Antoine Predock at the University of New Mexico Art Museum

There are two great new exhibits of Antoine Predock's work at the University of New Mexico. They are well worth seeing. Last night my wife and I were invited to a private recption there. It was great-but not what I expected. This was a special "thank you" reception by Predock and the book's author Christopher Mead to all those who contributed to the new book and exhibit. Predock was very gracious to all of us, mentioning all by name and their contributions. He is a world class talent and a real gentleman. I was honored to be there. The book is his 14th monograth.

ROAD CUT: THE ARCHITECTURE OF ANTOINE PREDOCK

AP thread on LuLa

There is an interesting new thread on Architectural Photography on Luminous Landscape. Many of the usual suspects are contributing. See:
What Kit do you like and why?

Odd Jobs

"Odd Jobs" refers to jobs that have some unusual aspect to them that I have not encountered before. This is a great example. By and large in AP we avoid seasonal decorations like the plague. Why? Because a)they limit the stock use of the images to seasonally themed publications (i.e. Christmas issue of a shelter magazine); b)this kind of decor is unrelated to the structure or interior design.

This shoot is an exception. The subject IS the Christmas decor. The client was Red Shovel, the designer and installer of the decor and the location is Sandia Casino and Resort in Albuquerque.

The challenges? Making sure the XMAS lights do not blow out rendering them white rather than their intrinsic color. How? No use of HDR, but instead careful timing of the shot paying attention to the depth of the exterior color, use of the 5DII HighLight Priority setting and judicious use of the Recovery slider in Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw). Why no HDR? Because of registration issues. I could not control the air handling system so the the long light strands were moving as in a gentle breeze.