I have taught at the PPC’s West Coast School of Photography in San Diego for the past couple of years. One of the places I take my students to is the library at the University of California San Diego campus. This building is an icon to modern design and is named after the author who wrote the Dr. Seuss books, Theodor Seuss Geisel.
I have photographed the building many times and there’s some unique angles and cool detail shots that you can take, but I wanted to shoot it at twilight. I was in contact with one of the students that was going to be in my class, and we decided to go to the library and photograph it the night before West Coast School started. We arrived early and were able to scout out the location and we picked the classic shot that I’ve seen before as it seemed like the best angle.
Since I was teaching an architectural workshop, I had my Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens on my Sony a7r III, which is what I photograph 85% of my architecture images with. Using a tilt/shift lens allows you to keep your vertical line of the subject parallel with the camera and strait in the image. Shooting an exterior at twilight is the money shot and is what my clients always ask for as the lighting is more dramatic. It is also why you will see a lot of my personal artwork photographed at the same time.
I am really happy how the image turned out and we’ll probably use it imprint competitions over the next year.