NZPhotographer Issue 25, November 2019

CHRIS, ALTHOUGH WE’VE INTERVIEWED YOU ON
THE BLOG, REMIND US WHO YOU ARE AND HOW
PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWS UP IN YOUR LIFE…
I’m originally a geologist from Glasgow and recently
realised that I’ve always taken photos of landscapes.
My first field trip back in 1987 was to a place called
Ardnamurchan Point, the most western point in Scotland
– That trip made me realise how beautiful Scotland is.
I travelled a lot around the world as a geologist – I’ve
been to China, USA, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Oman,
Holland you name it – any oil and gas town pretty much.
I moved to NZ in 2002 and was just stunned by it.
Although I’ve always taken photographs of landscapes,
I started being a bit more serious about it 6 years or so
ago. I think I was in Singapore when I decided I wanted
to buy a real camera as I only had a point-andshoot
(a decent one by the way – a Fuji or Panasonic
something), so I bought a Samsung NX1000 and the
quality of images just blew me away, I thought “Oh My
God! This is amazing!”
WHAT CAMERAS DO YOU HAVE NOW?
A Samsung NX1, crop sensor with a range of lenses,
plus a Fuji X1000. The Samsung is a great camera, but is
showing its age now with a few things going wrong, and
as is not supported by Samsung anymore (they have got
out of the camera world), I have just recently bought the
Sony A7Riv which has a full fram 61MP sensor and a 24–
105mm f4 lens. I am hoping for good things from it!
TELL US SOME BACKGROUND INFO REGARDING
YOUR TRIP TO NEW YORK…
I was lucky enough to go to New York for work and had a
full day to myself to wander around Manhattan taking a
bunch of photos of the landmarks. I’d been in touch with a
really helpful NYC based photographer to look at getting a
guided tour. Even though he couldn’t be there when I was,
he sent me a copy of his guidebook, telling me the best
places to go to get the best shots, which was so helpful.
I’d always wanted to go to New York and it certainly
lived up to my expectations, the sheer scale, noise,
and busyness was awesome! There were a number
of highlights: taking in the view from the Empire State
building (day and night (very, very cold…), the ferry to
Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty, looking up at
the Chrysler building, Central Park in the low winter sun.
All amazing.
I’m obsessive about taking only carry-on luggage so usually
take the Fuji camera with me, as was the case here.
AND THE STORY BEHIND THIS SHOT?
The Chrysler Building is my favourite. I love it because it’s
just so… un-necessary and over the top and beautiful
and symmetrical and of it’s time complete with chrome
covered gargoyles. I feel the same way about the Opera
House, the Guggenheim and the Shard: functional
internally but bonkers on the outside!
That’s why this shot just stuck out for me. It was taken
around 3.30pm on a freezing February day, it was –7C
with a wind chill taking it down to –11C. The light was
fading, but the sky was still very blue.
I had heard that there was a good angle to take a shot of
the Chrysler Building from outside the New York Public Library,
on the corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, looking east
along 42nd Street. I wanted to capture the crispness of the
architectural lines of the Chrysler building, but frame it with
the non-vertical angle of the building on the left of the view
and the branches of the tree on the right of the frame.
Normally for a shot like this I’d use as wide an aperture as
possible, indeed the Samsung lens I was using could go as
wide open as f4, but given the variable depth of field with the
trees etc, I kept the aperture to f9, and adjusted the exposure
and ISO accordingly. The focal length was 130mm, which is
around 200mm on a full frame sensor, so pretty zoomed in.
I was a bit worried about camera shake so had optical
image stabilization (OIS) switched on and tried to keep
it as steady as possible… There were a lot of cars and
buses on the road, and lots of people around, but I think
I managed to capture it well.
I then took the image into Lightroom 5.7 for some
cleaning up (some dust on the lens) and to export
in B&W with some vignetting to make the focus (the
building) pop.
WHAT TIPS FOR ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY
CAN YOU SHARE WITH US?
For me the building is only part of the story, of course it’s
the key part of the image, but it’s also about light falling
in interesting ways, and other elements (e. g. the bare
trees in this image) that invokes a time and place.
If you can find an interesting angle, juxtaposing the
building with some other element, that can make it stand
out. Including people for scale and movement can be
great too, something that added interest to my photos
inside Grand Central Station.
I got some interesting photos of the inside of the Chrysler
Building, and wouldn’t have known about the lobby
without reading up before hand so I also recommend
doing your research.
WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE?
www.chrismckeown.photography
www.instagram.com/chris_mckeown70
albums.excio.io/profile/Chris McKeown
BEHIND THE SHOT IS PROUDLY
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