I’ve long been fascinated with brutalism. I don’t think I could say that I think it’s beautiful, rather I admire the spirit and simplicity of thought behind it when these buildings where being designed, the architect had some sort of utopia in mind. However, we humans are not rational beings and we crave beauty in our surroundings. The result are often these are behemoths of typically unloved buildings.
Canon 5D mk2 | 24mm | ISO100 | 1/50 | f14
One famous example of brutalist architecture in Sydney is the UTS Tower. It struts up with absolutely no pretence. Since I’ve picked up my camera again, I long wanted to photograph it and try to capture the building and inject some of the hope behind the brutalist spirit. The tower is now contrasted nicely with a contemporary glass building with so many curves. The contrast between the two makes a fascinating subject!
Canon 5D mk2 | 24-70mm (@24mm) | ISO100 | 1/125 | f8
Canon 5D mk2 | 24-70mm (@24mm) | ISO100 | 1/80 | f13
Things I’ve learnt this outing:
- I’m no longer giving a s*** about the time of day I shoot. For me right now it’s important I go out and actually shoot and try to make the most of it. Sure It would be nice to go out at certain times but it’s better to go out than not at all.
- I’ve manipulated the colours in this photos a lot. To be honest, I’m still on the fence on if I’ve taken them to far.
- I need to s l o w d o w n. When shooting these, at times I felt rushed and not really thinking about what I was doing with the camera and why. I’d check my exposures and try to correct them – but often went the wrong way!
- I’m looking forward to trying shooting with a tripod. This would have allowed me to complete multiple exposures and create an HDR image. I think this would have helped in bringing more detail in the sky without pushing the individual RAW files too far.
- I need to get my head around working with perspectives and tall buildings and the best way to shoot them to either avoid distortion in the first place or allow for better results in post.
Below is a comparison of the graded and ungraded photograph. I think I might have pushed it too far?
