School at Dusk: 3 sides
Run run run. Getting three sides of a building at dusk is a little risky, but we pulled it off.
A blue sky day is what most clients wish for to showcase their buildings during the day, but often this type of beautiful day makes for a short dusk period, especially heading into the fall.
When I photographed the Bloomfield High School, renovated by Tai Soo Kim Partners we had just such a day. The blue sky, while dramatic can create a couple trade offs. My client hoped for all dusk images, but we had 3 sides to capture in one evening.
The three images below were made sequentially from left to right starting just as the sun dipped. With nothing in the sky there is less light bounced and hence a shorter after glow period. As well the lingering blue sky can continue to reflect in large expanses of glass as seen in the last image. By the time we had run around to the library, which was in a courtyard on the north side, this reflection had finally subsided enough to easily see in, but consequently the ambient light was dimming in relation to the interior. I think we pulled out three good images (actually there was a fourth too), with the south LED sign entrance and then library glass wall as the most winning. The three images in a row make an obvious show of how quickly disappearing and short the optimal window of time is for making dusk images. In this case we got through and saved the client a return trip.
 School at dusk 1 west |
 School at dusk 2 south |
 School at dusk 3 north |
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