Art and artists need your support as always in the history of art and photography.
Thank you!
Julia Anna Gospodarou – Founder
Julia Anna Gospodarou is an internationally acclaimed award-winning photographer, an architect with a Master’s degree, a best-selling author, and a highly sought-after educator, teaching workshops and lecturing around the world. Founder of (en)Visionography™ and creator of Photography Drawing™, author of the best-selling book From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, multiple times awarded in the most important photography competitions worldwide (Two-Time International Photography Awards IPA Photographer of the Year 2016 & 2021, World Photography Awards SWPA Top 10 Finalist, and Hasselblad Masters Top 10 Finalist, as well as 100+ more awards), widely published internationally in books and magazines, Julia is passionate about art and photography and striving to spread the ideas of fine art photography and (en)Visionography all over the world.
